NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFC's Most Underrated Players

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue tell you who they think are the most underrated players across the NFC. Gregg and Jourdan run through the NFC East, followed by the NFC North, NFC South and NFC West. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're looking for something about the NFL that's underrated. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We're in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. By we, I mean myself and our great production crew, including Eric Roberts, Chris Fabona, Christy in the back. Jordan Rodriguez at her house in Los Angeles.

And yes, we're going to talk NFC underrated players on today's show. Are you ready, Jordan? I'm so ready. You know, Greg, I every once in a while get a chance to sit in that seat and talk directly to the camera in front of me. And I always notice that it's just a nice, like, flattering angle. The camera's set up very perfectly. I have to think that you had some hand in this and that you really like when we do shows like this because it does, it does set you up for success. It feels good. I didn't know this. I have no hand in anything. And I wanted you here today. Let's let's not, let's not be ridiculous about it. But. I'm happy that we're having some flexibility in the off season. And yes, it is the off season. And when I said we're looking for things that are underrated, when I say that, I mean, man, we cover the NFL so closely that I had to think, like, well, how hipster do we get for picking these underrated players? Because we talk about everyone. But I think we got some good ones coming up. Before we get

to that, we have a couple little schedule drips. Is every day the NFL is just giving us a couple drips until we get our big show, which Jordan will be a part of on Thursday going over the whole schedule release. We'll get the international games on Wednesday. But since we last talked, we learned Eagles Cowboys is the afternoon Thanksgiving game. Traditionally, Jordan, not sure if you're aware of this, this is the most watched game of the entire NFL season, usually. It's the best slot. And so they give it to the Eagles and the Cowboys. I think they were feeling the pressure after last year it was Chiefs Cowboys and it went crazy. You had to like give it as as good a possible a matchup. And so we get NFC East. Will that be for the first place, you know, standing in the

NFC East at that time? Man, I hope so. I think both teams have a real shot at being very, very good this year. Very exciting. And I like that there's a little pop on that day where you're kind of, a lot of families are probably either waiting for stuff to cook at that time and tuning in and sort of lounging around on the couches and watching the TV or the day is built around football as it should be as the shield intended. So I'm really, really excited about this. What a company woman. I'm really excited about it. I love, I mean, I love that this matchup has actual real competitive of juice this year. I think there's a little revenge game sort of scenarios here. Christian Parker, now the DC for the Cowboys, Improved Defense. I mean, both of those teams will know what they are by

that time. It's exciting. I love this matchup. I don't know if this is a company man thing to say. I was a little underwhelmed that the Bills are opening their stadium on Prime Video on week two. That's just me. I mean, you don't want to give them Sunday night football week one or even Monday night, I thought. It is a great game. It's Bill's. Lions, and I guess you could argue, hey, we're opening the stadium. There's all this attention on everything else. Week one, we get the centerpiece to kick off week two. So that's an awesome game on Prime Video.

The first Monday night football is Broncos versus Chiefs. I'm not saying that means Patrick Mahomes will be ready for week one, Broncos Chiefs. But I don't think it's nothing. Without knowing, I would imagine the league, is asking how this recovery is going before scheduling that game. Now, it could be Justin Fields versus the Broncos, and people are still going to watch. But if I'm a chiefs fans,

I feel like 25% more confident that Patrick Mahomes is ready for week one, just the fact that they put that in prime time on week one. Yeah, I mean, not to go all conspiracy theory here, I think you're on the right track there, though, in my opinion. I would think that they would at least have a good idea of a return timeline and a return to play timeline here. because that's just more exciting. That gives them big pop.

That's great for our guys Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, like the best booth out there. It's just, that'll be fun. Right, why would you give that game if it's Justin Fields? It would be... Just to hear Troy Aikman be miserable for half of the game. Like, no, you don't want to do that. Against that defense.

I think actually it would be compelling for me personally, but it wouldn't make sense to be expecting Justin Fields in that game. So that that's pretty compelling. There you, that Mahomes is week one. It would be a big test of the chief says they've really become the second national team behind the Cowboys, but I think it's probably just Mahomes makes them the national team. Finally, speaking of the Cowboys, rest in peace to Craig Morton. I just wanted to mention Craig Morton because a guy who, a little forgotten to history,

I think, but one of only four quarterbacks to play for two different organizations to start the Super Bowl at quarterback. And the other three are Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, and Tom Brady. Now, Morton's teams lost both those Super Bowls. It was Cowboys and the Broncos, but had a good career, led the league in yards per attempt. Three different times, rest in peace to Craig Morton, just a piece of football history. I just, you know, I want the kids to know about before we get to these underrated players. And we're going to do it here, Jordan.

And we're actually going to start with the Cowboys. I'm going to get going. Are you ready? How deep did you go? I guess I know some of your pick. So some are deep, some are less deep. I think it's a good, it's a good combination of the two. I answered your question for you.

