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

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

8 minutes ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

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.

 

This is a solid pick.  He came back after a stroke which was cool.  

 

During that 3 super bowl run they had he played pretty well.  Law, Mcginest, Seymour, Vrabel, Harrison - he had some good company on those teams.

[Shake_My_Head]

Howie Long...

[Greg S]

3 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

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. 
 

 

NE has had great teams. You don't dominate like that for 20 years if you don't. I wouldn't call Brady overrated. He is one of the smartest QB's to ever play the game and he produces especially in the big moments. When he was a PAT I hated him, but he is the GOAT QB. 

[Big Turk]

8 minutes ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

This is a solid pick.  He came back after a stroke which was cool.  

 

During that 3 super bowl run they had he played pretty well.  Law, Mcginest, Seymour, Vrabel, Harrison - he had some good company on those teams.

 

There were probably a lot of players on there that would have likely had nowhere near the impact on other teams as they did on the Patriots due to the overa team approach to defense they had.

 

They never were the most athletic fastest or best players, just solid players who did their jobs really well within the scheme of the defense and for the most part were very selfless in that regard 

 

Honestly after writing that, you could kinda say that about a lot of players on the Bills D under McDermott.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Big Turk

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

Similar to the OP same position different player I always come back to Jerome Bettis. How he is in the Hall of Fame I’m not quite sure. I think it largely has to do with the fact that he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

 

 

[NewEra]

19 minutes ago, 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. 

Brady joins a loaded team for two years.

 

Belichick has Cam and a rookie QB for those two years.  And made the playoffs once.  
 

I’ll give Brady > Belichick, but comparing their two years apart isn’t fair.  Brady got to pick his spot, while Belichick was stuck in a rebuild the first season.  Spent some money (poorly) and still made the playoffs with a rookie year 2.  

[Buftex]

I'm gonna go bold, and say Dan Marino!

[Greg S]

7 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Brady joins a loaded team for two years.

 

Belichick has Cam and a rookie QB for those two years.  And made the playoffs once.  
 

I’ll give Brady > Belichick, but comparing their two years apart isn’t fair.  Brady got to pick his spot, while Belichick was stuck in a rebuild the first season.  Spent some money (poorly) and still made the playoffs with a rookie year 2.  

 

Good point with Bill and last season but we will see what happens going forward. JMO but it seems like NE is trending downward. They didn't have a great offseason and it wouldn't surprise me if they finish last in the division. 

Edited July 21, 2022 by Greg S

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

2 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Brady joins a loaded team for two years.

 

Belichick has Cam and a rookie QB for those two years.  And made the playoffs once.  
 

I’ll give Brady > Belichick, but comparing their two years apart isn’t fair.  Brady got to pick his spot, while Belichick was stuck in a rebuild the first season.  Spent some money (poorly) and still made the playoffs with a rookie year 2.  

 

I don't blame brady in the slightest.  It was almost at times like Belichick wanted to sabotage his stats.  Guy wins his 3rd MVP and they're like - better trade his #1 WR.  

 

Don't worry - he's got Chris Hogan and Philip Dorsett!  

[Big Turk]

24 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Similar to the OP same position different player I always come back to Jerome Bettis. How he is in the Hall of Fame I’m not quite sure. I think it largely has to do with the fact that he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

 

 

 

Yeah, he had a few good years but overall was meh...averaged 3.9 YPC for his career and in the playoffs was mostly bad averaging 3.4 YPC there. Although he did hit 1,000 yards in 8 of his first 9 seasons including 1,665 one year, never led the league in any category except carries once with 375.  YPC likely would have been a lot higher without the last 4 years in there where he seems t have hung on too long as he had 3.6, 3.3, 3.8 and 3.3 those years.

 

PFR's Hall of Fame Monitor seem to agree with you tho as the average RB in the HOF is at 106.95 and Bettis is a distant 75.94(25th among all RBs). Granted the average is skewed quite a bit by the top 4 of Payton, Brown, Sanders and Emmitt Smith who are at 214.61, 182.79, 177.55 and 176.48.  Next closest to them is Tomlinson in 5th with 136.50.

 

Surprisingly Thurman comes in below the average for HOF RBs as well at 97.95, directly behind Edgerrin James and directly in front of Franco Harris.

Edited July 21, 2022 by Big Turk

[cle23]

1 hour ago, 4merper4mer said:

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

 

He had a great team around him, except the worst line in the NFL his whole career.  They finally addressed it once he retired.

[Lieutenant Aldo Raine]

I'm going with Lamar Jackson.  Obviously very talented, but I think he gets so much hype because people (media) get uncomfortable to criticize him due to the whole "play WR" thing etc.  Yet, when most people hype him up, the first thing often referenced is his ability to "run".  And when teams are able to bottleneck his ability to run or get ahead in games, he's not near as successful.  Bottomline: if he was required to play in a more traditional system would he be as good?  

