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When you think of the top-three players at each offensive position on the football field, who comes to mind first? Terrell Owens? Peyton Manning? Tom Brady? Sure, those guys are great and deserve ...

The NFL's 10 Most Underrated Offensive Players

by Samuel Bell Jr (Columnist)

18

1047 reads

Rankings/List

August 28, 2008


When you think of the top-three players at each offensive position on the football field, who comes to mind first?

Terrell Owens? Peyton Manning? Tom Brady?

Sure, those guys are great and deserve to be known by everyone, including your girlfriend, who doesn't even like football.

NFL superstars get the most attention and are usually recognizable to everyone, whether sports fans or not.

But what about the guys who don't get all of the ESPN attention?

The guys with consistent numbers that are critical to their respective teams?

There will always be polarizing figures that rule every sport, and that's okay. But we must not forget about the other guys who may not receive the critical acclaim but are still very good players.

Just because someone gets all of the attention, that doesn't mean that others don't deserve it, and they usually do.

Everyone talks about Stewie on Family Guy, and rightfully so, but what about Peter? We all laugh at Zach Braff on Scrubs, but what about his nemesis, the Janitor? Joey from Friends?

There are always going to be the Matthew Perry's, Zach Braff's, and Donald Faison's of the world, but we must show respect for the Peter's, Sarah Chalke's, and David Schwimmer's of the world that are great, too.

In respect to that, I've compiled a list of the NFL's top 10 offensive players that don't get the press time that LaDainian Tomlinson gets.

 

10. Atlanta Falcons WR Roddy White

Nobody talks about this guy, and I mean NOBODY. His team did finish 4-12 last season, and after the turmoil that was Michael Vick, everyone seemed to turn their heads on this team.

I didn't. Roddy White played very well for a team that saw Joey Harrington, Byron Leftwich, and Chris Redman at QB. He was basically a security blanket for the underachieving QB corps, hauling in 83 receptions for 1,202 yards and six touchdowns.

In his previous two seasons, he started only 13 out of 32 games. With the run-first offensive regime of Michael Vick, Warrick Dunn, and Jim Mora Jr., Vick seemed to only look for TE Alge Crumpler when he back-pedaled, and the Atlanta receiving team was blamed for his passing woes.

After his 2007 campaign, nobody will blame Roddy White.

 

9. Detroit Lions WR Roy Williams

In this era of, "what have you done for me lately" in the NFL, Roy Williams followed his huge 2006 season of 82 receptions for 1,310 yards and seven touchdowns with an injury-shortened year, missing four games.

He has now seemed to fall off of the top-WR pedestal and not for good reason. Even though he missed four games last season, his numbers were still good. Williams caught 64 balls for 838 yards and five touchdowns.

The underachieving Lions have a superstar in Roy Williams when healthy, and the combination of Williams and Calvin Johnson will be big for the Lions' passing game. If Kitna can minimize his turnovers, Williams will be back in the top WR talk in a big way.

 

8. Cincinnati Bengals WR T. J. Houshmandzadeh

When the Cincinnati Bengals are brought up in conversation, the first name to be mentioned is usually Carson Palmer. Next is Chad Johnson. Some will even mention Rudi Johnson's name next. Then comes T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

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18 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment

  1. Eric Gomez 10 months ago

    Interesting article.

    I definitely have to agree with you when talking about Roddy White and the trio of Green Bay Packers. Brees, however - has already led two teams to the playoffs, won the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year award, and made the Pro Bowl. Usually, when it comes to the experts, the consensus is he's one of the top 5 QB's in the league at the moment. Not too shabby for an "underrated" guy.

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    • Samuel Bell Jr 10 months ago

      Good comment Eric, I partially agree with you, but I call Brees underrated for two reasons:

      1. When the Saints faultered last season, QB's like David Garrard and Ben Roethlisberger ascended over Brees in the conversations. It was hardly Brees fault that the Saints were under .500 last season, as the intangibles killed them. Reggie as the #1 back? No way.