You're already catching. I'm already catching strays before we even start. Greg. No, I think that's good. I don't think you want them all to be too deep. Ryan Flournoy is my pick for the Cowboys. I don't think that's too deep because fantasy football players will know him. And yet what a story this kid is. A fifth or sixth round pick from Southeast Missouri from two years ago. And when you watch his film, like a tough grab maker, like he makes difficult catches, even though he's not that big of a guy, but he's pretty physical at the top of. of his routes, like a tall guy, six two. He's tall, but I just mean he's not like a big body. He's lanky. But the numbers are crazy. For players who got 50 targets, he is fifth in the league and catch percentage last year. He plays inside and outsides. Like his yak per catch is great,

his yards per route runner great. Like when he was coming out of college, he had one of the best relative athletic scores. It all lines up. And when you look at the tape, it's really good. He was very productive the last quarter of the season. I kind of think they were okay trading George Pickens if someone had given them a godfather offer in part because Ryan Flournoy's got a legit wide receiver three to get excited about for the future. Yeah, it could be like a long term too, even, you know,

in the future, in my post-George Pickens era in Dallas. You know, he's like what I would call a scheme dream, like a coach who wants just a player who can fill in multiple role roles, multiple different layers to the passing game, and is going to produce out of all of that. Maybe the ceiling is a little bit lower than some of these like superstar or like these true wide receiver ones. But for a two or a three, super high ceiling and a high floor, which is really, really important when you're talking about like scheme, dream guys that you're going to plug in all over the formation. And an incredible development story. To get a pick that late in the draft,

the last four games, he had 269 yards, 22 catches. If you, if you paste that, out. That's a thousand yard like 90 catch season. I'm not expecting that to happen, but don't sleep on Flournoy, a solid number three option. You're up with the Giants. We are going to go through every single NFC team picking one underrated player per team. You got the Giants. Yes. So for the Giants, I'm going to pick tight end Theo Johnson, former fourth round pick in 2024, flash some real talent as a skill player last year. To me, the Giants roster is a bunch of guys they've drafted in the first round, and then a bunch of other guys. And they have to find ways to meld those two together,

which means a lot of those middle round or late round guys must step up into certain roles and kind of be the bridge between the blue chip players and kind of the rest of the roster. Theo Johnson, to me, is a perfect example of that. 45 catches in 528 yards last year is not like super sexy production. But in terms of everything they went through last year

and shifting over, from the Daibel era to the like very brief Kafka era. He just is really, really friendly of a target for Jackson Dart. That's everything a quarterback really needs as the quarterback continues to understand what it will take to play in the NFL and in the scheme balance. He's got almost 12 yards per catch, but 7.6 yards per target, which really illustrates to me what we see on tape, which that he can really create after the catch, really steady.

The funny thing about him, that kept him from being like very, very under the national radar to maybe like some people were buzzing or talking about him. Not really the reasons why you want to be on the national radar, which is he was, uh, he was ruled out late in the season with an illness, later was spotted at a Knicks game. And then a photo of that was posted on social media, kind of went viral. Then he responded to that post, which also went viral. He said he wasn't sick. So this was like the end of that Mike Kafka era, which is very strange.

The players were kind of all over the place. So he did pop in the sort of. national conversation for that reason, but I think a lot of more people are going to be paying attention to his play on the field this year, especially with more heavy personnel sets under John Harbaugh. Yeah, he's going to be the two behind Isaiah likely. It's a nice combination. He's part of the reason Joe Shane has kept his job because that 24 class, they really talked up as a good class. And he moves really well. He had a ton of drops, but I'm not going to kill someone just for drops if they do everything else. Well, I like that choice. For the Eagles,

I'm going to go Jalick's hunt. I went back. back and forth. Few options here, but I went to Bo Wolf, our sense. When it came to the Eagles, and some of the numbers for Hunt made it over the top for him to be my pick.

If you look at QB hit rate for players, over 300 snaps, so that's including sacks or hitting the quarterback. Top five in the league. Okay, Zach Allen. Shout out to Zach Allen, number one. Miles Garrett, Byron Young, who's a pretty good option for the Rams,

Nick Benito, number five on that list. is Jalick's hunt. How can a guy be so underrated when he completely changed the Super Bowl a couple years ago? But I think people were expecting this monster second season and it was more about

hits and pressures, 7 sacks, 17 QB hits, 60 total pressures instead of just exploding in terms of the sack numbers. But man, is he strong? I watched some tape of him against Trent Williams

in that playoff game. And he's 248. 250 pounds. And he is pushing Trent Williams back. He was good in that playoff loss that they had. So he's tended to be a big game player, Hunt, playing well in the playoffs. And I think he's going to make Nolan Smith a little expendable when Smith's contract comes up eventually, because to me, Hunt has got a little more juice. And he's got a lot of juice, a lot of motor. There's a play, Jordan, where he gets thrown on the ground. You figure the play's over, gets up and then tackles Josh Allen in the open field, which not a lot of people

can do that. So a lot of motor, a lot of strength for a smaller player, at least in terms of an edge rusher. Yeah, it's like a burpee sack. Like, totally, totally hit the ground and bounces up. It's like the worst physical activity a person can experience if you're a normal person like me, but he made it look easy. I love, what I love about the Eagles is that every year or two years, there's at least one, probably more players that are underrated that have like a diehard local fan following and should. Zach Bond was one of those players before he emerged as the Zach Bonn. We know him to be now.

Morrow Adjomo was one of those players as well. Jalick's Hunt certainly has that sort of cult following on the ground right now. And, you know, I like this pick because I think he's only going to continue to get better. Yeah, they could only pay so many guys long term. Jordan Davis got that big deal. Jalen Carter is going to be coming up. But I think Hunt is a guy knowing there are going to

that they might try to get done early, and that would be after his third season, which is coming up. All right, you got the commanders. So for me, Sam Cosme, the lineman was actually a candidate here.

Obviously, has been dealing with some injury stuff, but I'm excited to see what he's going to do in his second year off the ACL injury, which he returned from last season. Before that, he was playing at a really high clip. We loved him on NFL deal.

