Jauan Jennings, Kerby Joseph among NFL Secret Superstars for Week 11

J.K. Dobbins, Tuli Tuipulotu making big impacts.

As any NFL season progresses, there will be more unheralded players who rise up from humble beginnings to become factors, and guys whose careers have gone sideways who somehow find the road back to relevance.

We like to celebrate these players every week in “Secret Superstars.” This week, we have a running back who is finally thriving with a clean bill of health, two pass-rushers who are crucial to defenses moving in different directions, and two defensive backs who are showing up in highly unexpected ways.

J.K. Dobbins, RB, Los Angeles Chargers

Dobbins was selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the 2020 draft out of Ohio State, and he spent his first four NFL seasons as part of Baltimore’s stable of pre-Derrick Henry running backs. Injuries limited his potential with the team, especially the torn ACL he suffered in the 2021 preseason that put him out for that entire regular season, and Dobbins gained just 22 yards and scored one rushing touchdown on eight carries in 2023.

But former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who became Jim Harbaugh’s sidekick with the Chargers before the 2024 season, didn’t forget what Dobbins might bring to the field when healthy. The Chargers signed Dobbins to a one-year, $1.6 million contract this offseason, and that’s turned into one of the NFL’s biggest bargains. Through 10 games and eight starts this season, Dobbins already has 726 yards and eight rushing touchdowns on 152 carries. He’s forced 32 missed tackles, tied for 12th in the league with Detroit’s David Montgomery, and he has nine rushing attempts of 15 yards or more.

Dobbins made all the difference in the Chargers’ thrilling 34-27 Sunday win over the Cincinnati Bengals – a victory that put the team at 7-3 on the season. He had just 56 yards on 11 carries, but he also ran for two touchdowns – a one-yard vertical special in the second quarter, and the game-winning 26-yarder with 26 seconds left on the clock.

Like a lot of Chargers players this season, Dobbins is benefiting from an ideal combination of circumstance and coaching, and after several unfortunate false starts to his career, he’s making the most of it.

Jauan Jennings, WR, San Francisco 49ers

It’s hard to keep track of all the 49ers’ offensive playmakers. Between Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk, anyone else might be minimized just because there are so many ahead of them on the list. This has been the case for receiver Jauan Jennings, the 2020 seventh-round pick out of Tennessee. Last Sunday, San Francisco couldn’t quite get by the Seattle Seahawks in a 20-17 loss, but Jennings did everything he could for a more optimal result. He caught 10 passes on 11 targets for 91 yards and a touchdown, winning on everything from quick pivot routes to zone-busting slants.

Anquan Boldin is a potential Hall of Famer based primarily on his work with the Arizona Cardinals from 2003 through 2009. But later in his career, both with the Baltimore Ravens under John Harbaugh and the 49ers under Jim Harbaugh, Boldin remained a beast to cover despite the fact that he didn’t have the same speed and athletic separation ability. How? He adjusted to being a bully at the catch point, a route chef par excellence, and someone you really didn’t want to tackle. While the rest of Kyle Shanahan’s stars were suffering at the hands of Seattle’s suddenly stout pass defense, Jennings did what he does – he went full late-career Boldin, and won over and over with pure physical dominance.

Tuli Tuipulotu, EDGE, Los Angeles Chargers

With head coach Brandon Staley as the primary shot-caller, the 2023 Chargers defense ranked 26th in Defensive DVOA. Now, with new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter running things, they’ve moved up to 10th. It’s a nice jump, and there are a lot of reasons for it. One is the play of second-year edge-rusher Tuli Tuipulotu, selected in the second round of the 2023 draft out of USC.

It’s not that Tuipulotu needed Minter to get on the good foot in the NFL – he had eight sacks and 51 total pressures in his rookie season. But now, in this drastically improved defense, Tuipulotu has upped his game to an entirely new level. This has been especially true over the Chargers’ last three games, in which he’s led the entire NFL in both sacks and total pressures. He’s already matched his rookie sack total.

