Underrated/unknown good players on your favorite team?

[FrantikRam]

It's impossible to watch every snap from every game and because of that, there are some players on every team who we may know by name, but have no idea that they're actually a good player. Figure the off-season would be a good time to hear about these guys.

Example for the Rams would be Greg Gaines, who Von Miller talked about while here.

[minutemancl]

Micah Hyde has been generally regarded as a top safety for several years now and was a 2nd team all-pro last year. His statline from last year:

17 games, 53 solo tackles, 74 total tackles, 10 PDs, 5 interceptions, 1 TD.

This is Giants 2nd round pick from 2020 Xavier Mckinney's statline from last year. He missed all but 6 games his rookie year and was finally a full time starter last year:

17 games, 59 solo tackles, 93 total, 10 PDs, 5 interceptions, 1 TD.

Mckinney was a huge bright spot last year and Giants fans are super hopeful for him going forward. Look for him to start to get some recognition this year.

[Daniel]

For the Titans, there's a few:

David Long Jr: People thought the Titans needed a LB in the draft because they're unaware of how good the LBs are.  Long was the best LB on the team, including Jayon Brown, Zach Cunningham, and Rashaan Evans.  He's particularly good in pass coverage.

Bud Dupree: People know who Bud Dupree is, and that he's good, but the understanding across the league is that he's been a bust signing when that's far from the case.  He doesn't show on the stat sheet, but the stuff he opens up for the rest of the front four when he's on the field is very impactful.

Naquan Jones: This one is a bit of a projection.  Jones made the team as a UDFA, and was starting by the second half of the season.  He had 23 tackles (4 for loss), 2.5 sacks, and 2 PDs, with all of the sacks, TFLs, and PDs coming in those last seven games.  He also had a half sack and two hits on Burrow in the sole playoff game.  Hell of a season for a rookie NT.

Aaron Brewer: Didn't want to make it all defense.  Brewer filled in for Roger Saffold , including starting 5 games last season, and there wasn't a big dropoff.  With the Titans not taking a guard in the draft, they may be OK with him starting at LG, if Jamarco Jones doesn't beat him out.

[TheKillerNacho]

This thread was made for Zach Sieler. Dude is a beast, and despite not being a "starter" is out on the field more often than not. More than once last season chatting with opposing fans I was asked who the hell that #92 guy dismantling their OL was, haha.

[Dome]

Any time David Onyemata gets mentioned in an NFL News thread people always say “Who???”

 

He’s been a good do-it-all starting DT for the Saints for 5 years now and a big reason they’ve been one of the best run defenses in the league over that time, he’s a very important piece to a really good line. He missed some time due to a marijuana arrest and a PED suspension, but he’s otherwise healthy and reliable.

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Dome

[FrantikRam]

48 minutes ago, TheKillerNacho said:

Definitely Zach Sieler. Dude is a beast, and despite not being a "starter" is out on the field more often than not. More than once last season chatting with opposing fans we were playing against was I asked who the hell #92 was, haha.

 

Wow I used to pride myself on at least knowing the names of most NFL players but I have to admit, didn't know he existed

[Blackstar12]

RT- Braden Smith he played through a few injuries last year but when healthy he’s a very good RT. 

P- Rigoberto Sanchez won the starting job as a UDFA in 2017 and had been solid ever since. 

DT- Grover Stewart has been the starter the past two seasons. Very good against the run and decent against the pass.

Edited May 19, 2022 by Blackstar12

[Soko]

Adrian Phillips - Guy really is the do-it-Al DB in the back. Played over 100 snaps in the box, along the DL, and at slot/FS. He’s a chess piece for the defense and does everything you could ask for at a high level. Been one of the better safeties in the league the last couple seasons. 

Rhamondre Stevenson - 600+ yards and 5 TDs off 133 carries (for 4.6 YPC) is a decent stat line for a rookie RB, but nothing to write home about. But Stevenson’s an absolute hammer, he moves super smooth and defenders slide off of him trying to make the tackle. His yards after contact/attempt was ranked 4th, only after Taylor, Chubb, and…Penny. Ranking 12th respectively, Stevenson was one of two players ranked in the top 16 in broken tackles that had less than 200 carries.  Of the players in the top 32 (in broken tackles), only 4 players had less carries. He has more to prove as a second year player, but the guy’s a quality running back that’ll get more notoriety the more he plays.

[Bolts223]

Chargers generally don't have too many of these types of guys because traditionally we are a team that usually has a few big name stars but pretty mediocre/bad teams outside of those players. (Although I think that may be different this year)

 

But I'll give some love to Drue Tranquill. He's just a very good, smart football player and our only good Linebacker tbh. (I'm counting Kyle Van Noy as an Edge Defender since that'll probably be most of what he does this year for us)

Edited May 19, 2022 by Bolts223

[FinSting]

I've been shocked how rookie edge Jaelan Phillips gets 8.5 sacks in his debut season yet media talking heads are ignoring him. 

