Josh Palmer, Kahlil Benson, and Hezekiah Masses are the AFC’s Week 2 Secret Superstars

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 17: Josh Palmer #5 of the Buffalo Bills celebrates scoring a touchdown during the first quarter against the Detroit Lions at Highmark Stadium on September 17, 2026 in Orchard Park, New York. | 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 AFC 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! Josh Palmer, WR, Buffalo Bills As great as Josh Allen is, the Buffalo Bills’ deep passing game was a bit of a problem in the 2025 season. Allen completed just 25 of 66 passes of 20 or more air yards for 723 yards, five touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 73.0. To put that in perspective, Matthew Stafford led the league with 48 deep completions on 106 attempts for 1,532 yards, 12 touchdowns, one interceptions, and a passer rating of 125.7. No quarterback with Allen’s physical gifts should ever fall that far behind in the vertical game. So far in 2026, though, things are looking very much up. Allen has attempted 10 deep passes, completing five for 198 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 135.4, which is by far the best for any quarterback with at least 10 deep shots this season. Why the difference? The addition of DJ Moore has helped — he caught one of Allen’s deep touchdowns — but it’s really the way that new head coach and longtime offensive shot-caller Joe Brady has utilized veteran receiver Josh Palmer in the passing game this season. The Bills are demolishing opponents with the Dagger concept as it applies to Levels, where one receiver will run a clearout vertical route, one receiver will run a dig (15-yard hard in-cut), and a third receiver will run a shorter angular route to occupy linebackers and other nickel/box defenders. Palmer, who signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Bills before the 2025 season, has been the primary beneficiary of this concept, because Brady and Allen aren’t just letting him go hard on the vertical routes to clear things out for everybody else. Instead, the idea is to let Palmer nuke opposing secondaries, and reap the benefits. Last season, Palmer had three deep catches on four targets for a 100 yards. This season, he already has two deep catches on three targets for 77 yards, and Allen’s two other big-play touchdowns. And what is known as the “Love of the Game” route has been the key to it all. Richard Sherman brought this up as the Bills were beating the Detroit Lions, 41-31, on Thursday Night Football. Man that Josh Palmer TD was insane. He was running the “clear out” portion of a dagger and scored a TD. That’s a “For the love of the game” route and they scored because the Safety decide to chase a guy that was already covered 🤦🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/G9SyfsCFX7 — Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) September 18, 2026 The Bills had already waxed the Houston Texans with the concept in Week 1. Looks like they flipped it from last week. https://t.co/KmWO4oLeC9 pic.twitter.com/GfnWEqRFi3 — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 18, 2026 More All-22 shows just how tough this concept is to cover. As @RSherman_25 noted during and after the game, the Bills shredded the Lions with the Rams' old "For the Love of the Game" route. Usually, the clear-out receiver isn't the target in Dagger! pic.twitter.com/iw897zzkPF — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 18, 2026 Postgame, Allen explained to Sherman how the play worked against the Lions. “Yeah — it was a five-man protection, and we kind of lucked out to it. I called something that we haven’t called in a long time, and I put our guys in a tough spot, but I got back there and Khalil took the safety. Five [Palmer] just kept running. It’s just one of those happenings that you love to love to have those, especially in that, in that situation, that moment of the game.” So, why is it called the “Love of the Game” route? Glad you asked. The origin of the name goes back to the divisional playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on January 23, 2022. The game was tied at 27-27 with 42 seconds left in the game, and that’s when Matthew Stafford hit Cooper Kupp on a 44-yard bomb that set up Matt Gay’s 30-yard game-winner. In this version of the concept, Kupp ran the vertical seam route, receiver Van Jefferson ran the dig, and tight end Tyler Higbee ran a quick comeback to fill out the three-level concept, and put the opposing defensive backs in purgatory. Once again, everybody was so concerned with the short and intermediate stuff, the deep route was relatively open. For the Love of the Game! pic.twitter.com/d3adSHIqm3 — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 18, 2026 We’re guessing that the Bills will keep spamming opponents with it, and both Josh Allen and Josh Palmer will continue to love the game whenever they do. Kahlil Benson, OT, Kansas City Chiefs When the Kansas City Chiefs took Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons with the last pick in the first round of the 2025 draft, it certainly looked like Andy Reid and his crew had added a severe amount of talent to that side of the offensive line. Simmons has all the attributes to lock things down as a blind side protector, but injuries limited him to eight games in