At 6-foot-4 and 266 pounds, Tuipulotu combines the power of a 280-pound man with the rushing speed and flexibility of a 240-pound man. It’s an estimable mix, and one the Chargers’ opponents are learning to feel – and fear.

Odafe Oweh, EDGE, Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens haven’t exactly thrived in the transition from Mike Macdonald to Zach Orr as defensive coordinator. They’ve dropped from first in Defensive DVOA in 2023 to 13th this season, and the tape shows a defense that seems more vulnerable than even the metrics show.

(In 2024, this is what is known as Reverse Chargering).

Baltimore’s defense was decent enough against the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday — the Ravens lost the game 18-16 — but they also turned Russell Wilson into a pumpkin, and Baltimore’s weirdness was mostly on offense and special teams.

In the matter of the Ravens’ defensive improvement this time around, we can begin with Odafe Oweh, the fourth-year pass-rusher from Penn State who has enjoyed three pretty good seasons, and is going all the way off the hook in Year 4. Oweh already has a career-high seven sacks, and three of those came in the Steelers game. Neither Dan Moore Jr., Pittsburgh’s left tackle, nor Brderick Jones, Pittsburgh’s right tackle, had any answers for him.

If the Ravens are to reverse their defensive issues, they’ll need consistent quarterback pressure, and Oweh is on point to provide it.

Mike Sainristil, CB, Washington Commanders

The Commanders’ 2024 draft is about more than just quarterback Jayden Daniels, though Daniels has been the obvious centerpiece. Defensive tackle Johnny Newton, tight end Ben Sinnott, left tackle Brandon Coleman, and receiver Luke McCaffrey have all made contributions. But the biggest surprise of this draft class might be Michigan cornerback Mike Sainristil.

Sainristil was taken with the 50th overall pick in the second round because he was an absolute demon with the Wolverines. But at 5-foot-10 and 182 pounds, Sainristil was perceived as limited to the slot by a lot of analysts, and that bore out from his collegiate career – he had 985 slot snaps, and 178 outside. But under new head coach and defensive mastermind Dan Quinn, the Commanders have had more than their share of issues with their existing outside cornerbacks, and Sainristil started to get more reps there in Week 3.

The transition has been a smooth one, and this was especially the case in Washington’s Week 11 game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Sainristil allowed two catches on five targets for 31 yards, 17 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 61.3.

The Commanders recently traded for New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore to shore up their outside deficits, but Lattimore isn’t yet healthy enough to take the field. In the interim, Sainristil – who has never allowed an opponent passer rating higher than 100.0 in nine games as an outside cornerback – seems to have found his niche in a way few expected.

Kerby Joseph, Safety, Detroit Lions

Since we’re on the subject of defensive backs who have risen in unexpected ways, how about Kerby Joseph? The Lions took Joseph in the third round of the 2022 draft out of Illinois, and Joseph’s rookie season was pretty rough. He did have four interceptions and four pass breakups, but he also allowed five touchdowns and an opponent passer rating of 89.2.

Since then, though, Joseph has been about as lockdown as you’ll find among NFL safeties. He hasn’t allowed a touchdown in each of the last two seasons, and teamed with fellow safety Brian Branch, who the Lions stole in the second round of the 2023 draft, Joseph mans half of the league’s best and most opportunistic deep-third duo. No player regardless of position has more interceptions over the last three seasons than Joseph, and he can also drive down from the box or the slot to take running backs right out of their rhythms.

He showed that once again in Detroit’s 52-6 thrashing of the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday.

Everybody talks about the Lions’ offense, and for good reason. But Detroit currently ranks second in Defensive DVOA, and first in Weighted Defensive DVOA, which takes recent games more into consideration. That wouldn’t be the case without Joseph, who has allowed 10 catches on 20 targets for 144 yards, 42 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, seven (!!!) interceptions, a pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 34.2.

That Lions defense is filled with Secret Superstars because the offense is so bright. But starting with Kerby Joseph, you can bet that it’s not at all a secret to the rest of the NFL.