Bucky Brooks put together a top 5 most underrated players list. Matt Stafford was tops on his list.
This got me wondering.
Who is the Lions most underrated player?
Also who do you think is an under rated player in the NFL?
Let’s discuss this some …. Who ya got?
On offense I’m going to have to say DeAndre Swift. Swift received just 114 carries in 2020. He managed 8 td’s and 4.6 yards a carry. He also caught 46 passes for 357 yrds 7.8 yrds per catch and 2 more TD’s. He had 10 td’s as a rookie. That’s pretty good. Especially with AP getting so many opportunities last year.
I think he could end up around 225 carries in 2021. Thats 1000+ yards and 15 tds rushing if he can equal his 2020 numbers. I highly doubt he will equal his TD rate though. But let’s say 10-12 is realistic.
I also think 60-70 receptions is doable with 500 yards receiving and 4 TD’s.
On defense I’m leaning towards Flowers. I think our defensive scheme really hurt Flowers opportunities and this year we should see a difrent player who gets after the QB more. I’m also expecting a lot more from Walker and Okudah. Let’s hope one of them steps up and earns this honor.
Trey Flowers is a GREAT professional football player. His numbers don’t reflect his impact on the game. One could also make an argument for Romeo Okwara. There were only 11 players with double digit sacks in 2020 and Romeo was one of them. Flowers and Romeo should be a very, very good DE tandem.
Michael Brokers is 4th on my list after Swift, Flowers, Romeo then Brockers.
On offense I’m going with Goff. His resume is incredible but he gets next to no love at all for the things he’s accomplished.
Full stop. Not going down a rabbit hole on this. Just keeping it simple. I’m not saying Goff is Mahomes. I’m not comparing him to Stafford in any way shape or form here. I’m simply saying his resume is impressive and a lot of people are acting like he’s trash because, evidently, the Rams are loaded with talent no one else in the NFL has.
On defense, I’ll go out on a limb and say Jaylen Reeves-Maybin. JRM was outstanding in college prior to dealing with a shoulder injury. I think he’s looked good whenever he’s been given a chance in the NFL as well. Unfortunately, and I think it’s due to his size, he’s never really been put in a position to show what he’s got here in Detroit.
Looking forward to hopefully seeing a little bit more of JRM this year to find out if I’m right or wrong about him. I do think he’s good enough to be given some playing time.
Are these the MOST underrated players on the Lions? Maybe not…1st two names that came to my head though.
I’ve got 2 players who are most underrated and overlooked, one on offense and one on defense. Both came into the league from small schools a few years ago and have honed their game up to NFL levels.
CB Mike Ford showed speed and decisiveness when he’s had the chance in addition to his special teams role. I think he’ll show up well in our new aggressive D.
WR Kalif Raymond showed the ability to separate and make difficult–not contested–catches with Tennessee when given the chance the last 2 seasons. He’ll get chances when our running game is respected and with a protected Goff throwing bombs. The Rams will wish they had Kalif rather than DeSean on their team by mid-season. He’ll return punts until T Williams or Perriman get injured, when he’ll be too valuable to expose him in that role.
I’m starting to think Fred Warner might be one of the most underrated players in the NFL.
Christian McAffrey is underrated, I’m just not sure by how much. We had a thread recently about guys who had 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same year and while people could remember 2 guys from 20-30 years ago they didn’t even realize Christian just did it in 2019. And he was only a few receiving yards away from doing it in 2018…which would have meant he would have had back to back 1000/1000 yard seasons.
That was my immediate thought too. Bucky has covered the Lions enough to have said this before at some point but never did. Now that he’s out of Detroit though, suddenly Bucky wants to sing his praises. Go figure.
Good find. I knew he was somewhat high on Stafford but couldn’t really remember him going out of his way to put Stafford at the top of any lists. Guess he has though, so I retract my previously thrown shade.
We’ve done this exercise before. I’m saying Tavai is underrated by virtue of everyone on the board looking at him as some sort of VD. Like, when someone says “look at Tavai running” the image people see is not of a player running on the field, but more that of a running sore. Like, if you’re going to have Tavai on your roster, you’re also going to need an ample supply of salve.
I wonder if “underestimated” is a better word for Tavai? Just something different so that people don’t think he’s already arrived…but he’s better than people think and he’s got a chance to keep growing.
Sometimes I think things take on a life of their own on the board, particularly when its a funny joke that can be retold in various ways. Like Tavai having the speed of a parking cone. He doesn’t test well and he was clearly overweight under Patricia. But you also see things like running down Justin Jefferson downfield and making the tackle when you watch him. So I think the jokes don’t exactly match the player.
It will be interesting to see. Different players get treated differently and the media runs with different storylines based on how they choose to present a situation. I will never forget joking about how Tony Romo catches more flack than he deserves for the Cowboys not being world beaters. Every time the Cowboys lost I braced myself for how much Tony Romo blame I was going to hear on Monday (I lived in Cowboys country so keep that in mind). I joked that Tony could throw for 500 yards and 5 TDs and if he made one mistake at the end of the game he would be blamed. Sure as shit Tony ended up in a shootout with Peyton Manning’s Broncos. Tony completed 70% of his passes for 500 yards and 5 TDs, but threw an interception at the end of the game that led to the Broncos winning 51-48. Tony caught 8 kinds of hell on Monday for “choking the game away.”
Patrick Mahomes on the flipside is being given a free pass for the Super Bowl. I know it looked cute with the Matrix style throws and all but another QB in the same situation would be catching hell for playing undisciplined and trying to be a hero instead of making the smart plays.
