Bottom line: Few remember Glen Edwards as the fearless strong safety with the Steelers first two Super Bowl teams. Butler is all but guaranteed to get lost in the shuffle. Through the 2018 season, Vinatieri checked in at 81 (56 of 69) and 99 (70 of 71), respectively. That may tick him off. He finally won a Super Bowl ring as a backup for the Buccaneers. On the field, it is Diontae Johnson that has emerged as a favorite target of Big Ben. 1. The best we can offer is a little bit of credit where a lot is due. He rose to Pro Bowl status playing left tackle for a single-back, Joe Gibbs-style 1980s offense. And he played in one stinking Pro Bowl game. Player B passed for 31,548 yards and 214 touchdowns and ran for 22 touchdowns with below average-to-good teams. He played in the run-'n'-shoot offense, which means he was on an island against the NFL's best pass-rushers on every snap for a half-decadeno tight end flanking him, no blocking back behind him. Truth is, Norton should have been Super Bowl XXVII Most Valuable Player, not Troy Aikman, who was the obligatory quarterback pick. He also scored 35 touchdowns on the ground in that span. In his most prolific early season, he caught 54 passes for 811 yards and five touchdowns. Entering 2021, Moton had allowed only 10 sacks in over 2,000 pass-blocking snaps. Web12. In his prime, Wright was often mentioned in the same breath as Hall of Famers Mel Blount and Mike Haynes. Success came early for Fletcher, recognition late. Arizona Cardinals: Kelvin Beachum, OT. Interior defensive linemen: The average height and weight for defensive tackles entering the league is 6-foot-3, 306 pounds. He then led three fourth-quarter comebacks to bring them back to the playoffs in 1965. Ron McDole falls into that final category. Although it is tough to put a second-year player on this list as underrated when he is still relatively unproven, Laviska Shenault has such a unique skill set at wide receiver that will quickly start to garner more attention. C'mon, who doesn't love Darren Sproles and Mike Tolbert? Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, Super Bowl championships: Two (1979, 1990). Bottom line: Never mind guys such as Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson. Player B was a one-time MVP who played in two Pro Bowl games. There are no official sack statistics before 1982, but the Minnesota Vikings credit Jim Marshall with 127 career sacks. WebDon't hesitate to comment below with underrated players who you believe should have been on this list. He then became a staple of trivia questions and All-Time Worst Trades listicles, as the Lawrence Welk trade overshadowed an even more impressive moment in Hadl's transaction history. They were the Yale football of the NFL, their glory years moldering in history books. Turned out he was skilled and driven enough to be a champion. The most similar current player to Anderson is Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell, but Bell plays in a modern offense that amplifies his production instead of suppressing it. Membership on various All-1960s teams. What Mason did have was a keen attention to detail and fanatical drive to succeed. Maybe there is still an NFL team in San Diego. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images). He was usually the Bears' best rusher and receiver in his prime years, catching 40-50 passes per season from Mike Tomczak or the young Jim Harbaugh. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. Angel Di Maria. It would rank 16th all-time, except that if we allow Marshall's sacks into the record, we would have to make room for Deacon Jones, Mean Joe Greene and others. Far from it. He helped the Packers win a Super Bowl. Get this: Ten of those seasons were spent with either the Vince Lombardi Packers or Don Shula Dolphins. He ran a Sonny Jurgensen pass back 59 yards in the fourth quarter to seal a Rams playoff win over the Redskins in 1974. There would not be another exchange of current Pro Bowlers in the NFL until the Broncos and Redskins exchanged Champ Bailey and Clinton Portis in 2004. The Bucs hired head coach Jon Gruden and won Super Bowl XXXVII the next season. That made Hull one of the first centers to make line adjustments on the fly. Robertson's Rams made a habit of reaching the playoffs every year and losing to the Vikings or Cowboys. Norton made the key play of the game in the second period, when he stood up Buffalo Bills back Kenneth Davis mere inches from the goal line. Hadl played quarterback, halfback, defensive back and punter for the University of Kansas. One of the greatest defenders in the history of a storied franchise, Young is just another victim of bad timing when it comes to getting the reputation he deserves. The least glamorous position on the field, a so-so