      2. He's still not mentioned anywhere in the stratosphere of Manning A or Brady. He may not have had the team success they have, but he's also never had the teams they had. The Saints have always been woeful on defense, and Peyton didn't win the chip until his defense performed for him. Brady has always had a good defense in New England, and Brees had a lowly D when he was in San Diego too. Give Brees a good defense, and he's win 11 games a year, too.
      I feel that for his statistics and what he has meant for the game, Drew Brees just doesn't get enough respect. Good as Roethlisberger and Garrard are, theyt have more to do to get to Brees. Yes, Big Ben won a chip and that's big, but this is his first season where he's an elite, over 90 rated QB. Top 3 QB's are Manning A, Brady and Brees. Period.

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  2. matthew offermann 10 months ago

    definately great article the one that sticks out to me is chris cooley i might have put him at no 1 but great job

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  3. Tim Seeman 10 months ago

    miami dolphins: kicking themselves HARD for taking daunte culpepper over drew brees. like, we just went 1-15 hard

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    • Samuel Bell Jr 10 months ago

      I thought about putting Cooley first matthew, but then I remembered how Berry from ESPN is saying that Roethlisberger and Garrard could be taken over Brees. That's disrespectful. Brees is better than that, and he knows it. For what he's done, he is right behind the Manning Brady train. I understand what you're saying though, Cooley could've definitely been first.

      Tim: Dolphins fan? Man, you are so right about that!
      Culpepper=Currently Unsigned
      Brees=Top 3 in the League

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    • Tim Seeman 10 months ago

      definitely not a dolphins fan...just empathetic...any team that had to start cleo lemon in any circumstance deserves empathy i think

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  4. Brian Hood 10 months ago

    Don't know if I would consider Brees underrated. Most recognize his ability. Good article however.

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  5. Michael Inglis 10 months ago

    I don't think Driver is overrated. We hear a lot about how good he is. When I read the title I imediatly (bad spelling) thought of Joey Galloway.

    Nice article.

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  6. Fred Richani 10 months ago

    Not a bad list. Although, I don't think Brees is underrated.

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  7. Todd Morse 10 months ago

    do you ever watch afc football?

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  8. Andrew Mason 10 months ago

    1,7, and 8 in my opinon are not underrated by any stretch. Brees won comeback player of the year. TJ and Colston have been top WRs on their team and have garnered considerable attention.

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    • Samuel Bell Jr 10 months ago

      I don't think being given some attention on your team is enough for Colston and T.J. Those guys should be brought up in the conversations of top receivers, and they aren't. T.J isn't even considered best on his team. Everyone says Brees won comeback player of the year and that's nice, but his numbers make him deserve to be put third on the list of best QB's and not sub-top 5.

      Oh, Todd I do watch AFC football, I just don't think there are a lot of underrated players in that conference. The AFC gets a lot of attention, and the separation looks like this:
      Patriots, Colts, Steelers, Jaguars

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    • Andrew Mason 10 months ago

      Well after Brees stellar final year with San Diego and the first year with the Saints where they went to the NFC championship game I don't think many people were saying the Saints got that far because of Reggie Bush and their defense. And TJ and Chad are not 1 and 2 on the Bengals depth Chart they are equal. There's a reason why people say Cincy has one of the more talented groups of WRs in the league. TJ and Chad had a combined 20 TDS with TJ having 12. Colston had 410 more yards and 8 more touchdowns than the next guy on the list in receiving stats on his team.

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  9. Samuel Bell Jr 10 months ago

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  10. Andres Sanchez 10 months ago

    It's no coincidence that 7/10 of these guys on your list were on losing teams last season. I guess thats why Fred Taylor never made it to the Probowl until finally the Jags got on the map. Thats just the way it is, losing records usually equals no recognition,  i hear you though. If you make a defensive article, you have to put Nnamdi Asomough #1 on there.

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  11. noel ramos 10 months ago

    as bad as the aftertaste is gonna be when i say this, brandon marshall should be up there.

    at least for right now. now hes out of walkers shadow and will be cutlers go-to guy he might not be so underrated/unheard of for much longer

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