Jaylen Warren, Adetomiwa Adebawore, and Genesis Smith are the AFC’s Week 3 Secret Superstars

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Jaylen Warren #30 of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts as he takes the field against the Cincinnati Bengals prior to an NFL football game at Acrisure Stadium on September 27, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. | 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 2. Here are our AFC Secret Superstars for Week 3 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! Jaylen Warren, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers Through the first two games of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ run game was not cooking with gas — at all. They ran the ball 44 times for 149 yards (3.4 yards per carry), they had just 98 yards after contact (2.2 yards after contact per carry), and their EPA per run of -0.08 was well below the standard. Not a great time to be without Rico Dowdle, who was out with a toe injury, and Jaylen Warren was dealing with a shoulder issue of his own. Because whoever ran the ball for Mike McCarthy would have to deal with a Cincinnati Bengals defense that had allowed 3.9 yards per attempt, 83 yards after contact (2.2 yards per carry on 38 opponent carries), and a league-low EPA per attempt of -0.24. It certainly appeared that Dexter Lawrence and his gang of enforcers were going to take that run game to the woodshed. But a funny thing happened on the way to that seemingly inevitable reality — injured or not, Warren had what may have been the game of his life. He had 127 rushing yards on 17 carries (7.5 yards per carry), an absolutely ridiculous 8.29 yards after contact average (141 total yards after contact, which meant that he had to create from behind the line of scrimmage at times), and his EPA per attempt of +0.18 was certainly ahead of what was expected of any Steelers back against this particular defense. Warren also had three catches on four targets for 49 yards, despite the fact that pregame, McCarthy told Aaron Rodgers to avoid Warren in the passing game because of the severity of his shoulder injury. Between the power, the speed, and the lateral agility, Warren had that estimable Bengals defense on a string from the word go. Jaylen Warren gets credit for being a tough runner (because he is) but look at these jump cuts and his field vision. Impossible to tackle in open space. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/4qRksO5zTv — Rob Gregson (@NFL_Rob) September 28, 2026 Imagine the stat line had Warren’s 87-yard run with 7:39 left in the game not been called back due to a DK Metcalf holding penalty. JAYLEN WARREN MASSIVE RUN CALLED BACK DK METCALF HOLD pic.twitter.com/Nb3iGHZjJS — wok (@wokdior) September 27, 2026 “What a tough guy,” Rodgers said after Pittsburgh’s 30-27 win. “I’ve always had respect for him, played against him, and then being his teammate now. He’s one of the toughest players I’ve ever played with. Just can’t say enough about his energy, and the way he runs the football, and the way he cares about his teammates. I’m glad he’s on our team.” As is everybody else in the Steel City, because Jaylen Warren saved his team from a 1-2 start to the season. It’s a quick turnaround for the Steelers as they prepare to face the Browns on Thursday night, but maybe Warren is up for an encore. Adetomiwa Adebawore, DL, Indianapolis Colts Before Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans, the 2026 Indianapolis Colts’ defense most closely resembled several large dumpsters, on fire, crashing into each other. The Colts ranked dead last in the NFL in both yards per play allowed (7.25) and EPA per play allowed (+0.245), and they were scraping the bottom of the barrel in most other meaningful defensive metrics. So, Sunday’s 19-17 win over the Texans was a nice balm for Lou Anarumo’s group. Indy allowed 223 net yards on 51 plays, and their 4.4 YPP and -0.11 EPA/Play were both infinitely better than previous results. One reason for this was the pass rush — the Colts blitzed on just 12.9% of their snaps, but they pressured C.J. Stroud 32.7% of the time. And nobody drove the pressure plan better than Adetomiwa Adebawore, the fourth-year, fourth-round man from Northwestern who went off with 1.5 sacks and four total pressures in just 13 pass-rush snaps. When the 6’2”, 282-pound Adebawore was on the field, he was an absolute destruction machine, and he did some nasty things to Texans guards Wyatt Teller and Keylan Rutledge. And maybe Adebawore should be on the field more — per Sumer Sports, the Colts allowed 3.67 yards per play and -0.518 EPA per play when he was out there. Without him? 4.67 yards per play and +0.066 EPA per play. That’s a rather large difference. The @Colts desperately needed a get-well game on defense after two REALLY bad games to open the season. Adetomiwa Adebawore was determined to make sure that happened. pic.twitter.com/e0Ptzwg5VN — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 28, 2026 “Yeah, every day I’m trying to work, continue to get better, listening to my coaches, my teammates,” Adebawore said on Monday. “So, I think it’s just Week 3, so just continuing to get better and I feel like there’s a lot more to improve on.” Of course, it helps if you can refine your path next to someone like DeForest Buckner, who had two sacks and three total pressures of his own against the Texans. “I’m always talking with Buck to try and get his thoughts on the guards we’re playing,” Adebawore noted. “So, just hearing what he’s saying, just watching the film, what the coaches are saying, understanding what type of guy I’m going against, understanding how to attack them – I think [that] has [taken] my game to another level. But like I said, I feel like I still got to improve. There’s still a lot to work on.” Maybe, but at this rate, Adebawore — whose rookie contract expires after the 2026 season — could find a lot more recognition and money as his career progresses. Genesis Smith, Safety, Los Angeles Chargers If you’re a Chargers fan, you have to take your happiness wherever you can find it these days. And there were some encouraging signs in L.A.’s 24-16 Sunday loss to the Buffalo Bills. Chris O’Leary’s defense took a Buffalo offense that had been the terror of the NFL through the first two weeks of the season and settled it down a bit. Josh Allen was limited to 16 completions in 26 attempts for 204 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 54.0. By passer rating, it was the ninth-worst game of Allen’s career, and fourth-round rookie safety Genesis Smith was responsible for both of the interceptions. Smith was a good deep safety at Arizona… Arizona's Genesis Smith is one of those top-down safeties who loves wrecking everything in front of him. Turns into a functional dime linebacker in attitude the closer he gets to the line of scrimmage. pic.twitter.com/HmE5TtAxOl — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 17, 2026 …but the Chargers look to have a steal with the 131st overall pick. Both of Smith’s interceptions were on plays in which Allen was trying to hit receiver DJ Moore deep, and the rookie looked like a Pro Bowl veteran on both of those plays. On the first pick with 3:31 left in the first quarter, Moore was running an intermediate crosser out of a three-receiver set, and Smith did a great job of jumping the route as he defended a quarter of the field in Cover-4. It was clear that he had Moore’s route read all the way. Then, at the start of the second quarter, Moore ran a skinny post up the right seam, and it was Smith’s job to track him as the last line of defense. No problem there. This was a disguised Cover-4 look in which Smith showed the speed and technique to get the ball back for the Chargers. .@chargers rookie safety Genesis Smith making life quite a bit more difficult for Josh Allen and DJ Moore pic.twitter.com/oKnRbW2VP7 — Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) September 28, 2026 Now, of course, what the Chargers actually did with the opportunities Smith gave them was another matter. Buffalo turned the ball over five time in this game, and the Chargers held a +4 turnover ratio. Still, they lost the game, which made them one of three teams since 2013 to sport such a positive ratio with a negative result. And of course, the other two teams to do this were… the 2022 Chargers in the wild card round of the playoffs against the Jacksonville Jaguars (a 31-30 loss with a 5-0 turnover ratio), and the 2015 Chargers in Week 17 against the Denver Broncos (a 27-20 loss with a 5-1 turnover differential). All other teams winning the turnover battle to that degree are 119-1. So, the Chargers keep making the wrong kind of history. But hey — at least they have a rookie safety capable of making some important plays, for such time as they are actually important in a final score sense. Whenever that may be.

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