team, a franchise moveWisniewski pulled three lemons on the recognition slot machine. Tom Nalen protected John Elway in a pair of Super Bowl victories and helped trigger a zone-blocking revolution as part of Alex Gibbs' influential offensive lines. Finally, at last, the cornerback was selected to play in his first Pro Bowl game as some kind of lifetime achievement award. Player A was a one-time Most Valuable Player who took part in four Pro Bowl games. He became an All-Pro playing blindside protector in an early 1990s run-'n'-shoot offense. If McCree doesn't cough up that fourth-quarter pick, the Chargers beat the Patriots, and perhaps Philip Rivers leads a team that went 14-2 in the regular season to the Super Bowl. But c'mon: 289 regular-season and postseason starts, 127 sacks and four Super Bowl appearances, yet the Hall of Fame turns up its nose at Marshall as just a pretty good defender with a long career? Ken Griffey Jr.? They would rank first in the NFL in yardage four other times while Evans was a starter. Allen has much in common with many others on this underrated list. Unlike many of Marshall's teammates, however, he wasnt an obnoxious self-promoter, which partly explained his absence from the NFC Pro Bowl roster that season. Even so, Smith was pretty much a well-kept secret outside Pittsburgh despite meeting or approaching Pro Bowl standards for almost a decade. Buckner earned his first All-Pro honors in 2020 and still has plenty of untapped potential to take his game to another level at just 27 years old. The Packers believed they were a veteran quarterback away from a playoff run in 1974, so head coach/GM Dan Devine acquired the 34-year-old Rams quarterback by surrendering a ransom of draft picks huge enough to cause even Ryan Pace to do a spit take: two first-rounders, two second-rounders and a third-rounder. But no highlight clip of that play can be found on the internet. Bottom line: Adam Vinatieri was money in the postseason, but Matt Bahr was even better. He's not the kind of player a wise organization sheds to cut expenses. An ever-growing backlog of outstanding safeties is queuing up outside Canton, as Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed will soon joinJohn Lynch and Brian Dawkins. The fullback has become a non-factor in many of todays NFL offenses, but Juszczyk remains an integral part of how the San Francisco 49ers run their offense. Here is every NFL teams most underrated player of all time. A longtime semifinalist, his case is about to be handed over to the Veterans Committee, which has done a fine job recently of correcting oversights from Kenn's era. MVP-caliber seasons (1,528 yards, 90 receptions, 16 total touchdowns in 2006) early in his career gave way to annual 1,100-1,200 yard, low-touchdown grinds as the Greatest Show Rams retired one by one and the team fell to 2-14 and 1-15. But McCree did fumble. Two names that are familiar to even casual football fans sit atop the mountaintop of underrated NFL players for the 2015 regular season. He was an All-Pro for the Orange Crush defenses of the 1970s, and then he stuck around to play for the 1986 Broncos Super Bowl team. Mike Williams is an elite deep threat at wide receiver and has maintained an average YPC of over 15 every year since 2018. And then there is Kent Hull, the first center to achieve greatness in a no-huddle offense. Smith produced nine 1,000-yard seasons in 10 years, including two 100-plus-catch seasons in an era when they were still relatively uncommon. Rivers had neither, but he possessed just about everything else. An all-underrated team like this one can get flooded with Zach Thomas, Hardy Nickerson, Tommy Nobis and Tedy Bruschi types if we don't get a little choosy. Karl Mecklenburg. But so were teammates like Len Dawson, Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan, Bobby Bell, Curley Culp and Jan Stenerud, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. ", Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins, Pro Bowl appearances (AFL All-Star Game): Two (1965, 1967). Johnson can line up all over the field and consistently find space in the opposing defense. It takes bad timing and bad luck. According to Pro Football Reference, he was flagged for 14 accepted holding penalties in 187 career games, little more than one per season. Chiesa is a winger who plays for Juventus. But he didn't play for the legendary 49ers teams. Peppers will have to play three more seasons to catch Marshall, and Peppers' starts are non-consecutive. Running backs suffer none of the "didn't win the big game" biases that color our perception of quarterbacks. Brett Favre may be the player most responsible for bringing spectacle and success back to Titletown, but Butler brought back celebration. WebA key ingredient of arguably