Most underrated players of 2011

NFL fans are used to the standard stats: yards, touchdowns, maybe tackles. But when you look at a football player's performance, it's important to look closely at his performance on every play. How did he do based on the situation? How did he do based on the context of his opponents? For a receiver, are you considering not only the balls he caught but all the balls he didn't catch?

Those are the kinds of advanced stats we use at Football Outsiders, and based on those stats, here are five players who had excellent seasons in 2011, though you may not know it.

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Aaron Schatz

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