Tim Patrick, Yetur Gross-Matos, Sincere McCormick among Secret Superstars for Week 14

Lions, Rams, Raiders, and Rams all had great Week 14 performances by secret superstars

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 several undrafted free agents who stepped up at the right time, one defensive player whose box score completely betrayed his awesome performance, and one cornerback who might have saved the Rams’ bacon in the Game of the Year (so far).

Sincere McCormick, RB, Las Vegas Raiders

Not much is good in the world of the 2-11 Las Vegas Raiders, tied as they are with the New York Giants for the NFL’s worst record. The upsides are few and far between – maybe they can get Travis Hunter or Shedeur Sanders in the draft, and there’s at least one guy on the current roster who’s balling out. That would be Sincere McCormick, the 2022 UDFA running back out of UTSA (go Roadrunners!). Serious injury hits to the Raiders’ running back depth chart have had McCormick in from the team’s practice squad, where he’s been in and out quite frequently of late.

McCormick’s first action this season (actually, the first regular-season action of his NFL career) came in Week 13 against the Denver Broncos, when he rushed five times for 33 yards. Two of those runs were explosive plays, and that was a harbinger of things to come. Against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14, McCormick upped the ante with 12 carries for 64 yards and two more explosive runs. And last Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, McCormick put a bow on the whole thing with 78 more yards and two more explosive runs on 15 carries.

At 5-foot-9 and 205 pounds, McCormick has shown the speed, cutting ability, and suddenness to win with outside zone runs. But the most spectacular aspect of his play – and the primary way those explosive runs are happening – is his ability to force missed tackles with both brute strength and short-area agility. He forced three missed tackles against the Chiefs, and four against the Buccaneers. His tape has been especially fun to watch in that time.

Nobody knows what’s going to happen with that snakebit Raiders franchise in the upcoming offseason, but whoever’s in charge next year would be wise to make the most of McCormick’s talents. He’ll be in the second year of his current two-year, $1,755 million contract, so quite a bargain there.

Tim Patrick, WR, Detroit Lions

Patrick is another UDFA who has been through it. The Utah alum first signed on with the Baltimore Ravens and then the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 before the Denver Broncos got hold of him in October of that year. The 6-foot-4, 212-pound Patrick first got to show what he could do in 2018, when he caught 23 passes on 40 targets for 315 yards and a touchdown. 2020 was supposed to be his breakout year – he grabbed 51 passes on 74 targets for 742 yards and six touchdowns.

At this point, Patrick’s size/speed/catch radius combo had him looking like a future star. He signed a three-year, $34.5 million contract extension with the Broncos, and had another good season in 2021.

Then, the horrible injury luck hit. Patrick lost the entire 2022 season to a torn ACL in August, and just as he was coming back, lost the entire 2023 season to a torn Achilles tendon in July.

Denver released Patrick on August 26 of this year, and the Lions signed him to their practice squad one day later. It didn’t take long for a finally healthy Patrick to show that he still had enough juice to be a meaningful part of an NFL receiver corps.

The real capper to Patrick’s comeback came against the Green Bay Packers last Thursday night in Detroit’s 34-31 win that took the Lions to 12-1 on the season. Patrick caught six passes on seven targets for 43 yards and two touchdowns. Postgame, you could tell exactly how much the journey back meant to him.

“What a great addition he’s been,” head coach Dan Campbell said of Patrick. ”He just continues to make plays for us in the run game and the pass game, stepped up big here. We talk about catching and knifing today. Catch, turn, and run. Catch it, tug it, turn, and run. Do whatever – if you can only get five, you’ve got to get a six. If you can only get a seven, you’ve got to get us eight, and man, I mean he did that multiple times, and then comes up with the two big touchdowns for us.

“He’s been an unbelievable addition, what a stud.”

Alaric Jackson, LT, Los Angeles Rams

Yet another undrafted free agent, Jackson was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and didn’t start playing football until his junior year of high school in Detroit. Still, he chose Iowa over offers from Iowa State, Michigan State, and Nebraska. Jackson made first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American as a redshirt senior in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but the NFL apparently found him lacking in the draft process, and he signed with the Rams in May, 2021.

Jackson has seen his snap counts elevate precipitously over the last four seasons, and he’s starting to become the stalwart at left tackle that Sean McVay’s offense desperately needed following Andrew Whitworth’s retirement. It’s working well in 2024, as Jackson has allowed three sacks, four quarterback hits, and nine quarterback hurries in 417 pass-blocking reps. Jackson has also been great in the run game as the Rams have moved from inside and outside zone to more of a man-blocking unit over the last few seasons.

