When you lead your team to a Super Bowl win, you're not usually viewed as underrated, but that's not the case with Matthew Stafford.
In a recent poll conducted by ESPN, 103 NFL players were asked to name the most underrated quarterback in the NFL and Stafford finished first. The Rams quarterback got 14 votes, which was the same amount as Brock Purdy. No other quarterback got more than seven votes in the poll.
The fact that Purdy is considered underrated by his peers isn't a huge surprise. When you look at how he's viewed by fans and the media, no one seems sure what to make of him: Is he a system quarterback who wouldn't be able to thrive outside of San Francisco or is he a genuinely talented quarterback who would be successful anywhere?
After playing against him, players seem to think that Purdy isn't being given his due.
As for Stafford, the fact that he's considered underrated possibly shows how overlooked he's been in his career. When you ask someone to rank the top five quarterbacks in the NFL, you almost never hear Stafford's name. As a matter of fact, you probably wouldn't even hear it if you asked someone to rank the top 10 quarterbacks (Pro Football Focus has Stafford at 19th heading into the 2024 season).
Stafford has been one of the NFL's most consistent quarterbacks over the past 15 seasons and players seem to appreciate that. Stafford has the most passing yards and most passing touchdowns of any active quarterback besides Aaron Rodgers.
The Rams QB also has an impressive array or tricks. Although we've seen Patrick Mahomes pull off a no-look pass, Stafford one-upped him by doing it in the SUPER BOWL.
This angle of Matthew Stafford's no-look pass. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/vwWRUsMekn
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 14, 2022
So why is Stafford viewed as underrated?
One player has a theory.
"When you're at the level he's been at for so long, people take it for granted a little bit," an anonymous NFC West player said of Stafford, via ESPN. "And being in Detroit, maybe the market for the attention wasn't really there."
The good news for Stafford is that he wasn't voted the most overrated quarterback. That title went to Josh Allen and if you want to know how the Bills QB reacted to that, you can check that out here.