Actually, we could have one team where you go two players, because since I have one team like that. Well, you have candidates listed in your notes, Greg. but that's just in my brain. You know, we got to save these bullets. We have so many shows to fill.

We got to just pick one underweighted player. Don't get precious here. Don't get precious. All right. John Bates is my pick. And if you are a Washington commanders fan, if you know, you know. Because the difference when John Bates is on the field, he's there sort of, I guess they're two tight end, more of their blocking tight end, super specialty in blocking.

I guess you could say that's sort of his superpower here. And he kind of compliment. the entire run surface, but also activates it in a way where he changes, he's able to change gaps really well. He's able to do some of these escort motions and sifts and realign, but he also is just enough of a threat in the passing game where you do have to be aware of him. He's one of my favorite players to watch in the entire league in terms of how he plays and what he can do. Also dealt with injury issues last year, which I think sunk him under the radar the same year that everybody was talking about tight ends and how tight ends are emerging.

He'd been the face of that and just quite wasn't. So he just absolutely is such a difference maker for them, but not a lot of people outside the market know about him or talk about him. No, we're doing the NFL Daily 32 series, Jordan, a lot of pop for the coaches you were on last week. If we had an endless supply of time and interest, we could do the top 32 blocking tight ends. And I think John Bates would be high.

He would be high. We would get a lot of these words in that show, which you just said. Sift, you like to say, sift, escort motion. That's a hot one. And run surface. When you're saying all that in a short time, you know, you got something. I get a little tingly, you know? And that's another good group.

I am thinking about doing best tight-end rooms. Instead of best tight-end ends, I'm thinking best-tide-end rooms. And you got him in Oconquo, and then you have a second-round pick, Ben Sennett who's been a little quiet. But that's an interesting one in Washington. All right, I'm going to go to Detroit. And I'm going to pick a free agent signing, Cade Mays. And I'm going to go straight to one of my favorite sources for offensive line analysis.

Check out Brandon and Thorne and his trench warfare substack. And these were the words he used to talk about Mays as a free agent. And I just thought, these are such perfect. I'm not going to be able to come up with something better than this. He says, quote, Mays is a brute force presence at center who wins with size, length, and raw power. In a gap-oriented downhill run scheme that allows him to work vertically, he can create displacement and secure interior lanes with authority. You know what that system sounds exactly like where he would fit best? Jordan, the Detroit Lions.

I mean, that's part of it is we're trying to get ahead of things sometimes on these underrated players. And he had a good year for Carolina. And certainly they do some of that as well, though not as effectively last year as a team. But I do think for what they want, Lions fans are going to love this guy. And I think it could turn out to be one of the better free agent signings of the offseason.

Well, think about too, who the Lions have brought in as offensive coordinator. It's Drew Petting, who ran with Clayton Adams now in Dallas, ran a lot of really interesting, like gap heavy personnel stuff as well. And it just fits to me. It seems to fit what they want to do.

I love the kind of the ways that the lions have tweaked their offensive line overall this year needed to happen. And I think it bodes well for them. Anytime you have, you know, you talk about words you like, Greg, anytime you talk about physicality, mauling, downhill, those types of things, you automatically think of this era of the, of the lions and what they want to do physically and how they want to impose their will. Brute force is what got me.

And I was like, I just have to quote Brandon Thorne here too. But that development from them. And they were kind of a tough team to find an underrated player. That's why I went with the pre-agent because they've been, you know, they need to develop some of the middle back end of their roster. And they've got the super duper star. So I think he's going to be an important one. You have the Bears next.

This was kind of tough because I had to kind of sort through also injuries and certain players who we have really been high on as a show, but I haven't really talked about a lot recently just because of some of the injury stuff. I'm going with Kyler Gordon here. And I just think that, first of all, one of the most exciting players to watch in football, one of the most exciting defensive players out there, who truly just brings a scheme and a system to life, plays so physically and fearlessly. Again, unfortunately, it's part of the injury conversation as well with him lately. But one of the things that Bears fans really complained about in part was, and I can understand where some

of the concern came from, but they have a lot of guys on their roster who they need to see really what they've got in Dennis Allen's system from some of these guys, certainly up front, but then in the secondary, they've made some adjustments here, and there are a lot of players left, but they also were bringing back a couple of players who they really like. And Kyler Gordon is obviously a key centerpiece here. I just can't wait to see what he can do when healthy, when being paired with some of the, like they're built to cover again to me. They're built to cover and make plays in the same.

secondary. I don't necessarily buy into their pass rush at this time. But if you are going to have an identity that's built to cover the way that they seem to be consistently trending and built to blitz, the way that they're consistently trending and manufacture pressure, the way Dennis Allen can and did in the postseason, I just love this fit. And I think we're going to start talking about them a lot more. So I'm trying to get ahead of it, trying to get back on the Kyler Gordon journey here. I think that was the right choice. I think this is an inspired selection. He only played three games last year. And like he's the type of guy everyone's looking for right now, that the versatility and the physicality and the ability to, you know, blitz if they want them to. Yeah. And I think if we were

making a list the most important players, you know, the hinge player, like, or a list of players that, you know, not as famous, and I guess this would work for underrated, but could be the best player on their defense or could make first team all pro. I think Kyler Gordon like fits on all those lists. Ball play, you know, ball know, ball knowers. know. And you're a ball now. Minnesota is up next for me. I thought about Addison, Jordan Addison, just because he's still a little underrated. But this is, I'm giving us one team we can pick two guys, just because I can't pick between

these two guys. Oh, I see. I'm just doing this now. So we're going to forget all of the commentary earlier. I said one team, just one team. Because I can't pick between Jalen Redmond and Eric Wilson. And normally I would say, well, let's just save your Eric Wilson talk for some other time in the off season.