[minutemancl]

15 minutes ago, FinSting said:

I've been shocked how rookie edge Jaelan Phillips gets 8.5 sacks in his debut season yet media talking heads are ignoring him. 

Because Micah Parsons had 13. Azeez Ojulari had 8 and no one talks about him either.

And it isn't just the sack numbers. Philips and Ojulari had 26 and 27 QB pressures respectively. Micah Parsons had 47. He is just on another level.

Edited May 19, 2022 by minutemancl

[TheRealMcCoy]

For the Eagles?

Underrated guys would include:

Avonte Maddox CB - Was probably one of the better slot corners last year after moving inside from outside corner in 2020 where he really struggled, but dude is barely 5'9" and has 29.5 inch arms. He never should've been playing on the outside and was just there out of necessity cause our corner situation wasn't good. 

Jack Driscoll G - His problem since being drafted has been being banged up, but when he's off the injury report he has great technique and is a really good pass blocker. He's probably the favorite to win the RG job between Kelce and Johnson. He'll be competing in camp with Isaac Seumalo for it who is also underrated and who also has struggled to stay healthy. Jeff Stoutland the Eagles OL coach who is arguably the best in the league loves him, so I'm really hoping Driscoll stays healthy and can get more credit this year for being a good player.

Quez Watkins WR - Not saying he's some really good WR or anything. His rookie year he didn't see the field a ton and didn't do a lot as a 6th round pick although he did flash his speed on some plays including a TD against the Cardinals. The concern with him, Hightower and Reagor who all came in with the same draft class in 2020 was their maturity as rookies. There was stuff reported that they needed to grow up. It seemed like Quez took the offseason following the COVID year seriously and was training with DeVonta quite a bit in the offseason and came to camp looking like he made progression as a route runner, cause before he was raw and just fast. He was the Eagles clear #2 WR last year (which isn't saying much at all) and showed he improved his game. If Hurts was better on the deep ball last year Quez could've probably had a decent bit more yards than the 647 he ended up with last year. Doesn't help we passed it the least amount of times too. He admitted in a recent presser that operating from the slot last season was an adjustment playing through traffic instead of just having to beat his man on the outside cause he played outside receiver mainly in college. Now, that we added an AJ Brown and he has some experience in the slot I think he can be a pretty nice WR3. 

Honorable Mention:

Marcus Epps S - Not sure he started more than a few games. When McLeod and Harris the veterans were healthy they were the starters with Epps as the 3rd safety. I'm sure experience played a role in that decision cause Gannon a first time defensive coordinator could trust them more, but over the course of the season I think its safe to say Epps was the most impactful safety of the bunch especially in less playing time the older guys. Again our safety room wasn't good last year with an older Rodney McLeod coming off a ACL and a clearly declining Anthony Harris, so I'm not saying he was some revelation, but I think he can be a solid starting safety and he'll get his chance to prove it this year with McLeod gone and us not adding anybody. I believe PFF had him in the top 10 for safeties in run defense last year. He was pretty consistent coming downhill from deep. He can play some as a post safety or in the box, blitz, and match-up some against TEs. Eagles put him on Gronk in the playoff game which shows the coaches have some trust in him to do stuff like that. I think he'll have a shot to prove he can be a solid starting safety and hopefully he does it cause things are pretty bleak there right now for the Eagles.

[TheRealMcCoy]

1 hour ago, Blackstar12 said:

RT- Braden Smith he played through a few injuries last year but when healthy he’s a very good RT. 

P- Rigoberto Sanchez won the starting job as a UDFA in 2017 and had been solid ever since. 

DT- Grover Stewart has been the starter the past two seasons. Very good against the run and decent against the pass.

I'm not sure Braden Smith qualifies although he is probably underrated by the casual fans. I feel like he gets a good amount of love from OL people on Twitter and PFF. He gets brought up a good amount in draft talk cause he's one of those guys that didn't meet the usual arm length threshold for a tackle, but is still a very good player. We saw him receive that big extension for the work he's put in too.

Grover Stewart is a good one though. I think DTs in general kind of get underrated cause its not the flashiest position, so if you aren't a big name you kinda get forgotten about. Same is probably true for interior OL.

[TheRealMcCoy]

1 hour ago, minutemancl said:

Micah Parsons had 47. He is just on another level.

He did that as a part time pass rusher splitting his time his rookie year as an off ball LB too... not that he didn't still rush the passer from there on blitzes. The fact he was able to do both at a pretty high level as a rookie is pretty nuts. Think Dan Quinn did a great job utilizing him as a weapon too. I'm not looking forward to him being in the NFCE for the foreseeable future. He's like a new age LT without the coke habit and more versatiilty.😂

[RaidersAreOne]

Rookie CB Nate Hobbs was pretty kick ***.