I will say, Jaylen might be the most maligned, disrespected, undervalued, under appreciated home grown star talent we have seen in any Boston/New England sports jersey in a very, very long time, if ever.
Hmm. I would have to think hard on that one.
I definitely wouldn't say "ever". That's gotta be Ted Williams, right? At least with the media.
And, Bill Russell was unfortunately maligned, living in a racist city at a racist time.
So, let's draw 1980 as the cutoff point. I wonder, who was our most underappreciated and unfairly criticized star.
In baseball, there's a good argument that it's Roger Clemens, at least during his last four seasons here.
Hockey... there have been a lot of players disrespected by management and the media. It probably depends on what "home grown" means; does a guy need to have been drafted by the team? Tuuka seems like a good candidate.
Football... I don't follow the Patriots as closely as many here. Bledsoe? In hindsight, he gets treated like a scrub, even though he was a really good QB.
Basketball... Rozier? Smart?