Are we really going to get to Eric Wilson later? We have a lot of shows, Greg. We got a lot of time to fill this in the odds season, you know. Well, Flores is just so good at finding these guys that fit perfectly for what he wants to do. Let's focus on what you can do really well. Minimize what you can't do. If there's something that's Belichickian about him, that's it. And then put him into a role.

And then they're better there than they've ever been. And I think both these players, Jalen Redman, who's a defensive tackle. And then Eric Wilson, who's kind of been a journeyman linebacker, fit those roles. Eric Wilson last year led the entire NFL in yards per target allowed from next gen. It's a little tricky of a stat, but he also finished seventh in pressure rate. This is for offball linebacker, just like a crazy season where he's good in coverage and can rush the passer. And then Jalen Redmond, this really was more just looking up some stats. And I was like, I got to give Jailen Redmond some pop.

Here's the list, Jordan, of players who played more than second year, you know, like day three pick Jailen Redmond. at defensive tackle last year. Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, Kobe Turner, Zach Allen, Derek Brown, Hayward in Pittsburgh, of course, Cameron Hayward, and then Jonathan Allen sneaks in there, too. I mean, those are like the best players in the league, essentially, and Redmond finished 10th and run stops,

just like a really solid player that plays a ton for them and a find that Flores has really gotten the most out of. So I cheated. I went to players there. I apologize. And the Vikings are the- No need. I'm cool with it. Okay.

They're the opposite of the lions where like, you could have gone with a bunch of players. Lions have a lot of underrated plays. Yeah, I love it. Yeah, you're right. I do think the Vikings have a ton of underrated players. I hope we get to see the roster or max out its talent this year. The,

this is, I love this because this is the guy that all of the local beat riders last training camp were buzzing about and putting on their like breakout candidates list and talking about how high the coaching staff specifically was. on Jalen Redmond and he became that guy. Like he not only met expectations but exceeded them and then had to play a hell of a lot of snaps. And I love it for him.

He is so disruptive. He is so fun to watch. He's like if Brian Flores was going to build a defensive lineman to perfectly bring his front to life. Jalen Redman is the type of player that he would build. Yeah, I misspoke. I was thinking about the two day three guys that they've gotten pretty. good production from that they've drafted in recent years,

but he was actually an undrafted free agent in 24 entering his third year. And yeah, I think one of the reasons you could let go of Jonathan Allen, Javan Hargrave, was in part because it's just the absolute faith in Jalen Redmond. All right, we are wrapping up the NFC North with the Green Bay Packers. And like a slight reach for me.

I'll admit. Oh. Because I believe in this player. I believe in his potential. In my notes, by the way, I said, L.O.L. Can I say to Rod Taylor? The most underrated player on the Packers right now. But that's not my pick.

I'm going to Edge Cooper, the linebacker. I think that two things that could be possibly the best things that have ever happened to Edge Cooper in his career are going to happen and have happened this offseason. One of them being Jonathan Gannon is now the defensive coordinator. And one thing he is going to love doing is playing some of that really big sort of movement

linebacker, hybrid linebacker stuff that he blends in with his nickel packages. And I think that this is the year that we really see Edge Cooper meet the potential he showed as a rookie, kind of took a step backward, perhaps a little bit last year. And the other thing is Micah Parsons coming back, because when you are, when you have a sort of a chess board player, an outlier player like Micah Parsons, you do need a player with the versatility, but also the big playability with the play formations and the play strengths all going to be moving away from Micah Parsons and wherever he is on the field and then designing matchups for him to be successful. You really need a high floor explosive potential player like Edge Cooper to really meet his

potential and really be schemed up for success. And I think that he is that type of player. And I think he's pretty underrated still in a part. Some of his own production last season was that. But I believe in him. I think he's going to be a heck of a player in his third season. He also is an NFL daily viewer, at least of our social, because last year we, well, we cut something of Ali called him the most explosive linebacker, I believe, in the league, the most explosive player maybe pound for pound. And that was clipped off as like, is he the best linebacker in league?

And then he retweeted it on Instagram. And I think it might be the most viewed social we've ever had for whatever reason, because the Packers just like fans, they latched onto it. Like half a million people saw it. So shout out to Edger and Cooper. Yeah, not underrated to Packers fans. I'll note. This is not about that though, Packers fans.

It's not about you, Packers fans. This is about the national conversation around this player. Yeah. And I think actually, you know, he was a popular, like a breakout idea last year. And it didn't fully happen. It was kind of that year two where he tried to improve in some ways. But it didn't all come together. It's a tough position in that.

So I think it might be the year after. that you're getting on board. Smart move, as always. All right, let's take a break. We've gone through half of the NFC, so let's take a break now, and we'll do the underrated players from the NFC South and West.

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which means we have to do the AFC side, Jordan. We're committing to it. I hope you're ready. This has been fun. Even just going back to watch just a little bit of some of my favorite players, like it just makes you feel alive. And I'm going to go to a guy who's had plenty of attention, A.J. Terrell, in his career, even in all pro season.

