Commentary

The decade's 25 most overrated players

Originally Published: June 26, 2009
By Aaron Schatz | Football Outsiders
Most overrated | Most underrated

Football Outsiders analyzes the 25 most overrated players of the current decade, going back to 2000. Some of these comments will mention our advanced statistics, including DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) -- which takes every play during the season and compares it to the league average based on situation and opponent -- and DYAR (Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement) -- which uses a similar method to measure a player's total value compared to a "replacement-level" player. These and other advanced stats are explained here.

1. DeShaun Foster: Foster is the platonic ideal of a boom-and-bust running back, who breaks one or two highlight runs a game and then spends the rest of the time leaving his unfortunate quarterback in second-and-9 after second-and-9. Once a year he had a huge game against the Atlanta Falcons, and convince everybody he was a good NFL starter for another 12 months. According to Football Outsiders numbers, he was below replacement level in four out of six seasons. He only managed 4.3 yards per carry (average for running backs) in two seasons, and had no year with more than three rushing touchdowns. In 2007, Foster (3.5 yards per carry) had 100 more carries than DeAngelo Williams (5.0 yards per carry). Good luck explaining that one.

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Aaron Schatz

  • NFL analyst for ESPN Insider
  • Founder of Footballoutsiders.com
  • Contributes regularly to "Numbers Never Lie"

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