Most Overrated Bill? Surprisingly, it's Micah Hyde, According to Pro Football Focus
Micah Hyde as the most underrated player on the Buffalo Bills may seem preposterous at first. After all, the safety has twice been named a second-team All-Pro, including last season, and made the Pro Bowl in 2017.
So don't most NFL fans even outside of Buffalo know he's pretty damn good already?
Possibly. But hear the folks at Pro Football Focus out for a second as part of their presentation of the most underrated player on each team.
Hyde has been playing at a consistently high for years, proving himsef as a starter in Green Bay long before arriving in Buffalo.
Hyde has flown under the radar relative to his performances for his entire NFL career while playing for two different teams. Since moving to Buffalo, he has one season with a PFF grade lower than 79.5 and no below-average years at a position where it's difficult to maintain excellent performances. He has consistently been an elite coverage player with the versatility to move around in the secondary and allow that Bills system to function.
— Pro Football Focus
Fair enough, but Hyde's greatness has been acknowledged with national awards.
We submit that another Buffalo Bill who has been as consistently good for almost as many years should be the most underrated player on the team.
That would be newcomer Jamison Crowder, a productive and dependable wide receiver since his rookie season with Washington in 2015.
Crowder has 409 catches for 4,607 yards and 28 TDs in 96 career games (51 starts).
And one statistic, ironically provided by Pro Football Focus itself, validates our claim.
Over the previous two seasons, Crowder's drop rate of 3.3% is the 12th lowest among all wide receivers.
Since the Bills signed him after deciding to release ultra-productive slot receiver Cole Beasley, that figure sticks out and makes the $1.9 million he's due to collect from them this season one of the most outstanding values in the league.
Interestingly, PFF also chose cornerback Levi Wallace as the most underrated Pittsburgh Steeler, even though Wallace has yet to play a game for them after spending the first four seasons of his career with the Bills.
He was not re-signed by Buffalo after his contract expired following last season.
He likely won’t ever be a great player, but he’s consistently better than he is given credit for and exceeds expectations because of it. Wallace has never earned a below-average PFF coverage grade in a season, and he'll likely continue to impress after signing with the Steelers this offseason.
— Pro Football Focus
The argument for Wallace certainly is valid, and he would have been our choice over Crowder had he remained with the Bills.
Nevertheless, those are the names.
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Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
