NFL Network Top 10 Underrated Players

[sport historian]

The NFL Network's Top 10 Underrated Players of all time:

1. Bart Starr
2. Roger Craig
3. Charley Hayley
4. Ottis Anderson
5. Andre Reed
6. Marvin Harrison
7. Randall Cunningham
8. Ken Anderson
9. Brian Westbrook
10. Len Dawson

 

[bigunreal]

Randall Cunningham being on this list is particularly ridiculous. So is Andre Reed. Curtis Martin is one of the most underrated players of all time, and he didn't even make the top 10? Where's Sonny Jurgensen?

I would also include Wesley Walls, Bill Bergey, Kevin Greene, Dick Anderson and numerous other mostly white stars from years past. Both Jurgensen and Fran Tarkenton are more underrated than Starr, imho, although he is still pretty undervalued, too.

It would be hard to pick one player as most underrated, but I guess I'd opt for Sport Historian's favorite Jerry Smith. But then I doubt that any of the know nothing "journalists" who voted for this list even know who he was.

 

[sport historian]

Randall Cunningham being on this list is particularly ridiculous. So is Andre Reed. Curtis Martin is one of the most underrated players of all time, and he didn't even make the top 10? Where's Sonny Jurgensen?

I would also include Wesley Walls, Bill Bergey, Kevin Greene, Dick Anderson and numerous other mostly white stars from years past. Both Jurgensen and Fran Tarkenton are more underrated than Starr, imho, although he is still pretty undervalued, too.

It would be hard to pick one player as most underrated, but I guess I'd opt for Sport Historian's favorite Jerry Smith. But then I doubt that any of the know nothing "journalists" who voted for this list even know who he was.

Allow me to tell an anecdote about Jerry Smith. I recall seeing an interview of him in which Smith said that people were often surprised that he was white. The reason? Jerry Smith played college ball at Arizona State and in the 1960's, almost all former Arizona State players in pro football (Charley Taylor, Henry Carr,etc) were black.

Many people thought Arizona State was a black school, Jerry Smith said.

I think this was in Tom Dowling's 1970 book, "Coach," about Vince Lombardi's 1969 season as Redskin coach. Have you ever read this book Bigunreal?

The criteria for this list seems to have been "Name" players who aren't as high on the totem pole in pro football history as they should be.

Jerry Smith could be on an underrated list of players who had good seasons without that much publicity. As mentioned above, some people didn't know he was white, according to Jerry Smith.

 

[bigunreal]

I did indeed read Dowling's book Coach. He was a long time sportswriter with the Washington Post. Maybe he still is- don't read the mainstream papers any more.

It's too bad for Jerry Smith that he wasn't black. I think everyone would have heard a lot more about him if that was the case.

 

[Extra Point]

Randall Cunningham being on this list is particularly ridiculous. So is Andre Reed. Curtis Martin is one of the most underrated players of all time, and he didn't even make the top 10? Where's Sonny Jurgensen?

I would also include Wesley Walls, Bill Bergey, Kevin Greene, Dick Anderson and numerous other mostly white stars from years past. Both Jurgensen and Fran Tarkenton are more underrated than Starr, imho, although he is still pretty undervalued, too.

It would be hard to pick one player as most underrated, but I guess I'd opt for Sport Historian's favorite Jerry Smith. But then I doubt that any of the know nothing "journalists" who voted for this list even know who he was.

Kevin Greene is one of the greatest defensive players of all time. He ranks third on the all time sacks list. This is well ahead of the vaunted Lawrence Taylor who was an inferior player to Greene.

There's no question in my mind that there's a media conspiracy to bury the accomplishments of Greene. The reason? Greene is a white man. The fact that Greene has blond hair probably makes the anti-whites in the media dislike him even more.

 

[Gibbon]

Allow me to tell an anecdote about Jerry Smith. I recall seeing an interview of him in which Smith said that people were often surprised that he was white.

Part of the reason might have been his name. When I hear about a football or basketball player with a more common Anglo Saxon surname (i.e. Johnson, Jefferson, Washington, etc), I guess the player is black. It's simply, statistically, far more probable.