To pass the offseason, like the rest of us, CBS’ Pete Prisco unveiled his yearly list of overrated players for each team. In Pittsburgh, he chose Lawrence Timmons. His explanation.
“Here’s another player who was woefully underrated a few years back, but now is the opposite. At 30, he doesn’t run like he once did and that showed up last season on tape. He was even taken off the field in some sub-packages, which hadn’t happened for most of his career. He’s still solid, but his play is falling off.”
Like he prefaces with, picking the overrated players are tough and will always ruffle feathers. The underrated guys are easy to spy and write about. So it’s unfair to slam most of his selections, especially his pick for Pittsburgh. It isn’t as if there’s a no-brainer choice and by his own reasoning, you can tell he was grasping at straws.
It’s always worth pointing out that Timmons played for at least part of the year with a turf toe injury that limited him in training camp. That type of injury doesn’t go away in a week and may have lingered through the entire season. Heck, maybe it got worse.
Prisco is correct though that the Steelers began playing dime personnel beginning in Week 14. Whether they continue that, or increase that usage, is one of the most interesting storylines going into 2016. My guess is they will, eager to find ways to get Sean Davis onto the field.
If not Timmons, then who? Locally, I think some will argue Markus Wheaton but on a national level, it doesn’t fit. I guess some people could dog Ryan Shazier based off his injury history.
If you’re curious, Prisco named Heath Miller the team’s most overderrated played in 2015. He also called Kelvin Beachum the most underrated.
Around the AFC North, he selected Joe Haden for the Cleveland Browns, Elvis Dumervil for the Baltimore Ravens, and Rey Maualuga for the Cincinnati Bengals. In other words, Prisco doesn’t like the makeup of the AFC North’s linebackers.
Kam Chancellor was named the most overrated player in the league.
