Every NFL team has diamonds in the rough, and every NFL team has players who don't lack production or consistency, but they might lack star power and recognition around the league.
As the NFL Top 100 players list gets slowly released over the longest portion of the NFL offseason, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight some of the most underrated players on every team in each conference, starting with the AFC.
The newest NFL Power Rankings will zoom in closely on exactly that -- each AFC team's most underrated player (or one of them) heading into the 2026 season. Which players don't get the recognition they deserve? Which players are productive and consistent, but simply aren't household names, for whatever reason?
16. New York Jets: Harrison Phillips, defensive lineman
The New York Jets have an extremely young, mostly unproven roster full of players at this point. There aren't many veterans on this roster you can point to as underrated, but Harrison Phillips is an exception on the interior defensive line.
Phillips is already entering his 9th NFL season, showing his reliability right off the rip, but he's also played and started all 17 games in each of the past four years. He had a career-high 5 tackles for loss last season, which might not seem like much, but Phillips is truly elite as a run stuffer. He earned the 6th-highest run defense grade of any interior defensive lineman in the league last year, according to PFF.
15. Las Vegas Raiders: Eric Stokes, cornerback
A former first-round pick and outcast of the Green Bay Packers, Eric Stokes signed a prove-it deal with the Las Vegas Raiders during the 2025 offseason. And prove it, he did.
Stokes played and started 16 games for the Raiders last year, and earned himself a 3-year deal worth $30 million this offseason to return. Stokes dealt with injuries throughout his time with the Packers, and availability was more the issue there than actual on-field ability. He allowed a passer rating into his coverage this past season of just 77.7, the best number he's posted in that regard since his strong rookie season in Green Bay.
Sometimes, the risks in free agency pay off.
14. Los Angeles Chargers: Teair Tart, defensive lineman
For the life of me, I can't figure out why Teair Tart was just inexplicably floating around the league from 2023-24. And it wasn't like he was unproven at that point.
Tart spent the majority of his first four NFL seasons with the Titans, and had 8 tackles for loss during the 2023 season when he was cut. The Houston Texans immediately scooped him up, but then also immediately let him go. The Chargers capitalized on that mistake, and have given Tart a 3-year extension worth $37.5 million in total money and $20 million in guarantees.
He's an elite run defender (9th vs. the run per PFF), and knows how to be disruptive as a pass rusher without consistently getting hands on the QB. He has 6 batted passes over the last two seasons.
13. Buffalo Bills: Ty Johnson, running back
Generally speaking, Ty Johnson has been one of the most underrated backs in the league over the last handful of years. There is a reason why the Buffalo Bills have kept him around for four years now.
Johnson doesn't put up the most ridiculous numbers or anything, and the Bills have a lot of mouths to feed with James Cook and Ray Davis also adding tremendous value to that backfield. But Johnson can play all three downs on top of special teams.
He's fresh off of a year in which he racked up a career-high 703 all-purpose yards and five total TDs. Over the last two seasons, Johnson has nine total touchdowns and 7.2 yards per touch from scrimmage.
12. Pittsburgh Steelers: Darnell Washington, tight end
The Pittsburgh Steelers just rewarded Darnell Washington with a surprise contract extension: 4 years, $42 million, and $21 million guaranteed. The Steelers don't think Washington is underrated, but the rest of the league might have been surprised they valued him to that degree.
The numbers paint an interesting story.
Washington, despite being one of the biggest tight ends in the NFL (literally) at 6-foot-7, 264 pounds, ranked 7th at his position with 11.7 yards per reception last season. He was the 15th-highest graded overall TE by PFF last season despite being one of three at his position getting extensive work in Pittsburgh last season. Among tight ends with at least 40 targets and 10 games played last season, he was #1 in yards after the catch per reception (7.4).
11. Houston Texans: Jayden Higgins, wide receiver
Perhaps it's because the Houston Texans' offense struggled mightily by comparison to the dominance of their defense, but Jayden Higgins probably should have gotten a lot more hype than he did for his performance as a rookie and the #2 target alongside Nico Collins.
Higgins caught six touchdown passes as a rookie, only dropped three of his 68 total targets, and had 525 receiving yards with 12.8 yards per reception.
He should be in line for a breakout year in 2026 as one of the featured weapons in Houston's passing game.
10. Cleveland Browns: Ronnie Hickman, safety
Although the Cleveland Browns have almost completely turned over their roster over the course of the past couple of years, safety Ronnie Hickman has quietly developed into somewhat of a stud.
He's coming off of the best year of his young career so far, playing and starting all 17 games for the Browns last season with 2 interceptions, 103 total tackles, and a career-high 7 passes defensed. In three seasons with over 1800 snaps played defensively, he's only been credited with giving up three total touchdowns as the closest player in coverage.
Last season, PFF graded Hickman the 11th-best coverage safety in the entire NFL. Especially considering he was an undrafted free agent back in 2023 out of Ohio State, Hickman has played well above anyone's expectations when he was coming out, and is still improving in all aspects of his game.
9. Baltimore Ravens: Roger Rosengarten, right tackle
Roger Rosengarten has quietly emerged as one of the top 25 (or so) offensive tackles in the NFL over the past couple of seasons for the Baltimore Ravens.
As a 2nd-round pick out of Washington back in 2024, the expectation of developing into a starter was expected, but Rosengarten has been on a much faster upward trajectory than anticipated.
He graded as the 25th-best overall tackle in the NFL by PFF, and ranked in the top half of the league at the position in both pass blocking and run blocking. He's got a balanced skill set, and has played all 34 games he's been eligible for over his first two NFL seasons.
He's also only been called for holding one time in 1,948 snaps.
