Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor named most overrated NFL player

Photo: Patrick Smith, Getty Images Head coach Pete Carroll talks with Kam Chancellor #31 of the...

Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor was picked the NFL's most overrated player for this season by CBS Sports' Pete Prisco.

"He's a solid NFL safety," Prisco wrote, "but his reputation would make you think he's Ronnie Lott in his prime."

Prisco annually compiles a list of overrated players, burn-booking one player from each of the league's 32 teams. Last year Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson wasn't named the most overrated, but he made the list.

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The 6-foot-3, 232-pound defensive back sat out the Seahawks first two games last season, an overtime loss at St. Louis and a Sunday night double-digit loss at Green Bay. Excluding the holdout, Chancellor has started all but four games in the last five years. Still after he returned, Prisco doesn't think the 28-year-old ever regained his prowess throughout the season as the big-hitting safety he once was.

"He just wasn't the same player, and had problems at times in coverage, which has been his weakness for a while," he wrote. "Fans and media members get excited about his big hits, but he needs to improve his coverage skills and make more plays on the ball."

It goes further than that for Prisco. The 5th round pick out of Virginia Tech has "never" been good in coverage, he said, and it showed more last season because teams continually attacked -- and exposed -- him with quick tight ends.

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In Chancellor's last four seasons, he has six interceptions. The season before that stretch, in second year in the league and first starting, he had four picks. He also has averaged more than 100 total tackles per season in the last four years.

Prisco doesn't like big hitters in the secondary, he wrote, and would "always" rather have a cover player than a guy who drops his shoulder in the NFL's golden era for passers. It's the primary reason he tapped Chancellor as the most overrated.

"The game has changed," he wrote. "Some 10 to 15 years ago Chancellor would have been an all-out star. But with offenses spread out, he's becoming more of a liability."

Visit seattlepi.com for more Seattle Seahawks news. Contact sports intern Sam Fortier at samfortier@seattlepi.com or @sam4tr.



