Thread: Broncos All-Time Underrated and Overrated.

Wouldn't the most underrated players be underrated and thus not show up on the list?

Without looking at the article, I nominate Kragen.

Originally Posted by OrangeHoof

Wouldn't the most underrated players be underrated and thus not show up on the list?

Without looking at the article, I nominate Kragen.

I always thought Kragen was overrated. He made one or two probowls because he got a lot of tackles from the NT position. The problem was how often he was 5 yards down field making those tackles.

Speaking just about guys on the SB winning teams

Underrated
Mike Lodish
Keith Traylor
Darrien Gordon
Allen Aldridge
Howard griffith

Overrated
Can't think of any

When I say underrated I'm talking mostly about on a national level. Bronco fans know and appreciate all those guys but I think most football fans don't realize how vital they were to those teams' success.

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

Steve Sewell was/is very underrated.

Considering he was a first-round pick, I don't think he was underrated at all. Overdrafted, maybe.

y'all gotta drop the fan goggles to read this thing. it's not written for broncos fans, it's written for football fans. while guys like smith and jackson might be viewed as heroes here, do you think fans in buffalo or pittsburgh really know, think or care about anybody in denver who wasn't a pro bowler or newsmaker?

it's a good list. personally, i LOVE the elway underrated inclusion. the idea that brady or montana is considered a greater QB still irritates me. i also really like the three amigos overrated. those guys were average, at best, but attained some type of cult status because of the catchy name. whenever i think of broncos receivers from that era i go straight to the anecdote about how elway pleaded with dan reeves to draft carl pickens because he needed a receiver, then reeves took tommy maddox.

Originally Posted by OrangeHoof

Considering he was a first-round pick, I don't think he was underrated at all. Overdrafted, maybe.

Pick 26 out of 28 in the first round, but yes he was a first round pick.

He was vastly underutilized. It seemed to me that every time he was in a game, he would do something special. One of the first hybrid backs who was probably a better receiver than RB.

Billy Thompson, underrated.
Dennis Smith
Steve Atwater
Louis Wright

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

Pure hackery. None of the guy listed as underrated are, in fact, all that underrated. Elway is in the HOF, Rod Smith and Karl Mecklenberg are arguably HOF guys (in my homer view they belong there), Tom Jackson was very, very good indeed, but only the third best LBer on the Orange Crush (Gradishar and Swenson were better)...and "the offensive line" under Shanahan? They were great, and everyone knew they were great. This list was lazy.


Craig Morton took us to multiple AFC West championships and threw one of the best long balls I've ever seen. By the time we got him his mobility was shot, and he struggled behind an undersized line of human turnstiles with a pedestrian running game in support. To call him "overrated" is idiotic. Tebow played all of one full season with us, and was reasonably and surprisingly successful. Nobody not named Bullgator claimed much more than that, so to call him "overrated" says that the writer is either under 25 or a herd follower. Griese was en route to a fine career before his shoulder was ruined versus the Raiders - but he was never claimed to be elite in any way, again making the "overrated" charge lame.

My own Underrated/Overrated list. Note that in order to be underrated I think you have to be fairly obscure now. In order to be overrated somebody (not just selected loonies) must have thought you were good or talented at some point.

Underrated

WR Steve Watson. Best pure hands WR we ever had IMO, and had a terrific career YPC, which argues that the knock against him as just a "possession" receiver is more a function of the assumption by lazy sportswriters that all white WR's are somehow "possession" receivers. Led the NFL in reception yards in a superb breakout 1981 season.

RB Mike Anderson Tore up the League in 2000, played well subsequently, but was in a sort of unfair holding pattern as we waited for TD to recover from his multiple knee injuries.

QB Charley Johnson Came to Denver at the end of his career, and finally made the Broncos a winner. Led one of the most prolific passing attacks of the NFL in 1973 - a pure shock for a Denver fan at that stage!

CB Louis Wright Best pure cover CB of the 70's IMO. Nothing happened on his side of the field because nobody ever threw there. Too few people remember him now.

TE Riley Odoms The pass receiving skills of Shannon Sharpe combined with the blocking and size of Clarence Kay. Odoms was about the most complete TE I've ever watched.

