Drew Lock, Davante Adams, and Devin Lloyd are the NFC’s Week 2 Secret Superstars

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - SEPTEMBER 20: Drew Lock #2 of the Seattle Seahawks runs off the field after his teams 31-7 win against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on September 20, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. | Getty Images Superstars may lead the discussion when it comes to success in the NFL, but more often than not, it’s the guys you barely know who will make the plays needed when they’re needed. Such players can be underrated for all kinds of reasons. Perhaps they’re playing in a smaller market, and the media isn’t appropriately trumpeting their exploits. Maybe they’re hidden in a depth chart behind bigger names who may not be doing as much. Or, it’s always possible that a wayward coach hasn’t quite figured out that one guy needs elevation to bring better results to the team. Whatever the reason, we at SB Nation always like to bring the underrated names to you with the offseason Hidden Gems and in-season Secret Superstars series. You can also catch up on the AFC and NFC Secret Superstars from Week 1. David Montgomery, Parker Washington, and Kwity Paye are the AFC’s Week 1 Secret Superstars Kyle Monangai, Osa Odighizuwa, and Tyler Owens are the NFC’s Week 1 Secret Superstars With all that said, here are our NFC Secret Superstars for Week 2 of the 2026 regular season. And if you haven’t yet, download the new SB Nation app, so you can better read our stuff wherever you are! Drew Lock, QB, Seattle Seahawks Over the last few years, the Seattle Seahawks have capitalized on the reclamation quarterback market like no other NFL team. They brought Geno Smith back from the abyss in 2022-2024, and Sam Darnold was able to maximize the professional rebirth he first experienced with the 2024 Minnesota Vikings last season with a true franchise quarterback designation and a Super Bowl ring. Could Drew Lock be the next in line? Selected by the Denver Broncos with the 42nd overall pick in the second round of the 2019 draft, Lock was one of several big whiffs the Broncos took at the quarterback position between Peyton Manning and Bo Nix, and he was one of the pieces in the Russell Wilson trade on March 8, 2022 that worked out MUCH better for Seattle than it did for said Broncos. Lock served as Smith’s backup in 2022 and 2023 to little renown, served as the New York Giants’ post-Daniel Jones quarterback in 2024, and headed back to Seattle in 2025 on a two-year, $5 million contract with $2.25 million guaranteed. He completed exactly two passes on three attempts for 15 yards in Seattle’s Super Bowl season, but when Darnold suffered a glute injury five plays into the new season against the New England Patriots, it was up to Lock to show what he had learned. In the Seahawks’ 13-10 opening win against the Patriots, and the more convincing 31-7 Week 2 follow-up against the Arizona Cardinals, Lock completed 35 of 48 passes for 422 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 127.3. That’s the NFL’s highest passer rating among quarterbacks taking at least 20% of their teams’ snaps, and Lock’s EPA/Pass of 0.43 is the NFL’s fourth-highest, behind Jaxson Dart, Brock Purdy, and Josh Allen. Perhaps most importantly, Lock seems in complete command of an NFL offense for the first time in his career. His reveal of what he saw and did on Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s second of three touchdowns against the Cardinals told the story there. “We had the motion, pushing a guy out wide to the right, they were showing me ‘shell [two-high coverage], which was disappointing, because I wanted to go to the route that I ended up doing. I lift my leg, both safeties kind of started creeping down, ended up bringing [Cover-0] on us with a couple ‘poppers’ [blitzers], and it’s my job to get the ball out on Zero, obviously because we just don’t have enough [guys] to block. But when they pop, it then becomes my job to avoid the poppers. Jax ran a fantastic route – try to go over [the poppers], maybe [to] the side. “They ended up giving us the look that I was personally hoping for, and it worked out.” Does Drew Lock benefit from Jaxon Smith-Njigba making every defense look like a bunch of chumps? Of course. Is Drew Lock also making some banger throws with a total command of Brian Fleury's offense? Mais oui. pic.twitter.com/IO3bqE05lY — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 22, 2026 That’s a lot to process in about two seconds. Drew Lock explaining his second of three touchdown passes to Jaxon Smith-Njigba against the Cardinals. A lot to process in a very short time. pic.twitter.com/0xxQWg5eBZ — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 22, 2026 The good news for the Seahawks is that Darnold is estimated to return sooner than later. The even better news is that Drew Lock has proven that he can be an NFL-caliber starting quarterback. How that affects his future remains to be seen, but it’s been a major upgrade on his expectations upon entering Seattle’s lineup. Davante Adams, WR, Los