his rookie season, and he’s currently recovering from a back issue that had him out for the first two games of the 2026 season. That would be a problem for the Chiefs, except for the fact that general manager Brett Veach had a bead on the national champion Indiana Hoosiers, and their left tackle Kahlil Benson. The undrafted Benson got a flier with the Chiefs, and impressed through the offseason enough that nobody thought twice about it when it was time to consider whether Benson could start on the left side in Week 1 against the Denver Broncos, and their cabal of ravenous pass-rushers. It was no problem at all — scheme helped to a degree, as Patrick Mahomes attempted just two passes of 20+ air yards in Kansas City’s 31-10 win. But Benson, who was thought to be a top-heavy blocker with some sloppy tendencies coming out of college, allowed no sacks, one quarterback hit, and two quarterback hurries in 34 pass-blocking reps. And when Reid opened up the passing game in KC’s 33-30 Sunday night overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts, Benson was just as ready to go. Once again, he gave up no sacks, one quarterback hit, and two quarterback hurries — this time in 52 pass-blocking reps. Moreover, Benson proved to be rough and ready in the run game — when he’s pushing the likes of DeForest Buckner around from time to time, that says a lot. .@Chiefs UDFA left tackle Kahlil Benson. We have a live one here! pic.twitter.com/O1i1xwfuPJ — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 21, 2026 Reid, one of the NFL’s foremost offensive line guys, has been impressed. Andy Reid on rookie OT Kahlil Benson: “Veach, great eyes, great eyes. I mean, to bring him in here and then Andy Heck believing in him and coaching him up… I think he's winning over a lot of people.” pic.twitter.com/I12zo52HQb — KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) September 21, 2026 So, what happens to Benson when Simmons is ready to roll? Well, Benson had 835 snaps for the Hoosiers at right tackle last season, and current right tackle Jaylon Moore has been up and down since the team gave him a two-year, $30 million contract in 2025. So, that’s one possibility. And given Simmons’ injury history, Benson is a good guy to have right at the edge of the bench just in case. Regardless of the short-term plans, Kahlil Benson has made it abundantly clear that he will not be overlooked. Hezekiah Masses, CB, Las Vegas Raiders I almost went with Raiders receiver Cody White here, because the former Seahawk who Klint Kubiak imported from the Emerald City caught two passes on two targets for two touchdowns on Sunday, and he got no respect at all from the CBS chyron. Talk about your Secret Superstars? At least get the man’s name right! #Raiders WR Cody White caught a TD pass…. CBS graphics: 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️pic.twitter.com/uHLn3mvQfK — Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 20, 2026 But I had to go with one of my 2026 draft crushes instead. That would be former Cal cornerback Hezekiah Masses, who was creeping death to Justin Herbert in the Raiders’ 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, who currently have everybody wondering exactly WTF is going on in their building. Regardless of that, the 2-0 Raiders are looking better than they have in eons, and Masses — who somehow lasted until the 175th pick in the fifth round of the 2026 draft — has been a big reason why. Masses’ coverage skills were absolutely evident at Cal last season, but sometimes, the league misses on a guy. That would appear to be the case here. Adding to my 2026 "WHY ARE WE NOT TALKING MORE ABOUT THIS GUY?!?!?!?" team, I give you Cal CB Hezekiah Masses. Led the NCAA with 18 PBU (5 INT), and the press/match/recover skills are pretty clear. pic.twitter.com/Vx0s7VBdOh — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 21, 2026 All the 6’1”, 185-pound Masses has done in his first two NFL games is to allow two catches on seven targets for 16 yards, nine yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of… …take it away, Dean Wormer… Which is the NFL’s lowest for any cornerback playing at least 20% of his defense’s snaps. Especially against the Chargers, and also against the Miami Dolphins in Week 1, Masses has shown that whatever coverage scheme you put him in — press, off, man, zone, bail, etcetera — he’s going to nail it. I have no idea how Hezekiah Masses lasted until the fifth round of the 2026 draft, but I'm guessing the @raiders are pretty happy that he did. pic.twitter.com/luvZ3AZtBR — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 21, 2026 “Incredible start for him,” Kubiak said of Masses after the Chargers game. “I’m really proud of him and really proud of how his teammates supported him, because the ball doesn’t get into his hands without great pass rush and great coverage, but I’m really proud of Zeke.” As for Masses, he was (justifiably) wondering what all the fuss was about. He’s been ready for this all along. In his first career start, rookie CB Zeke Masses had two interceptions. He tells the media how much he lives for those opportunities to take the ball away #Raiders pic.twitter.com/yyzXojPjTd — Raider Nation Radio (@RNR920AM) September 21, 2026 Now, the rest of the NFL is left to try and catch up with that fact.

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