But I think now coming off his 2025, he has now gone officially from like one of the most underrated players in the league to like properly rated, a lot of attention. Then some injuries, some struggles, post-contracts, cornerback scoers go up and down, maybe got overrated there for a second. And now it's flipped all the way around. Coming off a really good season, Jordan.

Top five in tight coverage rate, according to next-gen stats. Top five in the fewest amount of snaps with three-plus yards of separation. Again, these are all next-gen numbers. And then top 10 in terms of just allowing yards per snaps. when it comes to outside cornerbacks. And you could say, okay, well, a lot of these are context dependent.

So they got more quick pressure. And so he didn't have to cover quite as long. And that helped him out. It's like that's sort of my point, that cornerbacks are very context dependent. But if you surround him with a worthwhile defense, a real pass rush, I love the way he moves. He's just so smooth.

It's exactly what I want in a cornerback. I know he's not the biggest place. in the world, but I just have always really trusted him. And I thought nationally, he maybe didn't get the love he deserves because Mike Evans just kind of owned him. And this happens. You know, it's like you lose your one-on-ones against Mike Evans. It's an honor that they even trusted him to go one-on-one with Mike Evans. Yeah, that's kind of a badge of honor and like a baptism, I think, into like the real deal corners who are asked to cover Mike Evans like that. Yeah, this, this is great. You said the word smooth, Greg.

That was exactly the word that came to mind when thinking about AJ Terrell. Like, first of all, love that they also drafted his brother. So when you play like that, you get rewarded and more of your family comes to, to play alongside you. But this, this defense was so much better than people gave it credit for a lot of the season. And a lot of that was, A, they had a complimentary Russian coverage plan for the first time in some time. And they got better, they had better players up front who could get that pressure.

And then also the corners and the safeties really rose to the moment and to the occasion behind them all. And I think all of that were like I said, much better synchronicity than they got much conversation about or credit for. But it's a strong look at what they're going to carry into another year under Jeff Ulbric. And certainly with AJ Terrell, like really coming into his own, he's a player that you really can count on for a long time. as long as you do enough for any corner. You know, they can sustain this type of play. It's when you put them more on those true islands in terms of you're making them cover for a long time.

That's less sustainable year over year. But they're building around their good players. And A.G. Terrell is certainly one of them. Yeah. And I misspoke. I'm thinking of different matchups. Like, he's done a really good job against Evans to the point where I think he's gotten a lot of attention for over the years.

He gave Evans problems. So before anyone comes at me in the mentions. And before I make it, Eric, edit that out. I'm just going to correct it live on the show. I'm pretty sure I saw a highlight real, but you can correct me, but it's tough. It's tough in the moment. Can I? Yeah. Please. Um, you got the Panthers. Your team. Yes. Mike Jackson is my pick here. The temptation was, you know, whenever I talk about most underrated guys on that roster, I always want to go toward the Iron Man players, Taylor Moten, J.J. Janssen, like those types of guys. Um, but at the same time,

Mike Jackson was, I mean, J.J. Jansson's gotten to co-host NFL day. he's like in their front office now. I feel like he's properly rated. Who gets more pop as a long snapper than JJ? He does get the most pop of any long snapper. As he should because he's like the longest tenured panther and all this stuff. But the panthers fans love him. So JJ,

you're properly rated right at the top. I'm not saying you're overrated, but you're properly rated. In all seriousness, the first player and the absolute must pick. And I thought about Jalen Coker too, but you know, Mike Jackson is the pick here.

The corner, recent edition for them, was an absolute dream for them. He had one of the best years of any corner last season, snap for snap. Do not let the overall defensive stats fool you. He's outstanding in coverage. He had four interceptions and nine past breakups. The thing about Mike Jackson is that he had to cover for freaking ever all the time on the perimeter. And he had to play opposite of J.C. Horn, who was playing at an incredibly high level last season. And so of course, Mike Jackson is now drawing the short straw of, okay, teams are going to try to target me and test me.

And man, was that a coup for the Panthers to have him playing at this level on the other side of J.C. Horn? Basically, teams decided very quickly that the right plan against Carolina is, yes, you can run the ball against them. And yes, you can target their linebackers and their safeties in the middle of the field and up the seams. And that's what teams did. teams that came out with dumb game plans, like in the playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, where they tried to target the corners on the perimeter, found out very quickly that this was not the right thing to do. They underrated Mike Jackson. They underrated the caliber that these corners were playing at. When the Panthers could not rush the passer, the way that they

just really struggled with it last season, to have corners and especially a number two corner that can cover like that, that can disrupt the ball like that, that basically has to funnels and offense basically into the constricted middle area of the field. That is an absolute huge benefit for a team. And lastly, with Mike Jackson, he was a team building catalyst for them. The caliber of his play, along with J.C. Horns, basically set up a step one, step two for the Panthers to do in the postseason and

free agency in the draft. It made it so obvious for this team about where they had to fix the rest of their defense. And that was up front and in the very middle. And they did that. And so it's like when you have a player who lifts the ability of a defense like that and can funnel everything inward, that is when you're like, okay, you know, listen to what the tape is telling you, go about fixing these things and hope you can get strong play without putting as much stress as these corners faced last year. Mike Jackson was a great example of that.

