Just for Sport

Welcome to the inaugural NFL All-Overrated Team. A good portion of our Monday Night Football get-togethers involve a lot of complaining about overrated players, especially when the Vikings play and the MNF crew won’t shut up about Brad Johnson. So, we decided to put our money where our mouth is and come up with a team full of these guys. This team was put together by a committee of five self-proclaimed experts in the field. Here’s the criteria:

1 - Current players only. In the words of Mark McGwire, “We’re not here to talk about the past.”

2 - This is not a lifetime achievement award, but it’s not just a 2006 thing, either. We tried to take into account the past 3-5 years. We do have some rookies and second and third year players, so take that with a grain of salt. Certainly, it’s possible that many rookies who have a lot of hype surrounding them will improve, but you can’t really leave them off the list. We wanted to include the entire league.

3 - In order to be overrated, a player must have a certain amount of “rated-ness.” This is not a bad players list. There are some players that we consider to be very good, but not necessarily worthy of all the hero worship. It may be that there is a major flaw in their game that gets downplayed, or that their stats don’t seem to back the perception.

4 - We limited the number of players per position. In some cases this turned out to be good, others not so much. Our initial list of quarterbacks encompassed almost half the league, but we really struggled to fill out the linebacker corps. We ended up with 3 QBs, 3 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 4 DL, 3 LBs, 5 DBs, and 1 K. We didn’t do any offensive linemen, because we didn’t feel we knew enough about it.

5 - Once again, this team was picked by a committee. Not all of us agreed with all of the picks. In fact, each of us were dissatisfied with at least one choice during the process. I will be noting my grievances in the comments, and I will encourage the others to do the same. You, the reader, are encouraged to follow suit.

6 - The players are listed in alphabetical order. It’s not a depth chart.

QB
Brad Johnson
Eli Manning
Ben Roethlisberger

Our quarterbacks are represented by two young guys and a really old one. We felt that Eli got too much press for being in the Manning family, and Roethlisberger is one of the guys that isn’t spectacular, but doesn’t make many mistakes. He gets way too much credit for the work his teammates do (Terry Bradshaw syndrome). Brad Johnson’s merits have already been discussed.

RB
Reggie Bush
Edgerrin James
LaMont Jordan

Reggie Bush was destined to be on this team the moment a columnist compared the draft to the Sam Bowie/Michael Jordan scenario. He’s not a good running back, and the committee believes he would be best served by switching to a WR. Edgerrin James is starting to make us believe that he was a “product of the system” in Indy. He’s not even one of the three best players in Arizona right now. LaMont Jordan has been a bust in every sense of the word. In fact, one of our own drafted him in the second round, only to drop him. He remains a free agent in our league.

WR
Ashley Lelie
Jerry Porter
Mike Williams

Williams, a former first round pick, ended up getting cut this offseason. Lelie, also a first rounder, had no catches this week and has not been the “downfield threat” he is billed to be. Porter has been a disappointment, as he cannot even get on the field. Contrary to popular opinion, the committee believes it wouldn’t make a difference, anyway.

TE
Kellen Winslow

Behind closed doors (and on the internet), I call him “The Mouth.” It seems like Winslow always has something to say in the locker room, but never seems to be able to say it on the field.

DL
Courtney Brown
Ebenezer Ekuban
Dwight Freeney
Jevon Kearse

We feature two Denver Broncos on our defensive line. Courtney Brown was supposed to be the next big thing, and a 70 tackle performance in his rookie season added fuel to the fire. He hasn’t even come close to replicating that success, but commentators remain convinced of his prowess. He recorded 24 tackles in 14 games last season, and has been unable to make it the field this year. Ebenezer was also supposed to be the second coming in Dallas, but ended up frustrating Cowboy fans with his inconsistent play. Nevertheless, the Broncos sung his praises when they signed him. They’ve received a slightly better performance from him this year, but Texans know he’s not deserving of the national attention. Everytime an announcer talks about Jevon Kearse, they mention his nickname: “The Freak.” Kearse may be a fine physical specimen, but his play isn’t fitting of a man of his stature and hype. Dwight Freeney rounds out our line. Freeney is certainly an important piece of Indy’s defense, often drawing double and triple teams in pass protection. However, he is completely ineffective against the run, a fact that’s often downplayed by announcers and commentators.

LB
Lavar Arrington
Napoleon Harris
Joey Porter

Napoleon Harris is the anchor of my defense on my Madden 07 team. The game certainly rates him very highly, as do many talking heads. What’s that, you say? Minnesota is ranked #1 against the run? Not because of Napoleon Harris. In fact, you could say that the MLB on this team is the weak spot. Joey Porter often gets a lot of press because he’s controversial. However, the perception seems to be that he is also a good player, which he is not. He is largely ineffective unless he is blitzing. A good blitzer does not a good linebacker make. Lavar Arrington, however, takes the cake. There have been numerous games in the last few years where Arrington has ended up with 0-2 tackles, yet he commanded a large contract in the offseason and seems to be a media favorite. Honestly, I would not want this individual playing linebacker on my favorite NFL Europe team.

DB
De’Angelo Hall
Quentin Jammer
Pacman Jones
Troy Polamalu
Charles Woodson

The AFC dominates our defensive backfield. Charles Woodson has long been perceived as an effective #1 corner, but nobody on the committee would take him for a #2. Troy Polamalu gets a lot of press for his ridiculous hair and hard hits, but he lacks the ability to cover a receiver one-on-one. Pacman Jones is a good returner, but hardly a #1 cornerback, contrary to perception. Quentin Jammer is often praised for his coverage skills, yet teams continue to pick on him in the red zone and on deep passes - effectively. Interestingly enough, De’Angelo Hall was labelled as an overrated Cornerback in this article. Anyone who refers to themself in the third person should be better at what they do than Hall is.

K
Mike Vanderjagt

I started calling Vanderjagt “Wide Right” after he kicked that ball into Canada during the playoff game against the Steelers last year. Since he’s been playing for the Cowboys, I’ve noticed a trend: No matter the situation, the Idiot Kicker’s kicks always end up right of center. Field goals either go wide right or sneak in on the right side, his kickoffs end up on the right side of the field (on the 10 yard line!), even the extra points end up on the right side of the goal. I don’t understand how you can kick for a living and not find a way to fix this. He’s completely unreliable, even from short distances, yet he continues to be lauded as “The NFL’s most accurate kicker.” This may be true statistically, but one cannot argue his overrated-ness. He is definitely not as valuable as advertised, evidenced by the Dallas Cowboys no longer needing his services.