Every week in “4-Down Territory” powered by KIA, Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Super Bowl LVII just around the corner, Doug and Luke get into which Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs players might transcend their underrated status to become the Secret Superstars in this game.
Every year, there’s at least one hidden gem of a player who comes out of nowhere and has the game of his life to propel his team to the Lombardi Trophy. Who is the one Secret Superstar for either the Philadelphia Eagles or the Kansas City Chiefs that you think could be the Secret Superstar of Super Bowl LVII?
Doug: I’ll pick Eagles defensive back Avonte Maddox. He’s missed time with injuries this season, and he’s working through a toe injury to play in the game, but the Eagles’ on-off splits when it comes to Maddox are pretty telling. Maddox has missed 595 possible snaps this season with hamstring, ankle, and toe injuries, and he’s been on the field for just 417. When he’s on the field, Philadelphia’s EPA allowed drops from -0.03 to -0.17, and EPA allowed is better when it’s negative. Philly’s passing EPA allowed dropped from -0.05 to -0.25, completion percentage allowed went from 67.2 to 60.0, yards per attempt from 7.3 to 5.4, touchdown rate allowed from 5.7% to 2.1%, and interception rate rose from 2.7 to 3.3.
The Eagles have great outside cornerbacks in Darius Slay and James Bradberry, so when you add Maddox in the slot, that allows Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to work more at safety, and Philly’s defense just comes together. Maddox will be a guy to watch on Sunday.
Luke: I’ll take Chiefs CB Jaylen Watson. Watson barely missed the cut for a third-round grade in my rankings heading into the 2022 NFL draft, but the Chief somehow landed him in the seventh round, and have been reaping the benefits throughout his rookie season. He had a huge pick-six earlier in the season, a clutch one-handed pick last week against the Bengals. He’s got a great combination of size, length, athleticism, ball skills, instincts…everything you want in a corner. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith present a huge challenge for this secondary, but if the Chiefs pull this one out, don’t be surprised if Watson has a huge hand in making it happen.
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