Zach Allen forces 5 sacks on his way to Week 17 immortality

Ar’Darius Washington, Kaden Elliss among the Week 17 hidden gems.

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 Commanders receiver who’s starting to explode off the tape, a Broncos pass rusher who was completely unstoppable against Joe Burrow, and one very under-the-radar defensive back who has helped create the NFL’s most dramatic defensive turnaround of 2024.

Olamide Zaccheaus, WR, Washington Commanders

It came as no surprise that in the Washington Commanders’ 30-24 Sunday night win over the Atlanta Falcons that put Washington in the playoffs that rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels played very well. Daniels completed 24 of 36 passes for 227 yards, three touchdowns, an interception, a passer rating of 100.1, and 127 rushing yards on 16 carries. What may have come as a surprise was the name of Daniels’ top receiver. Terry McLaurin was tied up with top-level Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell, and that left Olamide Zaccheaus as Daniels’ No. 1 buddy, with eight catches on nine targets for 89 yards and a touchdown.

It’s not the first big game this season for the former undrafted free agent out of Virginia; maybe Zaccheaus is into revenge games. The Falcons signed him in 2019, and he worked as a rotational receiver for four seasons. Then, he signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023, and it was the Eagles Zaccheaus torched in Week 16 this season for five catches, 70 yards, and two touchdowns.

At 5-foot-8 and 193 pounds, Zaccheaus doesn’t have the look of a No. 1 receiver, but you don’t need to be that in the NFL these days to succeed. The Falcons found that out the hard way, because he made big plays with just about everything that came his way, and he was especially clutch when it came to extending drives. 52 of his receiving yards came after the catch, and he forced four missed tackles, which is not what you’d expect from a receiver that size.

Way back in August, Commanders offensive coordinator Klif KIngsbury seemed to know what he had in the veteran.

“His ability to really play inside, outside, know the entire system and be dogged in blocking,” Kingsbury said. “DQ’s [Washington head coach Dan Quinn] preaching our style of play and how we’re going to do things, and he answers the bell on every snap whether he’s running routes or ask to block or dig out safeties, and so that’s really jumped out on film.”

Zaccheaus is riding on a one-year, $1.3 million deal with $380,000 guaranteed, and at this rate, the Commanders would be wise to lock him up to a more lucrative deal sooner than later. Among Commanders receivers, he ranks second behind only McLaurin in targets (57), receptions (43), receiving yards (455), and touchdowns (three).

Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals

Coming into the Cardinals’ Saturday matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, Arizona tight end Trey McBride was one of the unluckiest players in pro football history when it came to the end zone. McBride already had the record for the most receptions in a season without a touchdown catch (92), and he was closing in on the record for receiving yards without a touchdown reception, held by Al Toon of the 1991 New York Jets (963, while McBride had 958).

Against a very game Rams defense, the mission was clear – get McBride the ball as much as possible to increase his odds of actually finding points. Which the Cardinals certainly did. In an odd game that the Rams took 13-9, McBride caught 12 passes on 16 targets for 123 yards, and… that first touchdown with 8:35 left in the third quarter.

Still, McBride was beholden to that end zone curse. He was denied another touchdown by a defender we’ll discuss more in a minute, and then, there was the 100-mile per hour fastball Kyler Murray threw to McBride from the Los Angeles five-yard line with 42 seconds left in the game. McBride didn’t see it coming, the ball bounced up in the air, and the Rams made an amazing play to end the game with an interception.

“Yeah, they’re heating me up so I had to get the ball out,” Murray said of that play. “We are at like 99% on that concept dating back to when [offensive coordinator] Drew [Petzing] got here and he installed the play. So it was just again, I was sure we were going to score, but we didn’t. It is what it is. Trey played a hell of a game today.”

That McBride played a hell of a game, scored his first receiving touchdown of the season, and was still cruelly denied where it really counted, sadly sums up his season.