In Los Angeles’ amazing 44-42 Sunday win over the Buffalo Bills, Jackson was as important as anyone on the field when it came to maintaining the standard needed to match and exceed the Bills point-for point. He allowed no sacks or pressures of any kind in 35 pass snaps, and he was scooping and sealing all over the place on the Rams’ 42 (!) rushing attempts.

“I thought they did excellent,” McVay said postgame of his front five. “Anytime you’re able to get as many carries off as we were… I don’t know exactly what the numbers will come out as but we were efficient. We weren’t in many negative third down situations. I think that’s why we were able to be efficient on third down. But they were great. I thought they did an excellent job in protection. [The Bills] started bringing some more pressures as the game went on, and I thought we were pretty efficient in both phases. I think our line has played really well each of the last couple weeks.”

Alaric Jackson is one major reason why.

Keeanu Benton, DI, Pittsburgh Steelers

In Week 1 of the 2021 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Dallas Cowboys 31-29, and Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea was completely dominant. Not that the numbers would tell you that – Vea had no sacks and a handful of pressures, but the tape showed how Vea went all Animal Style on Dallas’ offense.

In the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 27-14 win last Sunday over the Cleveland Browns, defensive tackle Keeanu Benton was just as much of a force with no pressure stats of any kind – no sacks, hits, or hurries. That may have you thinking that he wasn’t a dominant force, but again, the tape told a different story. Benton, the 2023 second-round pick from Wisconsin, terrorized Cleveland’s offensive linemen, backs, and quarterbacks, in ways that the box score didn’t show.

There was Benton’s first career interception, which was pretty cool, and he did have one official tackle. It’s fascinating how sometimes, numbers can completely hide and misrepresent a player’s performance, and that was altogether true for Benton last Sunday.

“Game ball? It’s just an interception,” fellow defensive lineman Cameron Heyward said of Benton’s efforts in a joking fashion. “If that’s the case, I’m waiting on mine. I’ve never gotten one for that. Heck of a play. Great awareness just to track it down the line. It’s not like it was popped in the air or anything. Can’t say enough about the kid. He works his tail off. I know he wants big plays all the time. It was a big play for us in this game. Lucky to have that kid on our sidelines.”

Whether the numbers say so or not.

Yetur Gross-Matos, EDGE, San Francisco 49ers

The Carolina Panthers selected Gross-Matos in the second round of the 2020 draft after a collegiate career in which he totaled 20 sacks and 81 total pressures in three seasons. Carolina waited four seasons for the light to go on at the next level, but although Gross-Matos has had his moments, injuries limited his ultimate potential. After four seasons, 15 sacks, and 79 pressures with the Panthers, Gross-Matos signed a two-year, $18 million contract with the 49ers that gave him $12.39 million guaranteed.

The market dictated that Gross-Matos was now seen as a mid-level pass-rusher, and through his first six games with San Francisco, that’s about what the 49ers got – one sack and 11 pressures. Then, the 49ers lined up against the Chicago Bears last Sunday, and Gross-Matos went off as he never has since his college days. He totaled three sacks, three quarterback hits, and one quarterback hurry, and he was an absolute menace wherever he lined up – left tackle Braxton Jones and right tackle Darnell Wright each felt the burn.

Gross-Matos did all this after coming off a stint on injured reserve in November with a knee issue, so the injury luck has not abated. But it was nice to see him display his full skill set in a key situation for once. On Thursday night against the Rams in a game that could decide the 49ers’ season in a negative sense if they lose, Gross-Matos may see significant snaps against the aforementioned Alaric Jackson, and that’s one to watch.

Cobie Durant, CB, Los Angeles Rams

Speaking of the Rams, general manager Les Snead and his crew put together a defense packed with young stars from the defensive line to the secondary. It’s time to recognize cornerback Cobie Durant as one of those guys. The 2022 fourth-round pick out of South Carolina has come into his own in his third NFL season, and that wild Bills game was perhaps the best example. While defense seemed mostly optional for both teams, Durant was refusing to give anything up when he was up against veteran receiver Amari Cooper, and that was quite often.

The final vertical pass to Cooper that Durant broke up (the first play in the reel above) came with 1:54 left in the game, and it was crucial. The Rams were up 44-35 at the time, and it was first-and-10 at the Buffalo 30-yard line. Had Durant not done his job so well, it’s entirely possible that Cooper could have not only caught the ball, but gotten past safety Kamren Curl, who was coming over to help in the Rams’ Cover-3. That could have put an entirely different tint on the 44-42 final. Yes, the Rams allowed 40 extra yards in pass interference penalties on the Bills’ final dive, but with a Cooper big play there? Maybe the Bills have more time to respond than they did.

It was in part because of Durant locking Amari Cooper down throughout the game that they didn’t.