[GunnerBill]

Just now, Lieutenant Aldo Raine said:

I'm going with Lamar Jackson.  Obviously very talented, but I think he gets so much hype because people (media) get uncomfortable to criticize him due to the whole "play WR" thing etc.  Yet, when most people hype him up, the first thing often referenced is his ability to "run".  And when teams are able to bottleneck his ability to run or get ahead in games, he's not near as successful.  Bottomline: if he was required to play in a more traditional system would he be as good?  

 

No, so why the hell would anyone put him in a more traditional system? A Formula 1 car wouldn't be as good if it was used to do the weekly supermarket run either. 

[chris heff]

2 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

Completely different era. You don't have the merger without Namath. My answer is pretty much always the same: Gugny. 

If you watch the documentary series Full Color Football the merger had more to do with the Giants poaching Pete Gogolak than it did Namath. That move set off a wave of players being signed and changing leagues. NFL owners did not want a bidding war for players.

[hondo in seattle]

2 hours ago, Stank_Nasty said:

Joe Namath. 

 

I kind of agree.  Certainly, his overall statistical performance says he's overrated.  These aren't the stats of a HOFer and yet his bust is in Canton.

 

Yet, I remember one of his coaches saying he was the best pure passer he ever saw.  Bear Bryant called him 'the best athlete I ever coached.'

 

Remember, Namath threw for 4,000 yards way back in 1967 - when seasons were only 14 games long - way before anyone else.  The next QB to throw for more than 4000 was Dan Fouts in a 16-game Air Coryell season, 12 years later.  

 

But Namath started racking up knee and other injuries pretty early in his career.  Physical ailments probably prevented him from ever achieving his true potential.  And at the end of his career, he was downright pathetic.  Not just immobile, he didn't have the base with which to throw the ball with any velocity.  

[Dr. Who]

3 minutes ago, chris heff said:

If you watch the documentary series Full Color Football the merger had more to do with the Giants poaching Pete Gogolak than it did Namath. That move set off a wave of players being signed and changing leagues. NFL owners did not want a bidding war for players.

Have not seen the series, but I suppose that is plausible. Victory over the Colts was certainly proof that the junior league was competitive. Namath was slowed by injuries. He was a dynamic player when young. You can't really compare stats from that era. Anyway, I see why some folks might nominate him; just wanted to push back. 

[Lieutenant Aldo Raine]

3 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

No, so why the hell would anyone put him in a more traditional system?

 

They probably wouldn't hence why I think he could be considered overrated.  Someone who is very talented in the system they run, but also limited in their ability based on the system they run.  It's no secret, if you can contain Lamar in the pocket, limit his ability to shred you on the run, and get ahead on the scoreboard you have good odds to beat Jackson and the Ravens.  

[hondo in seattle]

2 hours ago, Ya Digg? said:

I definitely agree with Aikman-very good, but benefitted greatly from his circumstances. He never put up huge numbers, but he never had to. Dominant o line, great defense, good offense, just hand the ball to Emmitt, don’t turn over the ball, and he did those things extremely well. He won 3 Super Bowls so can’t take that away from him, but I never thought they won because of him.

 

 

What I remember about Aikman is that he'd be good in the regular season and then surgical in the playoffs.  

[Dr. Who]

2 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I kind of agree.  Certainly, his overall statistical performance says he's overrated.  These aren't the stats of a HOFer and yet his bust is in Canton.

 

Yet, I remember one of his coaches saying he was the best pure passer he ever saw.  Bear Bryant called him 'the best athlete I ever coached.'

 

Remember, Namath threw for 4,000 yards way back in 1967 - when seasons were only 14 games long - way before anyone else.  The next QB to throw for more than 4000 was Dan Fouts in a 16-game Air Coryell season, 12 years later.  

 

But Namath started racking up knee and other injuries pretty early in his career.  Physical ailments probably prevented him from ever achieving his true potential.  And at the end of his career, he was downright pathetic.  Not just immobile, he didn't have the base with which to throw the ball with any velocity.  

Ahh, didn't see this post before responding. I think this is basically correct.

[billybrew1]

A Buffalo Bill?

 

Phil Hanson. Maybe he was very good at tying up blockers but Bruce Smith needed more from that position, the NT position and biscuit’s position the whole peak of his career. Bruce was basically alone as an impact player till Bryce Paup got here. Hanson as a blocker tyer upper probably wasn’t as good as Fred Smerlas. Blocker tyer uppers have to be really something, imho, to make the wall…. Ted Washington? Yes. Phil Hanson? No….. he ruins the integrity of the whole wall, imho….