Zach Allen, DL, Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos were another team thisclose to a key victory, but they lost 30-24 to the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime on Saturday because Joe Burrow is a cyborg who can transcend his run game, his offensive line, his defense, and his head coach. Zac Taylor reached into parts of his schematic and situational oeuvre that he should have left alone, and Burrow diced Denver’s top-ranked defense to bits regardless.

That’s especially amazing, because Broncos defensive lineman Zach Allen did everything he could to put Burrow in a position where he didn’t want to even try anymore. Allen was an absolute beast in this game with FIVE (!!!) sacks, and he did it from just about everywhere.

This wasn’t a fluke game, either – Allen, selected by the Cardinals in the third round of the 2019 draft out of Boston College, signed a three-year, $45,75 million contract with the Broncos before the 2023 season, and he’s been worth every bit of it this season with 12 sacks and 73 total pressures. No interior defensive lineman has more sacks, and only Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs (74) has more total pressures. This after a six-sack, 60-pressure campaign last season.

Allen also leads the NFL in snaps for an interior defensive lineman with an unbelievable 940 – Jalen Carter of the Philadelphia Eagles ranks second at 830 – and that had head coach Sean Payton comparing Allen to a possible future Hall of Famer Payton had in his New Orleans Saints days.

“It’s impressive,’ Sean Payton said in mid-December of Allen’s workload. “I mentioned this earlier in the year. We were talking about Zach. They play a different position, but I had [Saints DE] Cam Jordan for all those years in New Orleans, and he was the same way. I get ticked off [when people said], ‘We’re playing too many snaps,’ but Cam wanted to be on the field. When you saw play No. 58, it looked like play No. 8. So it’s certainly [a credit] to [Allen] and his conditioning. Some guys have that staying power and that stamina and strength, and they’re generally bigger guys. It’s hard to do if you’re a smaller player because you have to expend energy down-in and down-out.”

It’s hard to think of an interior defensive lineman this season who has combined quality and quality to a more compelling degree.

Kaden Elliss, LB, Atlanta Falcons

Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss came into his team’s Sunday night game against the aforementioned Washington Commanders on quite a hot streak, with sacks in four straight games. Elliss has been a big part of what has otherwise been a Falcons pass rush that has been MIA more often than anybody in the organization would like. Elliss can win from the box or from the line of scrimmage as a pass-rusher, and the 2019 seventh-round pick of the New Orleans Saints out of Idaho, who signed a three-year, $21.5 million contract with the Falcons in 2023, did it all… and more.

Elliss’ sack streak was broken against the Commanders, so he instead turned his attention to coverage, allowing two catches on four targets for 18 yards, no touchdowns, and one important interception. Jayden Daniels didn’t expect to see Elliss break off from the rush to come across the field for his interception with 10:45 left in the first half.

”Kaden, we talk about a constant state of growth and development,” defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said last week. “That’s what we talk about defensively all the time with our players, with our staff as well. Kaden has developed his game where he can play off the ball linebacker with the best in the National Football League right now. That is the thing where he has really grown his game, which has made our run defense way better in these last six games or so. Now, all of a sudden, our run defense is better. Now, guess what? Now, here we go. Now, we can go after the quarterback.

“Kaden gets on the line of scrimmage, whether we blitz him or whatever it is. He’s obviously one of our best pass rushers as well. I’m so proud of Kaden. He’s putting the work in. You see him out there. You see him in the film room first and then out here at practice. He’s doing a great job of using his hands, knows his run fits – striking blockers, shedding blocks, tackling. His tackling is better than it was from game one to this game. I can’t say enough about the progress and the improvement that Kaden has made, and the critical element he is for us in the run defense and our pass rush.”

We don’t yet know whether the Falcons will win the NFC South and back into the playoffs, but if they do, Elliss should be a primary focus for every enemy offensive coordinator.

Ahkello Witherspoon, CB, Los Angeles Rams

So… the Rams defender we discussed earlier in this article? That would be cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, a journeyman who has alternated between the team’s practice squad and active roster over the last two seasons. Witherspoon had seen more snaps over the last few games of this season, and he played a massive role in a Rams win that ultimately led to their clinching of the NFC West after Sunday played itself out.

