We’re deep into the NFL offseason now, and it’s long past time to be looking forward to 2025 rather than backward to 2024. Teams have reshaped their rosters, hired new coaches and executives, and already begun preparing for the upcoming season with minicamps and organized team activities.
The team here at CBSSports.com is getting prepared for the new season as well, digging into all sorts of trends and developments around the league and just generally getting its prognostication on. As part of that effort, we want to highlight some players who maybe don’t get as much shine as they should.
Below is a list of the most underrated player at each position heading into the 2025 season.
It’s easy to forget what Stafford can do when he’s afforded even remotely good protection in the pocket and capable wide receivers. His numbers from last season don’t look amazing, but if you isolate the games where the Rams actually had Puka Nacua on the field, Stafford checked in with an EPA per dropback figure that would have tied Jayden Daniels for eighth-best in the league over the course of the full season. Even in his late 30s, Stafford can still sling it with the best of them.
There’s something about Conner’s playing style that invites people to underrate his impact. Maybe it’s because he’s he’s such a big, bruising-looking player at 6-foot-1 and 233 pounds, but his efficiency on a per-carry basis and especially his impact in the passing game often go overlooked. He just had his two best rushing seasons of his career at age 28 and 29 and doesn’t look like he’s slowing down.
Godwin has had a bunch of injury issues in his career, including a brutal season-ending ankle injury last year that cut short what looked like it was on track to be one of the best seasons of his career. Godwin racked up 50 catches for 576 yards and five scores in just seven games in 2024, which works out to a full-season pace of 121-1399-12. He remains one of the most effective slot receivers in the NFL, but he also provides much more than what you imagine a typical slot man does.
If Likely weren’t on the same team as Mark Andrews, it’s likely that he wouldn’t be on this list. He’s never played more than 60% of the Ravens‘ offensive snaps in any of his three seasons, yet he still has been a significant contributor to the passing game in each of those seasons. And in the stretch of games Andrews missed in 2023, Likely caught passes at a Pro Bowl rate, averaging over 50 receiving yards and per game while scoring five times in six contests.
Matthews has been a consistently above-average to very good left tackle for over a decade now, starting 15-plus games in every single season and not missing even one game since his rookie year. The only postseason recognition he’s had in his career was a single Pro Bowl appearance back in 2018. He remains an excellent pass-protecting tackle on the left side of the line.
Jenkins is one of the most versatile players in the NFL, spending time during his career at left tackle, left guard, center and right tackle. He has most often played guard in recent seasons, but could move to center this year. Either way, he remains an extremely valuable piece for Green Bay’s offensive line, and one who has probably gone under-recognized for his contributions.
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At first glance, you’d think Diaby took a step backward last year, dropping from 7.5 sacks as a rookie to 4.5 as a sophomore. But that overlooks the incredible rate at which Diaby generated pressures in 2024. His 65 total sacks, hits and hurries ranked 11th in the NFL, and his 15.3% pressure rate was 18th-best out of 277 players that rushed the passer 100 times or more, according to Tru Media. If he gets back to converting his pressures into sacks at a higher rate, the latter number will take a big leap forward in Year 3.
Campbell just keeps plugging along late in his 30s. He plays both inside and out and defends against both the run and the pass. Even while playing only 58% of Miami’s defensive snaps last season, he found a way to 5.0 sacks and 39 pressures, along with 12.0 tackles for loss — his most in a season since 2018. The 17-year veteran will play his age-39 season for the team that originally drafted him, and he’ll make the Cardinals happy they brought him back after eight years away.
Henley has only been in the league for two years and only been a starter for one, but man was that one year impressive. He racked up 147 tackles, including seven for loss, in 2024, and added an interception, a sack and eight passes defensed, along with three quarterback hits. He is a very fast man who makes his speed known by ranging all over the field in both the run game and in coverage.
Benford is a true No. 1 cornerback. Last season, he allowed a passer rating of just 72.3 on throws in his direction, per Pro Football Focus, and yielded just 0.51 yards per coverage snap, which ranked in the top 35 among 243 players (i.e. not just cornerbacks) who played at least 250 snaps in coverage, via Tru Media. He’s been getting better with each passing season and is now a stalwart player for Sean McDermott’s Buffalo defense.
Love has a ton of versatility, and since arriving in Seattle has taken his game to a new level from where it was in New York. He got Pro Bowl recognition in 2023 but might have been an even better player last season, and his play down the stretch was part of Seattle’s defensive improvement. Love’s ability to play in the box (222 snaps), the slot (122 snaps) or up high (699 snaps) makes him an extremely valuable asset for any defense, and especially one that calls for players to play a ton of different roles, like that of Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.
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Author: Jared Dubin
June 10, 2025 | 12:20 pm