Angeles Rams Obviously, Davante Adams is no secret to any responsible football fan. At his peak from 2020-2022 with the Packers and Raiders, Adams was probably the best receiver on the planet, or certainly right up there on a very short list. But as one ages, one’s responsibilities change. In Sean McVay’s Rams offense last season, Adams was primarily the red zone killer, and a very good one at that — you don’t grab 15 touchdowns on 71 catches by accident. But did anybody expect the 33-year-old Adams to go off as he did against the New York Giants on Monday night? Probably not. In that 28-6 Rams win, Adams caught eight passes on 10 targets for 195 yards and two touchdowns — he completely shredded the Giants’ secondary, and this wasn’t underneath red zone stuff. With Puka Nacua out due to a hip injury, one might expect McVay to do his usual 13 personnel thing, and get explosive passing plays out of scheme. Yes, the Rams did go with 13 personnel on 53.3% of their snaps because they’re the Rams, but it was Adams who was the force multiplier here — all over the field. For one game at least, this was the Davante Adams who was on a Hall of Fame track for a good long time. No Puka? No problem! Davante Adams looked like some evil combination of A.J. Brown and JSN against the Giants. pic.twitter.com/CH0ocv0HXy — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 22, 2026 “He’s Wide Receiver 1 to me,” McVay said postgame when asked whether Adams showed what you’d expect from a WR1. “He ain’t a two. He was special and it showed all night. That’s what he’s consistently done, and I’m really happy for him. I thought he made some great plays, but you could see there’s a lot of trust that he and Matthew have. They were able to get a lot of work together this offseason, and it’s only going to continue to build. I was really happy for him. He did his thing tonight.” “It’s a testament to how he takes care of himself, and how he’s done that for a long time,” Stafford said of his WR1. “He’s an elite player. He made all sorts of plays today, made contested catches. He ran great routes and got open. He did it all for us. He’s a guy that can do that, we understand that. We know it. I leaned on him bigtime tonight, and he came through for us.” If Davante Adams still has this level of game in his palette all season long? That Rams offense could be even more of a thing than it usually is. Devin Lloyd, LB, Carolina Panthers Imagine you’re Bobby Okereke, linebacker for the Carolina Panthers. In your team’s 34-3 thwacking of the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, you put up six solo tackles, three stops, and a quarterback hit. Also in coverage, you allow four catches on six targets for 25 yards, 13 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 35.4. And nobody’s going to talk about it, because your linebacker bookend is making history all over the place. That bookend would be Devin Lloyd, the 2022 first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars who signed a three-year, $45 million contract this offseason with $30 million guaranteed. Pretty good numbers, but after a game like this, having Lloyd as the NFL’s 10th highest-paid linebacker in terms of AAV seems like an all-time bargain. Because Lloyd played like some unholy combination of Luke Kuechly and Bobby Wagner in this game. He had seven solo tackles, five stops, two tackles for loss, and a sack. And in coverage? Hoo, boy. Lloyd allowed three catches on six targets for 37 yards, 27 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, a pick-six, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 29.9. Per NFL Research, Lloyd joined Charles Woodson (2009) and Zach Brown (2012) as the only players to have a sack, multiple interceptions, and a pick-six in a single game over the last 20 seasons. Just a few of the things @Panthers linebacker Devin Lloyd did to the @AtlantaFalcons yesterday. pic.twitter.com/pjIiWqRF6s — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 21, 2026 “I don’t know if I’ve seen a better performance out of a linebacker in 17 years of coaching in the NFL,” Panthers head coach Dave Canales said postgame of Lloyd’s efforts. “It’s attributed to his study and being in the right spots – I didn’t realize his hands were that good. The slant that he picked off there at the end was incredible, and the run after catch on the first one. One of the most dominant linebacker performances I’ve seen.” Bryce Young was right there with it. “That was special,” the Panthers’ quarterback said of his new teammate. “It’s so cool to see someone like that work so hard. A big part of the team. He’s a leader. He does all the little things that people don’t see. And, yeah, for it to come out in a performance like that, it’s really cool to see. I don’t know if I’ve been a part of something that cool. Maybe a couple of things. But that’s surreal. It was really fun to watch.” It was, if you’re interested in the Panthers. If you’re interested in the Falcons? Well, add it to your list of things to try and forget.

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