That’s interesting, and moderately surprising. I agree with the second comment: once Fletcher finally started making Pro Bowls, it seemed like people were determined to make up for his previous snubs, so that he clearly made some Pro Bowls he didn’t deserve.

The final commenter I just flatly disagree with. I lived in Washington for six of Fletcher’s seven seasons there. The idea that Fletcher wasn’t a sound tackler or an unusually good coverage LB are frankly silly and literally incredible. Denigrating him as merely “a serviceable guy on pretty suspect defenses” does not deserve to be taken seriously. I think anyone who watched Fletcher understands that he was much more than serviceable, which to me implies barely good enough to play.

I do think Fletcher was better in zone coverage than man-to-man, but he was (for an LB) an exceptional pass defender. His PD and INT statistics put the burden of evidence on anyone who asserts otherwise. He was agile, with great balance, and he had tremendous ball instincts — I don’t know how anyone can discuss his career like they’ve seen him play without mentioning that, or his intelligence and understanding of the game.

Obviously highlights are an unreliable means of film study for multiple reasons, but this 3:25 video was the first thing that came up for Fletcher on YouTube. It only includes highlights from Washington, which is a shame, but it’s short and it does show some of the things Fletcher did well.

“I haven’t watched film on the guy, but he played a few years here in
Buffalo [so] I had the chance to see him live several times. A good
solid player who was never spectacular. Leader on Bills defense that
underachieved. Durable. Nice long career. HOF worthy? No. Even HOVG
is iffy.”

“I liked Fletcher. He probably should have had more honors (Pro Bowl
selections) and what happened was that for a time he was so
overlooked/underrated that after the fact he became overrated. Which of
course happens both ways. Good players get overrated to great and people
have to go so far in the other direction to balance things out (“he
sucks!”) that they eventually become underrated or vice-versa. Fletcher
was the latter. Have to go so far in that direction to give him his due
that all of a sudden people have him in the PFHOF.”

“By the end of his seven or so years with the Redskins, he looked like he
was playing on roller skates, but the first four or five years he
performed at a high level and provided leadership in the locker room.
He was one of those rare Redskins free-agent pick-ups who actually
worked out overall. They kept him around two years too long. Definitely
not HOF or even HOVG in my view.”

“He just wasn’t stout in the middle, I never made a concerted effort to
study him specifically, for a reason, but he was more a wrap and drag
down tackler than a take on with leverage guy. I’d compare – at the same
size – both Sam Mills and Zach Thomas favorably to him (and the awards
reflect as such). He wasn’t great in coverage either though he held up
well as he aged, strangely he didn’t seem to lose a step until very late
in DC, but seemed to lose any pop or power that he ever had. He also
had team inflated tackle numbers at every stop of his career, don’t
believe anything over 10 / game on him in any season. Almost no tackles
for loss. He was a serviceable guy on pretty suspect defenses. I like
him personally, seemed like a good team and locker room guy, but
probably a notch below even Clay Matthews II and Jim Marshall – I’d have
him outside looking in on HOVG.”