career year for him, Iron Man, almost 1,200 yards or snaps rather, in back-to-back seasons. I mean, he's been underrated by a lot of teams. He was drafted on day three by the Cowboys. He was briefly with the Patriots during the COVID season. And then Pete Carroll found him in Seattle and did a really good job with him. And he played a lot for the Seahawks, but kind of lost like his starting job there and then was lost in the transition to McDonald's. So a really good win for this, this Panthers front office. And he's only 29 years old. So he's only 29 years old. still in his prime. They kind of need him to back that season up and

it is the hardest position, I think, to stay at the very top level. So that'll be a challenge for him this year. I'm going to the Bucks. I thought about, you know, Kda, Nbo, we've talked a lot about him and Gadeki is, I think, nationally still underrated. But Yaya Diabe, even though he's known by a lot of, Bucks fans

certainly don't underrate him. And I don't think he had like the huge leap last year that maybe some fans are hoping for, but man, just very consistent pressure numbers the last two seasons. Like he is rock solid, uh, incredible run stopping numbers. He plays a lot and he just has a lot of power. It sets up his inside move too because, you know, the tackles, they just are kind of like gearing back to like getting ready for him to just,

just truck them. And then he can make a move inside. And not every edge needs to be a one edge. I think he fits in a bigger rush plan. And when he gets QB hits, a lot of times, Jordan, it's just those ones where he just keeps pushing the tackle back and back and back.

And then he just reaches over and just grabs him. This sounds a little mean, but I think of that Panthers game. And he kind of sent Josh Nyman into retirement because there was that Panthers game in like week 16.

And he just killed Nyman over and over. It was like, it was, it was like 10 pressures. And then the run stop tape is, is just teach tape stuff. He just sheds. When he hits guys, he destroys him. And I love, that's my kind of edge. And so, yeah, you didn't have a great edge opposite him.

I think that hurt him a little bit. And the injuries inside hurt him a little bit. But just a rock solid player that I think is going to get a really nice second contract from them. Yeah, well, you mentioned it at the very top of your comments, Greg. Some of the best things about like picking underrated players is very, very often they do thrive as a part of a plan. And I like the way the bucks have built and continue to build out their defensive line and their pass rush plan. And the way that they complement traits and skill sets, they don't worry so much about maybe where the crowd is going on

opinion of certain traits, like arm length, for example, they've got like two of the shortest arms players at their positions in history, in Colisea Kansi and Rubin Bain in compliment of each other. They just don't really care because they understand. that each other's traits overall are going to lift the overall production of that line. And they like physical, explosive, like mean as hell on the field football players. I wish that you could get sack assists or assign sack assist. I don't want to be mean to linemen because linemen are already facing an uphill battle in terms of people not knowing, like, what the position is supposed to look like.

And then also just like the criticism that they get. So would not want to, like, put more burden on them. but at the same time, like, sack assist to me should be a thing or those types of pressures where you are physically moving somebody into the quarterback. I'm just saying, I think it'd be a fun stat to add. Yeah. And we need more stats, I feel like, for the linemen. So, you know, they get paid plenty.

They can deal with it. There was a play in that Panthers game that he just trucks Bryce Young. And you can almost see the soul leave his body. It looks exactly like when you watch like those 90s football movies, like necessary roughners or something, where they overdo how like brutal a quarterback gets hit. And that's what Diabi does to Bryce Young. And then Bryce Young just gets right up and like makes a good throw the next play. It's pretty incredible by Bryce Young.

But it's one of the, the abby would be high on the list of players you would, you would not want to get tackled by. All right. You got the Saints next. Yes. So the Saints one was kind of tough because I feel like a lot of players on their team right now are pretty underrated. I initially was going to go with.

Julian Blackman, but I didn't quite like my argument with myself about that. I just think a lot of people have forgotten that Julian Blackman's on this team. He was injured last year, and I think he's going to factor in really, really impactfully in Brandon's Daly's system. He wants to play with three safeties. He wants to play that sort of like mismatch, especially even on rundowns. He wants to play with a little bit of that mismatch. But I asked around, sent some text to some people in the building, and came back with someone

that the team is extremely high on, despite the fact that they've added to their receivers room this year, Devon Veil. And I think he, you know, obviously had some issues with his shoulder last year.

But when he was healthy, and I went, I went check this because I was like, this is crazy when I'm watching him play and I'm like, man, every time he's actually targeted, he's making something happen.

Only 39 targets last season, but he's up there in EPA per target among the better receivers in the NFL, including Terry McLauran, Devante Smith. He's tied in EPA per target with Jackson Smith and Jigba. Obviously, the volume is a huge context element here, 39 targets versus a metric S load that Jackson Smith and Jigba had. But we're talking underrated players. And I think the potential is absolutely there. Like I said, he's somebody who, when I kind of put some feelers out around the building, they're super high on

there. And even though they've added Jordan Tyson to the mix with this receiver's group. If they made a stat, you know, like outrageous catch per catch, uh, Valey would be high from his, his 2025 tape because Chuck would just throw it up there for him. And he would get, Bailey down there somewhere. Yeah, destroyed on some of those throws over the middle. And that's the concern is the Broncos trade him in part because he had, because of the injury concerns. But he would really fill out that room.