the best back four to grace the game Mauro Tassoti, him, Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini the Milan central defender made more than 450 The guy should demand a recount, I tell ya. He once threw three touchdowns in a shutout victory in a title game. When Da Bears bean counters refused to pay up two years later, Marshall was the odd man out again. Super Bowl championships: Two (2005, 2008). "I wasnt the fastest guy, but I didnt mind having the defender at my hip," Ellard said per Yahoo Sports. During his time at Fiorentina, he was the best player, 2. He enjoyed one of the greatest receiving games in NFL history: 15 catches, 291 yards and three touchdowns against the historic 2000 Ravens defense. Roberston is the guy getting head-butted in the sternum and knocked backward by Campbell before the running back's jersey gets torn off. He's the Rams' all-time leading rusher with almost 3,000 more yards for the franchise than Marshall Faulk or Eric Dickerson. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. Not Fred Dean. Maybe not, seeing as Nalen has not had much success. But outside of Wisconsin, his accomplishments were mostly forgotten shortly after his career ended in 2001. To understand why he is not in the Hall of Fame, you must familiarize yourself with both the era he played in and the vagaries of Hall voting. Jeff Saturday had to translate Peyton Manning's spur-of-the-moment audibles into protection schemes a split second before the snap. He played 256 career regular-season games, never missing a start due to injury. For a few years, he was not only the best guard in the NFL, but the most important. Gheorghe Hagi, Romania. Anchoring defenses with catchy names like the "Orange Crush?" Greenlaw is equally effective against the run and pass, a sure tackler, and brings plenty of energy to theNiners' defense. Hes the only quarterback with AFL and NFL titles on his resume and he darn near pulled it off in the Canadian Football League as well. Then again, the fourth-round draft pick had no choice. Super Bowl championships: Four (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989). It takes years of playing the wrong position for the wrong team in the wrong league at the wrong time. The Pro Football Reference Similar Players tool compares Ryan's five-year peak to that of Joe Theismann. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro. 'Nuff said, right? In the nine seasons that Aaron Smith had double-digit starts, their D ranked among the top nine in yards allowed every time, but his consistent play went over the heads of many. They didnt allow a sack in 84 pass attempts. Teams: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1997, 2000, 2005). Pro Football Reference rates him at near a Pro Bowl level well into his 30s. Frank Ryan led the NFL in passing touchdowns twice. Ogbah has always been a steady presence rushing the quarterback but broke out in 2020 during his first season with the Dolphins. The Packers were a team with more history than identity when Butler arrived. But three of his best seasons are not listed in the encyclopedias. Robertson is so poorly remembered that it was hard to find a decent photo of him in our archives. Maybe he wasn't the best defender on the field for any one play, but he stayed on that field for an entire generation. There's a statue outside of Lambeau Field commemorating the Lambeau Leap, perhaps the most recognizable and beloved (except to Packers opponents) end-zone celebration in the NFL. He took over as the Bears' featured offensive weapon after the Super Bowl Shuffle years. We could just trudge onward to the next player right now. He had the speed to get to the edge and beat defenders down the sideline, the power to plow through tackles, the elusiveness to make things happen in the open field and receiving chops to rival contemporaries Roger Craig or Thurman Thomas. No one else is even close. While Graham's sack numbers have never hit double digits, he remains a complete player and Super Bowl champion. He picked off a dozen passes in his career two of them at 38 years of age an absurd number for a 6-foot-4, 265-pound lineman. He announced his retirement from pro football in 2010, not long after signing with the Arizona Cardinals. His 42-yarder in the 1990 NFC championship game rates as one of the greatest clutch kicks in league history. He also had some of the clutch gene. His franchises just kept ending up on the wrong side of history. If Isiah Robertson is famous at all, it's for being "posterized" by Earl Campbell in one of the most famous NFL Films highlights of all time. Who knows what the NFL might have looked like then? Is Jalen Hurts the Future of the Philadelphia Eagles? While every fan base is sure to have two or three names they feel are