10 NFL Players That No One Knows If They Are Actually Good
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
The NFL might feel unpredictable on Sundays, but the league itself is built on a strange kind of certainty. We know Patrick Mahomes is elite. We know some rookies never pan out. But then there’s the frustrating middle ground the players who keep us guessing every single week. For example: Sam Darnold of Seatle Seahawks or Bryce Young from California Panthers.
These are the guys who explode for a breakout performance one game, then disappear the moment you start to believe. The players who look like future Pro Bowlers one season, only to leave you questioning your entire talent-evaluation philosophy the next.
They live in the NFL’s gray zone — too good to dismiss, too inconsistent to trust.
Here are 10 players who have everyone — coaches, analysts, and fans — asking the same exhausting question: Are they actually good, or are we all just fooling ourselves?
Are these 10 players really that good in the NFL?
Sam Darnold, QB — Seattle Seahawks
Sam Darnold’s career has been a masterclass in confusion… well… just about everyone. The 3rd overall pick in 2018 spent years bouncing between the Jets, Panthers, and 49ers. He’s racking up the resume of a journeyman backup. Then came 2024.
Playing for the Vikings, Darnold exploded for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns. He earned his 1st Pro Bowl nod and led Minnesota to a 14-3 record. He became the 1st quarterback to achieve 14 wins in his 1st season with a team. Suddenly, the former bust looked like a franchise savior…
Until he crumbled in Week 18 and in their first-round playoff exit.
Nobody knows if 2024 was the real Sam Darnold or if he just had the NFL season of his life in the perfect offensive system. He’s in his 7th year now. The league is still trying to figure out who he actually is and if he is actually good enough to be a franchise quarterback.
Bryce Young, QB — Carolina Panthers
The 1st overall pick in 2023 has given Panthers fans whiplash, and it’s getting harder to tell whether he’s a legitimate franchise quarterback or just a talented player riding emotional highs and lows from week to week of NFL.
He had one of the worst rookie seasons in recent memory. Last year looked like more of the same, until he finally started to pull it together down the stretch.
The Panthers sit just a game and a half out of the playoff race, which sounds promising until you realize it’s mostly because nobody knows which version of this team—or this quarterback—will show up on Sunday and, thus, if they will be able to sustain it down the stretch.
Jordan Love, QB — Green Bay Packers
Jordan Love’s contract extension raised eyebrows for a reason. The Packers committed 4 years and $220 million to a quarterback who, according to his own fans, is “extremely inconsistent.” The question everyone’s asking in Green Bay: Is he actually worth it?
At times, he looks like an MVP candidate, but then, at least once a game, he misses a wide-open receiver or throws a terrible interception. It is a real exercise in faith, rooting for Love and this version of the Packers… namely because of how badly he struggles with ball placement and decision-making at times.
The turnovers have become his Achilles’ heel… and are driving fans and the team’s brass mad because he’s talented enough to lead the Packers to decisive victories over playoff teams, yet inconsistent enough to lose to the Browns and play out ties against teams they should beat.
Green Bay bet big that Love would figure it out. Well, it might be time to know more about Love before judging him again later this season.
Caleb Williams, QB — Chicago Bears
What a trip the Caleb Williams experience has been already.
The USC product now owns the record for most 4th-quarter comebacks through a quarterback’s 1st 2 seasons with 7… and with his most recent exhibition of late-game heroics against the Vikings, he set the Chicago Bears’ single-season franchise record for 4th-quarter comebacks.
But with how inconsistent the Bears have been since he went under center, there is reason to fear that there is an uncomfortable truth lurking beneath those heroics… He could either be a clutch playmaker or just a struggling quarterback getting bailed out by the 4th quarter.
Williams posted a -69.4 quarterback EPA in his rookie season, ranking 35th among qualified quarterbacks. He’s ahead of only Will Levis and took a league-high 68 sacks.
Not exactly the kind of resume that screams “franchise quarterback,” regardless of what his clutch time tape looks like.
That said, the 1st overall pick in 2024 has undeniable talent. The arm is electric, and he’s super athletic. Not to mention, he set the NFL rookie record with 353 consecutive passes without an interception from other players.
But the variance is staggering. He’s either engineering miraculous comebacks or putting his team in position to need them in the 1st place. That’s not sustainable quarterback play, and it’s why nobody can agree on what Caleb Williams actually is.
Kenneth Walker III, RB — Seattle Seahawks
Kenneth Walker III rushed for over 1,000 yards as a rookie, joining Curt Warner as the only players in Seahawks franchise history to hit that mark in their 1st NFL season. The 41st overall pick in 2022 was explosive, decisive, and looked like the kind of back who could carry an offense for years to come.
Three years later, Seattle is still trying to figure out whether he’s actually a featured back or just a committee player who can’t find the end zone when it matters.
