Here is my all-overrated team. Off the top of my head, so apologies to the stiffs I forgot.
QB- McNabb. Least accurate passer that anyone tries to call good, with the possible exception of his backup on the AOT, Vince Young (POSSIBLE exception because I think anyone daring to call him good would say he throws like a girl in their next breath)
RB- Willis McGahee. Perfectly set up for the AOT. Great potential, had career threatening injury, came back, so everyone assumes he has now fulfilled that potential. Goes on to have accomplished next to nothing, and show a 3rd grade level of maturity.
WR- TO. He's a good receiver, but not as good as many think he is, and his personality and mouth by themselves, and how they hurt a team, would make him overrated even if he was Jerry Rice.
Chris Chambers. He makes plays, but the opinion of his is as if he makes 10 times more than he does. In Miami, with the players around him, he should have caught 100 passes a year if he was a top WR, but he didnt even lead his team last year, Welker did, playing about 40% as many snaps.
Hon Mention. Santana Moss, only HM because everyone has figured out he sucks by now.
TE- Shockey. You would think listening to commentators on Giants game that he had WR speed, agility and skills. Then you watch him and see a slow, bull in a china shop guy. He looks uncoordinated to me. And he cant block at all.
OL- Marcus McNeil. Had a good rookie year, but is nowhere near as good as he was last year, nor close to what many people think he is. Kevin Mawae. Thug. Chris Snee. A pretty decent OL, but is being called all-pro caliber. I see him screw up a lot. Seems to have penalties at the worst times, and fans on his blocks too much for my liking. (Caveat: his penalties may seem more frequent because every time he has one it is pointed out he's married to his coaches daughter) Olin Kreutz. Good center, but he has more fumbled snaps that anyone in the league. Cant all be the QB.
DE- Freeney. Ive wrote volumes lately on this. But when all you are asked to do is rush the QB, and you get 9 sacks in 25 games, basically, you stink. You're insane brother. Why don't don't you do a tour around the NFL and ask some head coaches what they think about Freeney? Why don't you ask some of them about his ability to PUT PRESSURE on the QB? You're "all or nothing" attitude toward QB sacks makes you look silly.
Michael Strahan. Way, way too past his prime to still be talked about as a good player.
DT- Corey Redding. Keep hearing how great this guy is. He isn't. He was a OLB/DE hybrid who couldn't cut it there and bulked up and moved inside. Gets some sacks because of the system, but is a liability against the run.
J Williams. Yes he is a good NT. But when John Madden and everyone else says "You cannot run on the Chargers because of him" that makes him overrated. Until I see a DL who can make plays at the l.o.s. in 8 different gaps, I will consider any comment that one player stops the run by himself the greatest example of overrated there is.
LB- Zack Thomas. A good player, but very overrated. I have a very hard time considering a guy who makes tackles when no blocker comes near him, because of the system, a special player. The Dolphin D has always been about occupying blockers so Thomas can run free, so he makes a bunch of tackles. However, when offenses are able to get a blocker to him, he cannot shed the block (even of a FB). Any MLB can make tackles when no one blocks them. A great MLB makes plays then, and also when he isn't running free.
Jonathan Vilma. See Thomas.
Ray Lewis. Once a great LB, he is now just a mouth with a football players body attached. At this point he is firmly below average for his postion.
Cato June. Its great when a LB gets some Ints, but getting Ints does not make up for being weak at the point of attack in the running game.
CB- Dre Bly. Never understood why he was highly regarded to begin with. Mediocre corner, but all of sudden, he hits FA and is being called a great corner. I don't think any pre-2008 publiciations will be making that claim.
Ronde Barber. Perhaps not overrated for the system he is in, because he is very good at cover2 responsiblities, but to think he could succeed in a system that asked him to play man, or not have consistent help over the top is foolish.
S- Bob Sanders. He may be a pro-bowl caliber guy if he could ever stay healthy. But the commentary on him is ridiculous. There is no a safety EVER BORN that can shut down the run. There have been many safeties over the years that have played in systems that have them up at the l.o.s. (usually not lined up there but coming up after the snap) where they go unblocked to the point of attack, and those safeties make a lot of plays. They make none however if the players at the point of attack dont do their job. Safeties making the tackles in the running game is a result of SCHEME. Any competant safety would have as much impact as Sanders in the Colt run D (as long as he doesnt miss a bunch of tackles) if given the same assignment. Sanders perhaps does better in this than an average safety, but common perception is that he is doing something extraordinary and he isn't.Oh, he's extraordinart all right. I guess if everyone did their job, then there would be no such thing as a Pro Bowler. Sander does his job better than most.
Roy Williams. I think that if you could take your Fullback, split him out and get one on one coverage with Roy Williams, 75% of the teams in the NFL would throw for 150 yards to him.
HC- Norv is easy, but if you stink and everyone knows it are you really overrated? Jeff Fisher gets a lot of mention as a top HC, but his record shows mediocrity. I think you have to go with someone here who has won a SB, because when rating coaches that usually separates opinions, so I would nominate Jon Gruden. He couldn't win the big game with a very good Raider team (and IMO, he had good enough talent to do so, but his gameplanning and system prevented it.....i.e. throwing the ball 45 times a game with Rich Gannon behind a great OL while Charlie Garner averaged 5 yards a carry) and since winning the SB his first year in TB, that team has consistently gotten worse. But the winner of the HC of the AOT has to be Brian Billick. "Offensive genius" who hasn't had even an average offense in almost 10 years of trying, he also has figured out how to have what many people consider a great defense (Ravens D would definitely be the winner in the all-Overated unit list) and have it not be able to win a big game for him. Tough call between Billick and Gruden because Billick won his SB mostly because Grudens team choked in the AFCC against him, but Gruden won his only by beating the team he taught how to not win the big one. I'll go with Billick, primarily because he gets close enough to big games to get overrated and then to choke in them, while Gruden just avoids even reaching the playoffs to mitigated his overratedness by not being rated well anyway.
