Who do you consider to be the most overrated player(s) at their position in NFL history?

[4merper4mer]

Who was the greatest prospect in the history of the world, had a traditionally solid team go on a one year tank to take him, had that same team trade away their greatest ever player to pave way for him, got inserted into a division who had a five year run of unmatched ineptitude and still managed to produce average results, playing in just one AFCCG and getting smoked in it, winning his terrible division a few times and choking it away at other times?  Oh, and then he retired early.

 

Andrew Luck

[BIGFOOTspaceman]

24 minutes ago, Whkfc said:

 

 

I feel like the issue with Bo was he was more committed to baseball. My memory had him as a pretty dominant back.

Averaged 700 rushing yards per season and never scored more than 5 rushing touchdowns in any given year.  Never Rushed for 1000 yards. Played in one playoff game and had 77 yards.  

[Spiderweb]

3 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

William "The Fridge" Perry.  Cool nickname.  Iconic Super Bowl run on an iconic team.  Never made a pro bowl.  Only 27.5 sacks in 10 seasons.  Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, and Troy Aikman if we're going QB's.

When Namath played, QB play was quite different. Much more verticle against defenses that could beat the heck out of them and the WR's. I always hated the Jets but in his prime, Namath was a lot of fun to watch.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

7 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

Emmitt Smith. He had the luxury of running behind the most physical and athletic OL the NFL had to offer for years.

Spot on. You just watched Smith, and he literally did nothing special. His vision was okay, speed okay, burst and strength okay. The guy just played a lot of years behind an elite line. 
 

 

[Sargent Hulka]

Tom Ruud, LB Nebraska, Bills 1st Round pick-1975

[Buffalo Boy]

17 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

Tom Brady.  Always had incredible defenses and coaching. Also the other teams in the division were trash. 

Beat me to it

[4merper4mer]

Since the title asks for “at their position” I’ll add a few to the GOAT Luck.

 

DB Troy Polamalu or however it is spelled.  Obviously not a terrible player but his self promotional hair gets him far higher rankings than he deserves.

 

At RB I think decent cases are being made for both George and Smith.  I’d disagree with Jackson because he is a weird case and generally remembered more as a great athlete….which is correct…..than a great NFL RB.

 

At WR I never though KeShawn panned out anywhere near where he was seen.  Maybe I’m forgetting someone though.

 

DL Mark Ganstineau

 

At the other positions nobody really jumps to mind.

 

 

[Charles Romes]

Post-2015 JJ Watt

[Primesinister]

21 minutes ago, BIGFOOTspaceman said:

Averaged 700 rushing yards per season and never scored more than 5 rushing touchdowns in any given year.  Never Rushed for 1000 yards. Played in one playoff game and had 77 yards.  

You must be young. He played baseball full time and football part time! Didn’t show up till October and played roughly 7 or 8 games and still averaged 700 to 900 without being at the top of the depth chart. He was a bigger, faster, stronger Adrian Peterson. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Marvin Harrison.

 

Drafted right before Eric Moulds. Eric Moulds probably thinks about it all the time. If he goes to Indy and plays with Peyton Manning for a decade or whatever he’s probably one of the greatest WRs ever.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Buffalo_Stampede

[Bill from NYC]

3 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

 Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, and Troy Aikman if we're going QB's.

How about Jim McMahon?

Edited July 21, 2022 by Bill from NYC

[Charles Romes]

19 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Spot on. You just watched Smith, and he literally did nothing special. His vision was okay, speed okay, burst and strength okay. The guy just played a lot of years behind an elite line. 
 

 

You also never saw him unnecessarily lose an inch of yardage by taking ill-advised chances. That’s what made him special. 

[Whkfc]

33 minutes ago, BIGFOOTspaceman said:

Averaged 700 rushing yards per season and never scored more than 5 rushing touchdowns in any given year.  Never Rushed for 1000 yards. Played in one playoff game and had 77 yards.  

 

But he never played a full season because baseball came first. He would always show up week 7 or 8 when the Royals season ended unlike Deon who put football first.

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

Teddy Bruschi.  Loudmouth idiot from the golden years of the Patriots.  I never understood the adoration that was heaped on him.  Maybe it was because he fit in so well with the other massholes.  He also sucks as a commentator.

[Maynard]

1 hour ago, Whkfc said:

 

 

I feel like the issue with Bo was he was more committed to baseball. My memory had him as a pretty dominant back.

If I remember correctly, I think he was a dominant back until the hip injury. Guy was definitely a physical freak of nature though. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

7 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

Emmitt Smith. He had the luxury of running behind the most physical and athletic OL the NFL had to offer for years.

 

I always thought he was relatively "unspectacular" - not the fastest, the biggest, most elusive etc.  But he was fast enough, big enough, tough enough, and broke a ton of tackles.  I'd say he had elite contact balance, and just elite balance in general.  His cuts never looked insane or anything, but he knew his angles, and arm tackles seemed to slip right off of him.  

[Big Turk]

26 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Since the title asks for “at their position” I’ll add a few to the GOAT Luck.

 

DB Troy Polamalu or however it is spelled.  Obviously not a terrible player but his self promotional hair gets him far higher rankings than he deserves.

 

At RB I think decent cases are being made for both George and Smith.  I’d disagree with Jackson because he is a weird case and generally remembered more as a great athlete….which is correct…..than a great NFL RB.

 

At WR I never though KeShawn panned out anywhere near where he was seen.  Maybe I’m forgetting someone though.

 

DL Mark Ganstineau

 

At the other positions nobody really jumps to mind.

 

 

 

Jackson never really played a full season because he also played baseball for the KC Royals and was very good there, making an all-star game and was MVP of it. He had 950 yards in 11 games one year but only started 7 and averaged a ridiculous 5.4 YPC for his career.  He averaged 73.2 YPG which would equate to almost 1200 yards if he played full seasons.  Overrated, I don't think so...underused and not available full time due to playing 2 sports, sure. But he was also splitting time with HOF back Marcus Allen as well, so it's not like there were just going to stop using him.

 

[Greg S]

48 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

Tom Brady.  Always had incredible defenses and coaching. Also the other teams in the division were trash. 

 

If anything I think Brady is making Belichick look overrated. He did win a 7th Super Bowl with Tampa. Meanwhile Billy boy hasn't done much since #12 left. 

[aristocrat]

Just now, Greg S said:

 

If anything I think Brady is making Belichick look overrated. He did win a 7th Super Bowl with Tampa. Meanwhile Billy boy hasn't done much since #12 left. 

tom Brady willed his defense to hold the chiefs to 9 points. Which has to be the lowest amount of points mahomes has ever scored. 
 

[Big Turk]

52 minutes ago, BIGFOOTspaceman said:

Averaged 700 rushing yards per season and never scored more than 5 rushing touchdowns in any given year.  Never Rushed for 1000 yards. Played in one playoff game and had 77 yards.  

 

You are missing the context of why tho which is important.  He also played baseball full time for the Royals so that meant he wasn't available to play football for the first 5 or 6 weeks most years...

 

He split time with HOF RB Marcus Allen also, so it's not like they were just going to abandon him.  Bo averaged 5.4 YPC for his career and 73.2 YPg, which would equate to almost 1200 yards per season if extrapolated to a full 16 games.

 

Overrated?  Hardly.  Underused and only available 3/4 of the season?  Sure.  

 

One of the greatest runs I have ever seen came against Seattle on Monday night where he went 90+ for a TD and the Seahawk safety had the angle cut off on him like 30 yards up the field and he just blew by him like he was standing still and he never even got close to making the tackle. Dude might have been the fastest player on a football field of all time.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Big Turk