undervalued and worthy of this list, here are my current top ten underrated players in the NFL. Schlereth started in three Super Bowls with the Redskins and Broncos, all of them victories. Player A passed for 27,928 yards and 194 touchdowns and ran for four touchdowns with mostly very good teams and one great one. DeForest Buckner plays great team defense and has done so successfully for two franchises. He lacked the straight-line speed to be a game-breaker. Bottom line: OK, kids, lets play Name That Hall of Famer. "It was tough, but I was happy for those guys," Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And almost nobody remembers that, when Edwards caught the ball, he knew what to do it. There's underrated, underappreciated and overlooked. Karl Mecklenburg. Teams kept doing something special to get their hands on Hadl. He didnt just take up space, either. Jones has also recorded at least 100 tackles every year since entering the league with the exception of 2018 when he played in only 6 games. Hull started his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals, where he helped Herschel Walker rush for 2,411 yards in one 18-game season. Honourable Mentions Hajime Hosogai, Hertha Berlin DM, Age: 27 Measurables. But things were different in the long-ago 1990s, when the sports universe belonged to teal-emblazoned expansion franchises and a youngish Tom Coughlin received a binder full of press clippings from the mother of a wide receiver ready to call it quits after injuries derailed his Cowboys career. One look at the logjam forming outside the entrance to Canton tells you Wisniewski isn't moving up the ladder anytime soon. Developing a rapport with new QB Trevor Lawrence should only help Shenault quickly reach his true potential. And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. FEDERICO CHIESA. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. Those who like to shout "first-ballot Hall of Famer" about Rivers do not know how the Hall of Fame works. Bottom line: Warrick Dunn overcame the murder of his mother, bouts with depression and 5-foot-9 size to have a successful 12-year NFL career. And to think, the guy never played in a Pro Bowl game. But a double whammyplaying center and playing for the Broncoshas kept him miles from Hall of Fame consideration. Still don't understand why the writers don't respect it.". NaVorro Bowman trade rumors surfaced in early spring, only to be quickly squelched by new 49ers general manager John Lynch. Beachum has lined up at both left and right tackle but displayed But don't write him off as some 1960s product of the system. "Stanley Steamer" could run every route and was hell on wheels with the ball in his hands. Other than Steve Largent and Kurt Warner, Pro Bowlers were harder to find in the Seahawks offense than a haystack in the Space Needle. He returned eight interceptions for touchdowns, including four in 1993 and three during his age-35 season with the Raiders in 2000. The 49ers drafted linebacker Reuben Foster at the bottom of the first round. If Morgan had played in a pass-happy offense with a Pro Bowl quarterback and hands-off rules, you would find him in Canton right now. WebWho are the most underrated players of all time? Young was a devastating interior pass-rusher who recorded 30 sacks in the three-year span from 1998 through 2000. Bottom line: All Ken Norton could do was take down ballcarriers and collect Super Bowl rings. Oh, and Norton scored the final touchdown of the game on a 9-yard fumble return. A Super Bowl ring and two AFL championships. He played for teams that were more interesting than outstanding, from the Ryan and Rich Kotite-era Eagles to the Jim Mora and Mike Ditka Saints to Jon Gruden's Raiders. Steve Wisniewski played guard on a Raiders team that moved in the middle of his career and was just good enough to remind you it was not in the same class as the great Raiders teams that preceded it. At age 25, Franklin-Myers seems to be just scratching the surface of his potential and should benefit from some additional pieces being added to a young rebuilding Jets defense. There will never be another player like Marshall. If ever a geezer was meant to play with George Allens Over The Hill Gang, he was the one. Not one of the Jim Harbaugh-era guys. St. Allen made a lot of plays. Edouard Mendy of Chelsea celebrates after his sides victory in the Premier League match 2. "Hate to say it, but I do believe I should be there (in Canton)," Marshall once said. While coverage is Bates' strength, he can still lay the big hit and be a factor in run support. A great story off the field and rare talent on it, Waller appears to still be getting better at age 29. In the 1950s and the days of 12-game regular seasons, he rushed for 3,078 yards, nearly 1,000 more than the runner-up. Steve Atwater. At 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, he didnt wow anyone physically. No modern coach suppressed passing offenses quite like Fisher, and no team produces offensive stats that look like they come from the early 1930s quite like the Ravens. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. Sideways. But the run-'n'-shoot took away more than it provided, and the early 1990s Lions kept getting obliterated by better defenses in the playoffs. Ellard was an Antonio Brown-level talent in his prime, but his teams were in no hurry to get him the ball. Kenn was one of the leaders of the NFL Players Association during the era of replacement players and court battles over free agency. He isn't the dynamic threat thatTyreek Hill orDavante Adams are, but Allen is an elite route runner that consistently puts up elite production. He accounted for all his teams points in a 15-13 white-knuckler that wrecked the 49ers three-peat bid and sent the Giants to Super Bowl XXV. The best teams in the AFL proved to be NFL-caliber, but the bottom of the league was populated with a nearly bankrupt franchise or two, so the best players clumped on the best teams and stood out from the crowd. The problem with Dierdorf is he played for a lot of bad Cardinals teams. There, he led a relentless Redskins pass rush in their Super Bowl XXVI ambush. The former top ten draft pick looks to be on the verge of breaking out. Its a frigging joke that Taylor isnt in the Hall of Fame discussion. No one plays guard expecting fame and accolades, least of all Wisniewski, who is worthy of all the gritty cliches you can sling at him. Mills was a USFL All-Star in all three seasons of the league's existence, and he led the Philadelphia and Baltimore Stars' Doghouse Defense (coached by Jim Mora) to a pair of league titles. There may be such a thing as too much blitzing, after all. The Colts accused Ryan of running up the score in the 27-0 championship rout of 1964. Bottom line: Wilber Marshall was the most athletic and versatile linebacker with the legendary 1985 Bears defense he often replaced the celebrated Mike Singletary in pass situations. Bottom line: Derrick Mason was among the shrewdest, most precise route runners of his time. Lets not forget they also dominated with cold-blooded efficiency at the other side of the ball, where Keena Turner was rarely out of position at right outside linebacker. Naturally, it also guarantees that some of the best players in the country get overshadowed and forgotten in the sport's warp-speed news cycle. He is also infamous for admitting on ESPN Radio that he once purposely let Packers defender Sean Jones sack Scott Mitchell so the struggling quarterback would get knocked out of a game. Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. Web#shortsucl#bayernmunich #bayern #barcelona#football#footballedit#footballedits#footballshirts#soccer#socceredit#socceredits#soccershorts He started for the Rams in their Super Bowl seasons at the beginning of his career and then earned Pro Bowl berths for Washington from 2009 through 2012 when he was in his mid-30s. But few cornerbacks spent more of their careers in the crosshairs than Allen. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. They didnt do anything that Tobin Rote hadnt done a long time ago. If not for Schlereth's many health problems that included 29 surgeries, 15 on his left knee alone, he would have been a perennial Pro Bowl selection. Web#shortsucl#bayernmunich #bayern #barcelona#football#footballedit#footballedits#footballshirts#soccer#socceredit#socceredits#soccershorts Moton started all 16 games each of the last four years, gradually improving and joining the conversation of best right tackles in football. If Mel Blount, Mike Haynes and teammate Lemar Parrish hadnt been in the same conference, Riley would have made more a few more Pro Bowl trips. Kenny Anderson may be the most "so underrated that he's overrated" player in NFL historya darling of the stat-head community and common first-guy-mentioned when Hall of Fame snubs come up. Full name: Jordi Alba Ramos Date of birth: March 21, 1989 Age: 33 years old (as of 2023) Place of birth: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain Height: 1.70 m Current team: Buckner plays within the defense, often allowing others to make plays, but remains a nightmare trying to block one on one. WebFive players made their "Top 100" debuts -- David Montgomery, Jimmie Ward, CeeDee Lamb, Justin Tucker and Kyle Pitts -- in Episode 1 (Nos. Today we look back at the most underrated Quarterbacks in the history of the NFL, and a few of these should be in Canton. All picks and predictions are suggestions only. Even without the same speed and athleticism as when he entered the league, David