8. Cincinnati Bengals: Bryan Cook, safety
The Cincinnati Bengals' most underrated player heading into the 2026 season is actually one of the newest players on their team.
Bryan Cook has been a starter for the Kansas City Chiefs for the last handful of years, and his presence is one the Chiefs are liable to miss rather quickly this season. Cook has over 160 total tackles and 11 passes broken up over the past two seasons.
PFF gave him the 4th-best overall grade among safeties last season, and the 6th-highest coverage grade out of all safeties. Cook is a Cincinnati native who played his college ball for the Bearcats. Now, he'll get a chance to continue building his pro career as a member of his hometown Bengals.
7. Indianapolis Colts: DeForest Buckner, defensive lineman
DeForest Buckner has been selected to multiple Pro Bowls and multiple All-Pro teams in his NFL career, so how is it that he's underrated?
It just feels like this is one of the most consistently good defensive linemen in the NFL whose consistency has become borderline "boring". You know what you're getting from Buckner on a week-to-week basis, and he's the type of player coaches and executives might appreciate more than fans or media.
Over the course of his entire career, Buckner averages 8.9 sacks per 17 games played. He's gotten hurt each of the past two seasons, missing a total of 12 games, but he's still highly disruptive as a pass rusher. Despite playing just 10 games last season, his 36 total pressures (PFF) ranked 22nd among all interior defensive linemen.
6. Tennessee Titans: Peter Skoronski, guard
As a former 1st-round pick, you expect Peter Skoronski to be one of the best at his position in the NFL. Unfortunately, because the Titans haven't been good, you really don't hear much about him.
Frankly, you don't hear much about offensive guard play, in general.
But Skoronski, the 11th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has developed into one of the top offensive guards in the entire NFL. PFF graded him as the 6th-best overall guard during the 2025 season with the 2nd-best pass blocking grade in the entire league. He only allowed 1 quarterback hit all season.
Over the last two seasons, he's been called for 6 holding penalties, but he cut that number from 4 to 2 in 2025. If he can continue to clean that area of his game up, he might be in line for some All-Pro votes.
5. Miami Dolphins: Aaron Brewer, center
We started compiling this list a while back, and the timing was hilarious, because Aaron Brewer received a contract extension after this list was assembled. The Dolphins gave Brewer a 3-year deal worth $52.5 million in total money, a huge contract and huge vote of confidence in one of the league's most overlooked studs.
What makes his contract extension even more impressive is the fact that Miami has been looking for pretty much every way they can to gut the roster of players from the previous regime. So Brewer is also viewed as a foundational piece and culture fit for GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and head coach Jeff Hafley.
He earned the 2nd-best overall grade last year among centers and was the highest-graded run blocker at the center position. He was named 2nd-team All-Pro last season and is one of the league's best-kept secrets.
4. Kansas City Chiefs: Nick Bolton, linebacker
Nick Bolton has been a critical piece helping the Chiefs win two Super Bowls since he came into the league, and is one of the NFL's best tackling machines.
On a 17-game average, this guy racks up 141 total tackles and 10 tackles for loss. So, not only is he one of the NFL's best tacklers at the off-ball linebacker position, but he also knows how to scrape off of linemen and make plays in the backfield. He's got such a great feel for attacking gaps and weaving through traffic, making him the perfect fit for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Although the percentage has gone up a bit the past two seasons, he has a really respectable missed tackle rate of just 6.1 percent for his NFL career. His 25 total pressures were the 3rd-most of any inside linebacker during the 2025 season.
3. Denver Broncos: JK Dobbins, running back
Although injuries have defined his NFL career up to this point, JK Dobbins is one of the NFL's best running backs when he's actually able to be on the field.
Over the past two seasons, that's only been for a total of 23 games, but the numbers speak for themselves. He was averaging 5.0 yards per carry with the Broncos through 10 games last season, and was top 5 in the NFL in total rushing yards, yards per game, yards per carry, and explosive runs (runs of 10-plus yards).
Dating back to the 2024 season with the Chargers, Dobbins has a 17-game average of 1,240 yards and 9.6 touchdowns. Even with all of the injuries he's been through in his career, Dobbins's explosiveness has not gone anywhere. The Broncos invested in him to the tune of 2 years, $16 million with incentives that can take his deal up to $20 million.
Staying healthy is the biggest "if" for Dobbins, but if that happens, he's proven he can be one of the top 5 backs in the league.
2. New England Patriots: Marcus Jones, cornerback/return specialist
Coming out of college, Marcus Jones was one of the most intriguing players in the 2022 NFL Draft class. He was an absolute machine in college when it came to playing elite defense from a coverage perspective, making plays on the ball, while also being like a video game cheat code in the return game.
He finished his college career with 10 interceptions and 9 total return touchdowns, 10 return TDs if you include his lone pick-six.
He carried that over into the NFL despite being just 5-foot-8. Jones has been selected to multiple All-Pro teams in his first four years with the Patriots, and is doing the same things he did in college. He already has six career interceptions with the Patriots and is obviously one of the best return men in the entire league with three career punt return TDs, two of them coming last season.
1. Jacksonville Jaguars: Parker Washington, wide receiver
A 6th-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Penn State, Parker Washington has defied the odds to become one of the best receivers on a team that is absolutely loaded at the position.
Washington just had a major breakout last year for the Jaguars with 847 receiving yards on 58 catches, averaging a stellar 14.6 yards per reception and racking up 5 touchdowns in the process. On top of being one of the best downfield targets in the NFL last season, Washington has also been elite in the return game with three punt return touchdowns over the last two seasons.
The numbers he put up from Week 9 through the end of the 2025 season would have him on pace for over 1,200 yards and 8 touchdowns over the course of a full year. Now that the Jaguars have seemingly unlocked him in the offense, he's poised for an even bigger role moving forward.