Cornelius Griffin is another from the late 90s teams that had a good NFL career. Played for several years on the Redskins d line.
Most Underrated Bama Player That Had A Huge Pro Career?
- Thread starter alabama mike1
- Start date
I looked thru a couple of pages here and did not see Demarco Ryan's on the list. I at least saw him play in college.
Jarrett Johnson had a long NFL career on good teams. He has the Ravens team record for most consecutive games played. He made $35 million in his career. He was only a 4th round pick.
Great suggestion. Also he's a great person as well!
I guess we read the question differently. You’re saying that it’s asking for a player who really had a good pro career, but whose pro career isn’t always viewed in that light.
Given that reading, I would agree that Bart Starr’s pro career was not under-rated.
But I read the question as asking for a player who was underrated coming out of college, yet went on to a good pro career.
Bart Starr:
— Didn’t start, or even play much, his senior year of college, and
— Was drafted in the last round on a throwaway pick, and
— That pick was made pretty much a favor to the basketball coach, yet
— Went on to a stellar pro career — as you point out, his team retired his jersey number.
I don’t know how that wasn’t jaw-droppingly under-rated coming out of college.
Last edited:
Maybe so, but it’s kinda hard to put a Hall of Famer into the underrated category unless you are comparing him to other Hall of Famers. There are many GREAT and even Elite NFL players that don’t get into the Hall of Fame. I mean look how long it took Kevin Greene to become a Hall of Famer. Someone with more sacks than LT. The point is I think Bart has gotten the recognition he deserved.
when I think of underrated I think of cogs in a machine that go totally unnoticed until they are gone. Townsend and Reggie Ragland are those types for me.
Not to mention how he ended up playing linebacker. He basically got the job because everyone else was injured. By the time everyone was back healthy, the coaches just kept him there since he was so good/solid.
My UA son was friends with Jarrett Johnson -- said he was vastly under-rated as an athlete. He's one of the best unheralded players we've ever had, imho. And a good guy as well...
100% agree with all of those who’ve already answered with Starr. The man didn’t even start for one of the worst Alabama teams in our history. (Although since that was 40 years before my time I don’t recall if that was his Jr or Sr year)
Since he’s already been mentioned at length though, I’m going to bring up a couple of more recent guys who I think will belong in that conversation For many years to come:
1. Josh Jacobs - hard to call a 1st rd pick and first RB drafted as underrated. However it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t massively under-utilized while at Bama. He shared time with a lot of beasts, then was largely drafted on potential and a couple of breakout playoff games. So far he hasn’t disappointed and I believe that in 10 years we might look back at him as the most complete back we put into the league . I’ll always look back on His time here with a bit of chagrin, wondering what he could have done had he gotten more consistent touches.
2. Levi Wallace - UDFA who’s now going into his 3rd year as a consistent starter for the Bills, on what’s also one of the better defenses in the NFL. Fun fact, he’s now projected to start over Josh Norman, who just a few short years ago was considered one of the top 2-3 corners in the game.
3. Eddie Jackson - I do believe in a sense that his 4th rd draft status had more to do with his ACL tear, not necessarily being overlooked. However when he was on our defense he did it all, but always seemed to be overshadowed by some of the other bigger names around him. We all knew he was electric, but he didn’t get much media attention at all. Now he’s one of the top performing and paid safeties in the league.
Honorable Mention: Alvin Kamara - We had the kid who’s been one of the most dominant RB’s in the NFL for the last 4 years. Yet he was so buried on the depth chart we never got to see what he was capable of. He was definitely a late bloomer, but still makes you wonder what could have been.
Since he’s already been mentioned at length though, I’m going to bring up a couple of more recent guys who I think will belong in that conversation For many years to come:
1. Josh Jacobs - hard to call a 1st rd pick and first RB drafted as underrated. However it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t massively under-utilized while at Bama. He shared time with a lot of beasts, then was largely drafted on potential and a couple of breakout playoff games. So far he hasn’t disappointed and I believe that in 10 years we might look back at him as the most complete back we put into the league . I’ll always look back on His time here with a bit of chagrin, wondering what he could have done had he gotten more consistent touches.
2. Levi Wallace - UDFA who’s now going into his 3rd year as a consistent starter for the Bills, on what’s also one of the better defenses in the NFL. Fun fact, he’s now projected to start over Josh Norman, who just a few short years ago was considered one of the top 2-3 corners in the game.
3. Eddie Jackson - I do believe in a sense that his 4th rd draft status had more to do with his ACL tear, not necessarily being overlooked. However when he was on our defense he did it all, but always seemed to be overshadowed by some of the other bigger names around him. We all knew he was electric, but he didn’t get much media attention at all. Now he’s one of the top performing and paid safeties in the league.
Honorable Mention: Alvin Kamara - We had the kid who’s been one of the most dominant RB’s in the NFL for the last 4 years. Yet he was so buried on the depth chart we never got to see what he was capable of. He was definitely a late bloomer, but still makes you wonder what could have been.
He was drafted 11th overall. Granted, he had a long career, made big shots and won some rings, but he averaged 7 points a game. His best comp is Joe Smith and Juwan Howard.
Last edited:
Wallace Gillberry has a pretty good NFL career after being an UDFA
Thanks - did not realize that he was drafted that high. Still, he was the most clutch late game shooter that I can remember in the NBA playoffs. If you needed a guy to make one shot to win the title, he is who I would pick over anyone, including Jordan.
I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your response based on the fact that the OP didn't mention "underrated" at all, but rather posted "Who is a player that played for Alabama, that was not a big name, but went on to have an outstanding pro career? " and Starr fits this description to a tee.
Certainly I do agree with you that Starr was not underrated as a member of the Packers, Lombardi alone saw to that, not to mention public comments of many of Starr's Green Bay teammates.
Last edited:
Loved Jarrett. His two DL teammates Kindall Moorehead and Kenny King were both 5th round picks and Kindall played 7 years and Kenny 5 years. That DL we had on those early 2000 teams were nasty.
I worked with a guy a while back who's son was friends with JJ growing up, and he said JJ was a great guy. Read an article a few years ago when he retired that talked about how much respect he had in the locker rooms of both the Chargers and the Ravens. Class act. Glad he represented us so well.
Latest threads
-
-
-
-
-
-
New Daniel Moore Art Print - Buzzer Beater (Alabama Basketball)- Started by 22Musso22
- Replies: 0