The Seahawks continue to give him the ball, but his performance just isn’t consistent.
Seattle clearly wants Walker in their offense, but they seem hesitant to really feature him as the guy.
Jameson Williams, WR — Detroit Lions
What a difference 5 months makes.
Remember when the Detroit Lions signed Jameson Williams to a 3-year, $83 million extension? It was a massive vote of confidence in the 12th overall pick from 2022, who was coming off his 1st 1,000-yard season with eight touchdowns.
The case was strong too… On top of a career year, he’s a dynamic deep threat with world-class speed. It’s the kind of weapon every NFL offense dreams about when it comes to its players.
The Lions locked him up long-term based on what he did in 2024, despite his suspension history. Now they’re stuck hoping 2025 is the outlier, not the trend. If it’s the trend, they just committed $83 million to a player that is impossible to get a read on.
Nik Bonitto, EDGE — Denver Broncos
Here’s the Nik Bonitto problem in a nutshell: Over the first five games of 2025, he terrorized quarterbacks, racking up eight sacks and establishing himself as 1 of the NFL’s most dangerous edge rushers among players. Denver looked like they had a legitimate star on their hands.
Then he vanished.
This matters because the Broncos are headed to the playoffs and have a Super Bowl-contending squad for the first time in years. They desperately need their pass rush to show up when it counts.
Yes, he is coming off a career year, is impressive on paper, and has moments on tape… But nobody watching whistle-to-whistle Broncos games knows which version they’re getting week to week—and how good he really is.
Azeez Ojulari, EDGE — Philadelphia Eagles
What a journey this has been. Azeez Ojulari set the Giants’ rookie sack record with 8 in 2021, the 50th overall pick looking like an absolute steal. He had burst, he had bend, he had all the tools you want in a pass rusher.
Then his body betrayed him.
Over the next three seasons, following that promising rookie year, he missed 22 games.
Hamstrings. Ankles. Calves. Toe ligaments. You name it, Ojulari injured it. The 2024 season encapsulated his entire career: 6 sacks and 28 tackles over 11 games before a torn ligament in his big toe ended his year.
New York let him walk, and Philadelphia signed him to a 1-year, $4 million deal… a prove-it contract if there ever was one.
Because the scouting report is brutally honest, he’s weak against the run, really a one-trick pony, and struggles to stay on the field injury-wise.
That said, 22 sacks in 46 career games show the potential is real… but then again, missing nearly half a season’s worth of games over 3 years shows the availability issues are equally real.
Justin Herbert, QB — Los Angeles Chargers
Justin Herbert, the 6th overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Oregon, can make every throw on the field… and then some. The arm talent is undeniable…
On paper, he looks like everything you want in a franchise quarterback.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth: When the pressure is on, Herbert and the Chargers collapse.
His playoff record is 0 and 2, and in the 2022 Wild Card game against Jacksonville, the Chargers blew a 27-0 lead and lost 31-30… the 3rd-largest blown lead in NFL playoff history.
Then, in the 2024 Wild Card against Houston, Herbert threw four interceptions in a humiliating 32-12 loss, becoming the 1st player in NFL history to throw more picks in a playoff game than in an entire regular season with at least 200 attempts.
And it’s not just the playoffs either; his demons appear during big regular-season games, too.
The Chargers have had Herbert for five years now and have never advanced past the first round, so nobody knows for sure how good he is. However, a 0-2 playoff record and a history of embarrassing losses in big moments tell you something – that’s for sure!
Mekhi Becton, OG — Los Angeles Chargers
The 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft was supposed to be the Jets’ franchise left tackle. At 6-foot-7 and 363 pounds, Mekhi Becton had the size and athleticism to be a cornerstone but his time in New York became a disaster. Injuries derailed him year after year.
First, a knee injury in NFL Week 1 of 2021 kept him out all season, then a fractured kneecap in 2022 training camp cost him another full year.
When he finally stayed healthy in 2023, he led all offensive tackles with 12 sacks allowed and was among the most penalized linemen in football.
Needless to say, no one was shocked when the Jets declined his 5th-year option and let him walk.
Then came the resurrection. Philadelphia signed him to a 1-year, $2.75 million prove-it deal in 2024, moved him from tackle to guard, and watched him thrive and helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LIX in a blowout over Kansas City. Becton looked reborn.
So the Chargers threw 2 years and $20 million at him in March 2025, betting that the Eagles version was the real one, only to see him revert back to Jets form.
Was the Eagles’ success a product of elite offensive line coaching? Or did Becton just cash his check and stop caring? Either way, the Chargers are stuck with a player who had one good year sandwiched between years of disappointment. Right now, it’s looking like that Eagles season was the outlier, not the trend.
