Most Underrated Cowboys of all time

[lane]

MD26 was one of the most underrated Cowboy players ever..

Not by fans mind you...but by pro bowl voting and what not..MD was the ringleader of our secondary during the 80's. MD26 was fun to watch.

Timmy Newsome,Larry Cole,Billy Joe and Ron Springs are too very underrated.

 

[Payton34Smith22]

Romo

 

[NextGenBoys]

My time really watching the Cowboys to have an idea of who and what underrated was is probably from 2000 on. I only knew the stars back when I was little. I was born in 87, so right around 2000 is when I started to really learn football.

A few that stand out to me in that time are Anthony Henry, Patrick Crayton, and Dat Nguyen.

Henry was our best corner in my opinion for a year or two. Crayton always found a way to get open against zone coverage and had great hands (minus NYG07) and returned kicks as well. Was decent at that. Dat was just the heart and soul of a the team for a few years and was always around the ball.

 

[Captain Late]

So many players over the years never seemed to get the recognition, I would list these IMHO:

Jethro Pugh-a solid leader on the DL for 14 years, equally effective at stopping the run or rushing the passer. Bob Lilly always gave credit to Jethro for making him a better player

Darren Woodson-a truly outstanding football player, a guy who was force on defense stopping the run and in coverage.And was outstanding on special teams. Why this man was not on the All-90's team is beyond a travesty.

Don Perkins-a tough durable runner who was THE Cowboys running game in the early years and was still effective at the end of his career.

John Fitzgerald-took over at Center for Dave Manders and was a key part of the great Cowboys OL for the 70's.He was solid and durable for a long time

Cornell Green-not many DB'S played as well for as many years as Cornell.One of the better CB'S of the 1960's who was just as effective when he moved to Safety later in his career.

Dave Edwards-played so many years at LB on the great Cowboys defenses and was an excellent run stopper.A guy who played the strong side LB in the Flex perfectly and rarely missed a game

Robert Newhouse-an excellent blocker and solid runner who always seemed to be overlooked but nade the Cowboys running game one of the best when he played. Late in his career played his heart out on Special Teams covering kicks and never complained

Benny Barnes-before Bill Bates, he was the special teams Ace for the Cowboys, covering punts and kicks with equal ability.A solid CB who played most of his career as a Man To Man CB and rarely got beat.Barnes played through injuries for most of his career and gave it all he had

James Washington-a hard hitting Safety who seemed to always play his best in the playoffs and Super Bowls, he was a key guy in that early 1990's Cowboys Secondary as either a starter or reserve

I Have left off like Chuck Howley, Drew Pearson Cliff Harris and Harvey Martin because they generally got the recognition during their careers.It has only been the modern era of media and the HOF voters who sadly haven't acknowledged them

 

[GoCowboysGo]

1. Howley
Each year in the regular Hall of Fame voting, a player has to make the preliminary list, then the semi-final list, then the final list, then be one of the seven players who get voted in. Howley was probably a better LB than any of these Hall of Famers, and he never made it past the preliminary list in the voting.

Robinson: 1 AP All-Pro, 2 rings
Jackson: 0 AP All-Pro, 0 rings
Tippett: 2 AP All-Pro, 0 rings
Wilcox: 2 AP All-Pro, 0 rings
Howley: 5 AP All-Pro, 1 ring + SBMVP in a loss, all-time leader in SB takeaways

Everyone (coaches, players, media) considered Howley the best at his position during the time he kept making those All-Pro teams. He is the only eligible player who made at least 5 Pro Bowls, was a Super Bowl MVP, and is NOT in the Hall of Fame. You could make a case that he's the most underrated NFL player ever.

2. Martin
A borderline HOF candidate, Martin was a 3-time Pro Bowler, DPOY in 1977 (when he had 23 sacks before it became an official statistic), and one of only five players left on the HOF Selection Committee's All-Decade Team of the 70's who has never been a finalist for the HOF. He's only even made the preliminary list once (2001), which means he went from being considered one of the 45 best players of his era to not even one of the top 150. That's not just "underrated," it's practically "erased from history."

3. Harris
38 of the top 39 vote-getters for the HOF's All-Decade Teams of the 70s and 80s are in the Hall of Fame. The only exception is Harris, who was one of the top 10 vote-getters for the 70s team. Unlike the first two players I listed, Harris was at least a HOF finalist once. Harris' rejection by the HOF committee in 2004 prompted Paul Zimmerman (no afiliation with Cowboys or Harris) to resign from the committee in protest.