Overrated

QB Steve Tensi How do I count this forgettable stiff as overrated? Because the Broncos traded two number one picks for him, that's how. He was supposedly going to be "The Guy", but the Chargers rogered us good, fobbing off their second string QB on us based upon his college rep and arm strength. Tensi was handed the starting job, started intermittently from 1967 to 1970 (whenever he could stay off the DL) and sucked pretty much throughout. Even Josh Mcdaniels never made a trade as bad as the Tensi trade.

The Three Amigos He at least got this one right. None were all that good, with Vance Johnson being the most overrated of the bunch. A gimmicky name for three mediocre WR's.

RB Sammy Winder Another reason our offense had trouble scoring in the 80's was its plodding unimaginative running attack, usually anchored on Sammy Winder. Winder had a good work ethic, a good attitude, and a great TD dance, but he really had neither speed, not size, nor elusiveness. His lack of production forced John Elway to win a lot of games all on his lonesome.

LB D.J. Williams The best LB on maybe the worst LBing Corps the Broncos ever fielded - and amongst the worst ever fielded by any pro team. Williams was athletic and made a lot of tackles, but was about as undisruptive as he could be, as he forced few fumbles, interceptions, sacks, tackles for loss, or big hits. As far as leadership goes I never saw any evidence of any.

Outside of a couple names i just never witnessed or new much about i agree with all of this.

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

Steve Sewell was/is very underrated.

Still one of my favorite players to this day.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

Speaking just about guys on the SB winning teams

Underrated
Mike Lodish
Keith Traylor
Darrien Gordon
Allen Aldridge
Howard griffith

Overrated
Can't think of any

When I say underrated I'm talking mostly about on a national level. Bronco fans know and appreciate all those guys but I think most football fans don't realize how vital they were to those teams' success.

Griffith and Gordon are so underrated its criminal.

Originally Posted by Northman

Griffith and Gordon are so underrated its criminal.

Howard Griffith was MONEY. That guy was always there when you needed him to be. I absolutely LOVE Howard Griffith, one of my favorite players on those teams.

Originally Posted by chazoe60

Speaking just about guys on the SB winning teams

Underrated
Mike Lodish
Keith Traylor
Darrien Gordon
Allen Aldridge
Howard griffith

Overrated
Can't think of any

When I say underrated I'm talking mostly about on a national level. Bronco fans know and appreciate all those guys but I think most football fans don't realize how vital they were to those teams' success.

Keith Traylor was the MVP of the KC playoff game the first year we won the SB. That dude's mother had just passed away and he played like a man who was obsessed. He was making plays in the backfield the whole game, and without him we probably wouldn't have won that game. It's kind of funny to think the Broncos originally drafted him as a LB, and by the end of his career he was a 340 lb NT.

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

He was vastly underutilized.

This I will agree with but while Sewell and Willhite were playing together, they were too similar for either to star.

Originally Posted by Al Wilson 4 Mayor

Keith Traylor was the MVP of the KC playoff game the first year we won the SB. That dude's mother had just passed away and he played like a man who was obsessed. He was making plays in the backfield the whole game, and without him we probably wouldn't have won that game. It's kind of funny to think the Broncos originally drafted him as a LB, and by the end of his career he was a 340 lb NT.

Not to mention he played for the Chiefs before coming BACK to the Broncos.

Originally Posted by rationalfan

y'all gotta drop the fan goggles to read this thing. it's not written for broncos fans, it's written for football fans. while guys like smith and jackson might be viewed as heroes here, do you think fans in buffalo or pittsburgh really know, think or care about anybody in denver who wasn't a pro bowler or newsmaker?

it's a good list. personally, i LOVE the elway underrated inclusion. the idea that brady or montana is considered a greater QB still irritates me. i also really like the three amigos overrated. those guys were average, at best, but attained some type of cult status because of the catchy name. whenever i think of broncos receivers from that era i go straight to the anecdote about how elway pleaded with dan reeves to draft carl pickens because he needed a receiver, then reeves took tommy maddox.

Good point. If you poll the average non-Broncos fan they probably couldn't tell you anything about any former Bronco other than Elway, Sharpe, and Davis IMO.