Green Bay Packers: 10 Nationally underrated players of the 2000s
By Hunter Noll
1. Donald Driver
Every great quarterback needs a reliable wide receiver. Both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers got to enjoy Donald Driver for some time. The Green Bay Packers receiver is 40th all time with 743 receptions and 44th all time with 10,137 receiving yards. He even has three Pro-Bowls to go with it all.
Driver spent 14 seasons in the NFL, all with the Green Bay Packers. Along with his 743 receptions and 10,137 yards, the receiver caught 61 touchdown passes. He was consistently great throughout his career, and at one point enjoyed a stretch that saw him pick up 70+ receptions and 1,000+ yards in six straight seasons.
Driver got some recognition over the years, but was never truly highlighted as an elite receiver. Part of this could be his own teammates. Over the years, Driver played alongside people like Antonio Freeman and Greg Jennings, as well as tight ends like Bubba Franks.
The crazy part is, if you go back and look at Franks’ numbers, they were solid but nothing special. He was a big tight end and could catch touchdown passes though. This brought attention to him. Don’t get me wrong, the tight end was a great player, but Driver was on another level.
Of course, this is what I was talking about at the beginning as well. Receivers like Terrell Owens, as well as Randy Moss and Chad Johnson (Ochocinco) were dominating the headlines. It was hard for someone like Driver to be mentioned much ahead of them.
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Even near the end of his career, Driver was still putting up solid numbers. In 2011 (Driver’s last full season), the receiver picked up 37 receptions for 445 yards and six touchdowns (the fourth most in his career). He was a strong contributor to his lone Super Bowl ring.
Donald Driver spent almost the entirety of his career as a top-level receiver in the NFL. The Green Bay Packers start will be lucky to be mentioned when talking about the pass catchers of the era however. If that’s not underrated, I don’t know what is.