Man, that is, it's a boomer bust receiver group. It could be awesome or they could, you know, have some injury. concerns, but I like that pick. All right. I went with the rain. I got the Rams next. And I mentioned Byron Young, the fact that he was second among edges in like hits per snap, but I didn't go with him in the end because I reached out to J.B. Long specifically. I know you're the Rams. You know, but we, we hear, we got you on the show regularly. And when I've learned that J.B. Long had Poon of Ford as the defensive player of the year for the Rams. And he's not writing this thing in a vacuum last year. There are people in that building that.

that are going to be co-signing a J.B. Long calling Puna Ford, the defensive player there. I had to go to it. In DVOA, they go from 21st to 5th, and really the main difference was just Puna Ford in terms of run defense. And then, you know, I know PFF's not always, like, I think different positions they grade differently. But when you look at who was ahead of him in grading overall,

he's fourth overall, and it's behind, like, Cameron Hayward and basically the best offensive tackles in the league. And one of the reasons is last year for the Rams, like he had the most pressures he's ever had in his career. He had the most run stops by a decent amount. If they had just not blown the week 16 game, Jordan, against the Seahawks that I think changed both franchises, I think one of the main reasons they would have and should have won that game

was he just buried Jalen Sundell, the center of the Seahawks, all game long in run stops and some short yards, situations and then in terms of his pass pressure too, just beating him quickly, holding up against double teams. He does rare stuff and, you know, he's bounced around a little bit and it's crazy. The best two years of his career, he wasn't always this good, Jordan. The best two years of his career are the last two years. And you've seen this sometimes with nose tackles in their career that they develop a little later. Going way back to like a Ted Washington type, like he was playing his best ball.

late 20s into his 30s. And I think that's what Puna Ford's doing. And so they paid him a lot of money. And yet I think it was a bargain. And somehow he's still underrated because we just had those five or six years where he was thought of more as a journeyman and kind of a rotational player. And now he's like one of the best players on one of the best defenses in the league. Yeah.

You know he's underrated to the point where literally nobody during those matchups is talking about the fact that it's a Puna Ford revenge game too. Right. You know, like, and he's probably one of the best. players on the field on either side of the ball in, in especially that later matchup. The interesting thing about this is I like this pick a lot because I think their pass rush underperformed relative to expectation last year. I think their defense overall, especially in the secondary and they went about, you know,

obviously they saw this issue too underperformed, maybe not relative to expectation. I don't know that anyone had like exceedingly high expectations for that secondary last year going into the season, but underperformed. where they absolutely reverse the narrative and reverse the tone of what their defensive line was, especially against the run where teams were just running all over them, even when they had those great 23 and 24 seasons, was Puna Ford, was shoring up the middle of the field.

When they had a great interior, you know, it helps them like pay everybody else less, usually in their model, linebackers, safeties, those types of guys. That didn't happen this year. They obviously paid Landman and Quentin Lake. The Puna Ford is absolutely the priority here, was the priority in free agency for Sean McVeigh, who, again, we just didn't,

we don't talk about it very much. Could we talk about the Devante Adams recruitment, but very, very heavy and just in terms of really, really badly wanted Puna Ford number was one of their top priorities in that free agency. And he's made them better. He's reversed the course on one of their biggest positional weaknesses and turn it into a strength.

And you know they had to be extra excited how upset it made that Chargers building. Oh, 100% sure. That would abstat. That one hurt. That's a thing. Ford will be 31 years old this season. So I misspoke there.

But he'll be 31. They have him under contract, very reasonable, team friendly for the next two years. And like I said, it's a body type and a position that's tended to age well. and he really is playing his best ball. I think helps everyone eat as you mentioned. All right, you got your hometown Cardinals.

She doesn't wear it on her, you know, sleeve that she's from Arizona, but she grew up watching those Kurt Warner teams. Got to have a little bit of the love deep within for the Cardinals still. Very brief times with the Kurt Warner teams. A lot longer of a time, you know, with like the Levi-Brown era and the bleach your seats at Sun Devil's Seats. stadium, those kinds of things. It's just not been a not been a great run there.

I am going with another sleeper pick and one that I know you're going to make fun of me for because I certainly gravitate toward players, you know, picking underrated players at this position. But I'm going to go with tight end Elijah Higgins here. And he is somebody who not only is super under the radar nationally, he's under the radar on their own damn team. Like he is the number two tight end. He is behind the superstar that is Tremont.

what I think gets extremely lost and certainly did in part because of injuries to their third tight end, Tip Ryman last year, is that they have a sneaky great tight end room. It's Trey McBride, obviously, is the one of the best tight ends, if not the best right now in football.

Elijah Higgins as the two, and Tip Ryman, who's really more the blocker, like fullback guy in these formations. But Elijah Higgins has been really working on developing his positional skills as a pass catcher as well. He was a receiver.

converted to tight end, now going to use him a lot more in the passing game. And he flashed a lot of that potential, especially late last season against Atlanta in week 16, seven catches for 91 yards. That's where you really started to see, oh, okay, you know, it's a loss and the season is doomed, but this is a guy who's maybe got something. I can see Michael Flour going there and looking at what he can do in the passing game and being like, why the hell has this guy not been used more? I need to use him more.

I need to deploy him more similar to the way that Michael Flore. helped develop some of those 12 and 13 personnel sets in Los Angeles with Sean McVey. And I could absolutely see Elijah Higgins taking a step forward. I just think his skill set is extremely underrated and come a long way since he came into the league a couple of years ago. And I wanted to say Mike Wilson, but you cannot say he's underrated because last year he went over a thousand yards. So this is why I come back to Elijah Higgins.

It is a great choice. And people love him around the league. and when you looked at all those tight ends getting taken earlier than expected, like Marlon Klein for the Texans and various tight ends in this draft in the second and third round, what they're looking for is Elijah Higgins. And they're taking second and third round picks. They're hoping those second and third round picks are going to develop into Elijah Higgins. So that, to me, is a strong case for his value.