4. Woodson
Should have made the All-90's team ahead of Carnell Lake, and was a semi-finalist in the HOF voting this year. John Lynch, another big hitter, made it past him to the final list, but Woodson was a big hitter who could cover.

5. Pearson
The only one of the 22 position players on the All-70's first team who's never been a HOF finalist, and he's never even been a semi-finalist.

I think we should all campaign by emailing the voters here:
http://www.thefootballsearchengine.com/JimMarshall/emailvoters/

Some very deserving Cowboys deserve consideration, we should do our part!

 

[KJJ]

Danny White

His failure to get the Cowboys to a SB and the 3 straight title game losses marred his career. I never felt his was underrated most felt he was a good QB but he followed Staubach and he was a tough act to follow. .

 

[KJJ]

Sounds crazy but Troy Aikman was underrated by some even a few Cowboys fans that weren't around during his career didn't think he was that good based his career numbers. He certainly wouldn't rank amongst some of the most underrated Cowboy players of all time but even though he was a first ballot HOF player he was underrated to some degree. You hear many say that a lot of QB's could have led those Cowboy teams of the 90's to championships all due to Aikman's pedestrian numbers. We had a poll on this board once listing the best Cowboys QB's in order and Aikman finished 3rd by some fans behind Staubach and Romo. You have many Cowboy fans who think Romo was better than Aikman based on their stats.

 

[Jarv]

Jethro Pugh and DD Lewis.

 

[KJJ]

Some of the 70's and early 80's players are underrated because the Cowboys had so many great players over a long period of years. Harvey Martin was a great player but he got overshadowed some by Randy White. He shared the SB MVP with him during the 77 season. Being overshadowed by White I believe hurt his HOF chances and is one of the reasons he's not in the Cowboys ROH.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Barry IMO has been grossly overrated with younger fans thanks to Youtube. People too young to watch him play watch his highlights and dont realize he ate up bad teams on turf and was completely ineffective in the playoffs and wasnt the same player on grass as he was on turf.

He was an all time great, no doubt. But there were an awful lot of chinks in that armor people that only got to see highlights completely missed. If we traded Smith for Sanders straight up in 1991, we wouldnt have won three Super Bowls, and we may not have won a single one

Barry was the most elusive back ever to play the game bar NONE! There is no way in hell he could be considered overrated. That guy pulled off tackle escapes like Romo does in the backfield only 10x more than Romo.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm with Danny White too. If he had team even remotely close to some of the great Cowboys teams. He too would have had Superbowls IMO. Not only do I think he is the most underrated player, I think he was the biggest scapegoat for the Cowboys too.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Chuck Howley

http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/players.nsf/ID/03970006

First defensive player named MVP.

Only player named MVP from the losing team.

Not Hall of Fame, http://www.notinhalloffame.com/football/1154-7-chuck-howley - Also click football on the ribbon at the top and then choose list. Interesting.

This was a great player during his time. It's a shame he is not recognized by the league for his contributions.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Barry was the most elusive back ever to play the game bar NONE! There is no way in hell he could be considered overrated. That guy pulled off tackle escapes like Romo does in the backfield only 10x more than Romo.

He was a great back and very elusive he had very poor run disipline. Young fans say it was he had a poor line and a poor team but that simply wasnt the case. His OL wasnt anything close to what the Cowboys had but they were average by NFL standards. Barry just looked for the home run and often ignored the 3-5 yarders

 

[KJJ]

Chuck Howley

http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/players.nsf/ID/03970006

First defensive player named MVP.

Only player named MVP from the losing team.

Not Hall of Fame, http://www.notinhalloffame.com/football/1154-7-chuck-howley - Also click football on the ribbon at the top and then choose list. Interesting.

This was a great player during his time. It's a shame he is not recognized by the league for his contributions.

Unfortunately for Howley the prime of his career was during the 60's in a decade where the Packers ruled. Howley and Dave Robinson had very similar stats but because the Packers beat the Cowboys in a couple of title games and won several championships he was voted into the HOF ahead of Howley. Winning a SB MVP didn't really help Howley's cause because it came in a losing effort.