continues to find ways to make impact plays like a seasoned veteran. Mills looks like just another local hero linebacker in the encyclopedias, albeit a good one. Sutton hauled in 72 catches for 1,112 yards during his second season in the league before a knee injury cut short his 2020campaign after 1 game. On a walk-through between center and left guard, naturally. Numbers better than majority of RBs in history. He played center, as well, before his career was over. He has started every game he has played in since 2014 (with four different franchises). If the quarterback got rid of the ball before getting crushed, it was up to Allen to make a play. These men did so much but received so little credit in return. In two Super Bowl trips, Bahr didnt miss a kick three field goals, six PATs. Now that's underrated. That feeling never really went away.". He played left tackle in 1972 and moved to right tackle in 1974. Evans is still playing at a high level; the Packers hope that he can do for Aaron Rodgers what he did for Brees. A Hall of Fame voter once warned me that "every town has its linebacker.". Nothing screams underappreciated like rumors you're about to be traded to make room for a late first-round pick. Dont know about you, but I want Mason on my retro fantasy league team. Theyre the core players who are overshadowed by more well-paid, high-profile teammates and just plain pathetic, shameless self-promoters. Web20 most underrated football players of all time 1. WebTop ten under-capped England players is a list Foden and Maddison want to avoid Matt Le Tissier won 10 fewer England caps than Carlton Palmer. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. Poor Louis Wright has a hard time even making the Broncos' overcrowded All-Snub Team. The system helped make Hall of Famers of Kelly, Reed and Thomas. Photo by JOHN CAPUTO/AFP via Getty Images, ST. LOUIS, MO CIRCA 1980: Ed Jones #72 of the Dallas Cowboys gets blocked by Dan Dierdorf #72 of the St. Louis Cardinals during an NFL football game circa 1980 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. "No one was going to catch no ball.". Oh, and sub-packages were pretty rare in the 1960s and 1970s, so Marshall didn't leave the field much. But the former NFL Man of the Year award winner and two-time All-Pro should not have had to wait so long. He should be remembered as more than a throwback to the era when Lawrence Welk references were topical. The Over-the-Hill Gang fielded one of the most ferocious pass rushes of its era, notching 53 sacks in 1973. Bowman makes this list because he has the makings of a player who will be underappreciated historically. McDole is not known for much of anything anymore, as his AFL stardom came before the Super Bowl era and his Redskins heroics predated the era of Joe Gibbs and the Hogs. They're the working stiffs who bust their butts at so-called lesser positions, on teams that are seldom seen on highlights shows, let alone national television. Ohhh-kaaaaay, one of the Hasselbecks then? Ryan would blitz between five and eight defenders, plus some water boys and maybe a few boo birds from the 700 level of Veterans Stadium. Addiction soon began consuming Smith's career, and then his life. His 2,690 all-purpose yards with the Titans in the 2000 season are second in league history. As a pass blocker, Moton has developed into a steady presence capable of holding his own, and at times even dominating top pass rushers that include Joey Bosa and Cameron Jordan. His 65 interceptions are fifth most in NFL history. The Hall of He covered receivers (38 career interceptions). "It pissed me off," Fletcher replied. For years, the team couldn't even harken back to its glory days properly, as Smith's Pride of the Jaguars induction was delayed until he was sober and no longer under house arrest. New England Patriots wide receiver Stanley Morgan, right, battles for Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. But there is no player; fans themselves get to "leap" into the statue for photo ops. The linebacker ranks 17th in career solo tackles (1,130) and is the only player to be part of three consecutive Super Bowl champions. Turner was the ultimate plug-and-play guy, one of five 49ers to be part of all eight of their playoff teams in the decade. Slot specialists such as Julian Edelman and Victor Cruz are now considered valuable components to the modern passing game. Yet he still led his team to the playoffs three more times. Coaches rave about his work off the field and his dedication to improving his craft. There have been too many players in NFL history to count, so naturally, many of them werent going to get the attention they deserved for their play. He started for an offensive line that helped Barry Sanders win two of his four rushing titles.