I'm wrapping up my underrated picks with Colton McKevitts, who's the tackle for the 49ers, who they gave a big contract, but not that big before last. season. And I was like, huh, really? Colton McKivitts, three years, $45 million. And then he went and had the best season of his career. And I wanted to shout him out because a great story of a guy who got cut in his second season, like he was on the practice squad. Any team could have had him back in 2021. And it's really a testament to his hard work and to the 49ers, patience and development. And they are really good. It's part of their secret sauce that they take.

quote unquote assets that maybe the rest of the league don't value, have patience with them. And he was really good last year. He's really gotten into a weapon in the running game. And that's, that's like a six year development arc to get to that point. He was a 24 year old rookie. So it was a, it was like a long climb. But they saw, they knew him well. And now I think that's one of the positions they feel best about on their entire team. That's, that's a rare ascending in his prime player at a really important position for them. Yeah, he's a difference maker. The thing that I like about what they do is they really know that they're on by, excuse me, they're on like a bot time here with a lot of their roster. Like, they're so top heavy, right? That you just never know when the

clock is finally going to run out. And it probably will all at once in sequence on a lot of these guys that are the same sort of age, age group with each other. So you need to, be able to develop over the long-term guys like Colton McIvitts. And he's a great example of when that strategy actually works out the way that it's intended to. And certainly credit to him too, because every off-season and certainly on these practice squads, there are options to potentially go elsewhere. A team obviously has to sign you to the active roster.

But every off-season, there's opportunities to maybe switch things up. But he stayed the course as well. And it worked out for him because he got that contract. And he's a difference maker for them. Yeah, it wasn't a starter until he was 27 years old. year four, but Lake Bloomer. Literally hasn't missed the start since,

and he'll be turning 30 this year. All right, your final pick is for the Seattle Seahawks. We've been quite good at turning out underrated players last few years. I know. It was so hard. This was so hard for me to pick because they're a team with like really, really, really,

incredibly, extraordinarily talented people at every position. And yet somehow the entire roster, minus a couple of guys, still feels like really, really underrated. because, and I don't know what it is, but it's just, they're so talented almost everywhere you look, but then you think, hmm, are people really talking about that guy a lot? And oftentimes, the answer is no. I mean, even last year at the quarterback position, everybody was so down on Sam Darnold. And he, you know, he showed why he should be rated, right?

I mean, if you're just judging how you're rated on airtime, you know, space on NFL daily, he's right at the top of the list. I mean, who got more, who got more coverage than slinging Sammy. Do you know, it's really not the metric I'm going off of, but I think it's the most important metric in the world. All right, give us your pick. Give us your pick. I went with, you know, again, I go to my comfort zone, Greg. I went with the tight end and I went with AJ Barner here. And I think that he became almost like a walking touchdown machine when he was targeted, especially in the, in the red area, especially like inside the 30 yard line. And was there number two receiver in catches in their number three receiver in yards last season. They use him all over the

formation. He changes or moves gaps. Like when we talked earlier about like escort motions or sifting those types of things. I like to picture it as like you have a suitcase with you. You're a tight end or similar player if you're an F player receiver. You have you have a suitcase with you and that suitcase is your gap or is a gap and you pick up the suitcase and you run it alongside to the other side of the formation or to the middle of formation. So you are picking up your gap, taking it with you and then changing it. So it changes the math on the defense. And so that's what he does.

He does that. And they use him on screens, which is super creative and he has the ability to do that. He's just reliable. And I think when I was thinking about underrated, I think about how we're talking so much about the development and evolution of this position, the tight end position overall.

But we're still not talking about like the layers of this position and the guys who are truly underrated, at one of the positions that's become one of the most, important in an offense in the NFL. And that's AJ Barner. He's the epitome of that to me. And I think he's going to continue to ascend. Yeah.

When I said everyone's kind of looking for their Elijah Higgins, they're really looking for their AJ Barner. Like six, six, six, six. He can be a devastating blocker. Everyone wants that guy. Maybe even he's a better version of, of Kate Aten, who the buck's signed by, because he just gives you flexibility.

If you have A.J. Barner, you can do everything. You can do it all. There's actually not that many guys. like that. They've always existed, like a Heath Miller type, but there's not that many of them. And you're right. I think if we just did top 10 tight ends, like, Barner's got to be on that list. I'd have to write him down, but he's got to be on that list by now. Well, when I'm getting ahead of it, because we haven't done it yet. And so now I'm ahead of the conversation. Well, I might do rooms, but I'm thinking like individually, I have to write it down, but I think at this point he's in that mix. Um, top 10 shows of this

offseason so far, maybe NFC's most underrated players. Who's to say? You're really in rankings mode, Greg. You're like in your bag right now. That is the time of year. And with that in mind, NFL Daily 32. So that's our series. We're going to be ranking all sorts of various position groups, positions, coaches last week, and this week. Because the schedule release, they staked out Thursday.

That's going to be the last show of the week. We're going to do offensive lines. It's going to get nitty gritty, not offensive line men, but offensive lines. And that's coming up on Wednesday show. Let's hit that music. Great job, Jordan. Thank you.

Who needs to come in and see the sad face of Chris Babona, as I mentioned, the Ram Seahawks game from week 16. He was getting excited hearing me talk, Puna. So that'll be me and Ali on Wednesday. Jordan will be back with me and Patrick Claibon on Thursday, but offensive line Wednesday. We'll see you that. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.