Is Lions DT Ndamukong Suh the most overrated player in the NFL?
If you ask CBSSports.com’s Pete Prisco, the answer is without a doubt yes…
After a 2011 season in which Suh saw his production tail off from his rookie year in 2010, Prisco says Suh “has a ton of potential and was a force as a rookie in 2010, but he spent 2011 getting blocked.”
Furthermore, Prisco’s aversion for can also be seen in his top 100 player’s ranking where he drops Suh from 12th overall in the 2010 season to 74th overall in 2011.
Here’s more from Prisco…
“He is an ultra-aggressive defensive tackle who uses his ability to get off the ball to drive up the field. But what teams did in 2011 was use that against him. He was trapped a lot. Often guards and centers would just let him rush up the field and take him where his momentum led him — which was out of the play.”
“He was much easier to block in 2011 than as a rookie. I expect he will bounce back in 2012 with a brush-up of his techniques, but as of right now he is my pick as the most overrated player in the NFL.”
In 2011, Suh had 26 tackles and four sacks which again was down from his 49-tackle, 10-sack season in 2010. Now there’s no question that Suh wasn’t nearly as good as he was his rookie season when opposing offenses were simply taken off guard by just how good Suh was. However it’s very hasty of Prisco to already label Suh as the most overrated player in 2011 after only his second season in the league. The sample size on Suh’s career simply isn’t large enough to make that determination. Not to mention you can also make the argument that Cliff Avril’s career season in 2011 could’ve been as a result of playing alongside Suh.
But don’t fret Lions, Prisco doesn’t have a vendetta against the entire organization.
In his list highlighting the most underrated players of 2011 Prisco makes mention of Lions linebacker Stephan Tulloch.
“He was a nice addition last season on a defense that needed a play-making linebacker,” Prisco wrote.
Ref: CBSSports.com, Mlive.com