Buccaneers’ Offensive Duo on Top 10 Underrated NFL Players List

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be an underrated team and two players - Mike Evans and Ryan Jensen - specifically are being tagged as the NFL’s most underrated.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers know there aren’t a lot of people expecting much from them this season.

With underrated teams come underrated players and according to Ross Tucker of 33rd Team the Buccaneers have two of the NFL’s top 10.

“Ryan Jensen is probably my favorite player in the NFL, and he has been for a while,” Tucker says. “He plays with an edge and a physicality, unlike any other player I’ve seen. Those skills permeate throughout his team…The guy is a warrior, and they don’t make many like him anymore.”

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In his first four seasons with the Bucs Jensen played on 700 or more pass protection snaps each year according to Pro Football Focus. 

Only two other centers achieved that level of availability even twice in the same stretch, Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Alex Mack of the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers.

In those four years Jensen allowed just one sack in 2018, only 15 total pressures in 2019, was second to just Kelce in total pressures in 2020, and ranked third in total pressures in 2021. 

Yet Jensen has no First-Team All-Pro selections and just one Pro Bowl in that same stretch.

But he’s not the only underrated member of Tampa Bay’s offensive unit as receiver Mike Evans lands on the list as well.

“Everybody knows Mike Evans and acknowledges he is a good player,” says Tucker. “Still, you never hear his name mentioned as being one of the league’s best wide receivers — despite the fact Evans has had more than 1,000 receiving yards every year for all nine seasons of his career.”

While Evans has nine 1,000-yard seasons since 2014 no other NFL receivers have more than six and only four hit that mark. 

Of them (Julio Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper, and Brandin Cooks) Evans tops each in yards per reception and touchdowns and has more catches and yards than two of them while coming in fourth in first down catches. 

Yet, he has no First-Team All-Pro selections and four Pro Bowls while both Jones and Hopkins top him each. 

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Clearly, there are some style points being considered in who gets recognized as the best receivers of their generation.

We don’t know if Buccaneers players like Jensen and Evans will ever get their fair share of praise and adoration from a national perspective.

If they can contribute to the Bucs outperforming their meager expectations in 2023, however, that could go a long way to helping the cause.

Find David Harrison on Twitter @DHarrison82

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