Witherspoon allowed four catches on six targets for 57 yards, two yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 57.6. We’ve all seen the interception that ended the game…

…but that wasn’t the only time Witherspoon prevented a touchdown to Trey McBride. Move back to 10:12 left in the third quarter, when the Cardinals were on the Los Angeles seven-yard line, when Witherspoon did his thing as a prelude.

“It was huge,” McVay said of the game-sealing pick. “He made a couple big-time stops. I thought he played one of his most complete games last week against the Jets. He’s played really good, quality football over the last month of the season, especially when you go from the 49ers to the Jets and now here we are. So I am really proud of him. What a great catch that was off the tip and It felt like forever for them to rule that and then where are we going to spot it? But we’re damn glad that he caught it and damn glad he’s here with us.”

“Unbelievable play,” QB Matthew Stafford added. “Once it got tipped, I was yelling, ‘Pick it!’ He did a great job of reacting. Unbelievable play, great catch and just a gritty job by our defense right there getting a stand to get us the ball back.”

“I’ve had experience with him as a player from last year. He is a really smart guy, long corner, athletic and has great hands. [He] did a hell of a job today and has been doing a great job. Just a pro. [He] comes to work every single day. [He] had an opportunity to make a play today and made one that was huge for us.”

More than one, actually.

Ar’Darius Washington, DB, Baltimore Ravens

The story of the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive turnaround over the last two months is (and should be) one of the NFL’s most compelling in a competitive sense. We all know that the Ravens are a Super Bowl contender on offense, but early in the season under new defensive coordinator Zach Orr, things were not going well on the other side of the ball – especially the pass defense. Through Week 10, Baltimore’s Passing EPA per Play allowed of +0.08 was the NFL’s fourth-worst.

But since Week 11, the Ravens’ Passing EPA per Play allowed of -0.21 isn’t just the NFL’s best – it’s the NFL’s best by a hilarious margin. The Denver Broncos rank second at -0.10. The Ravens went from a defense that allowed a league-high 22 touchdowns and just six interceptions in the first half of the season to a defense that has allowed a league-low four touchdowns, and four interceptions.

The primary reason for the epic turnaround was the decision to move safety Kyle Hamilton to more of a full-time deep-third role (something Hamilton talked with me about in late November). But let’s not diminish the similar thought process that has placed fourth-year defensive back Ar’Darius Washington in his own deep-third role, starting in Week 8. Both Hamilton and Washington can play the deep third and crash down to help everywhere from the box to the line of scrimmage, and Washington’s ability to do so has become a hidden clutch gene in Baltimore’s defensive efficiency. This was especially true in the Ravens’ 31-2 Christmas Day pantsing of the Houston Texans, when Washington was all over the place in a very good way.

“What a massive play,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said of the Mixon touchdown stop. “I don’t know … The ball was down there on that pass interference [penalty] – I want to look at it – but to get that stop … We’ve been good on the goal line all year, and we’ve given up some extra chances sometimes when we’ve gotten the stop with some grabbiness, and we didn’t do that in the passing game today. I like that. Ar’Darius has made two [big plays] in a row, two weeks in a row. [That’s] probably what you’re alluding too, right? Two huge stops around the goal line for us. Just big plays; that’s who he is.”

The other big play to which Harbaugh referred happened in Week 16 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in what was eventually a 24-17 Baltimore win. Washington was the deep safety in Cover-1 with 11:11 left in the second quarter, and the game tied, 7-7. Russell Wilson scrambled starting from the Baltimore 23-yard line, and he would have had a touchdown if Washington hadn’t screamed back to the field from the back of the end zone to not only send WIlson head over heels from the five-yard line, but to also force a fumble recovered by edge rusher Kyle Van Noy.

When you have the right guys in the right places, things tend to go well. And Washington’s ability to make such a difference? Not bad for a 5-foot-8, 177-pound undrafted free agent who does not look like a free safety at all – until you ask him to be one.