The Other Guys. Highlighting the Most Quietly Impactful Players in Super Bowl 58.
The MVP of the Super Bowl will in all likelihood go to a star player who we are already all too familiar with.
Just take a look at the history of winners by position in 57 editions of the game:
- QB: 32 (56%)
- WR: 8 (14%)
- RB: 7 (12%)
- LB: 4 (7%)
- S: 2 (4%)
- DL: 2 (4%)
- CB: 1 (2%)
- KR: 1 (2%)
As Santana Moss once said: Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. It’s very unlikely the game’s most valuable player will catch us by too much surprise.
Of course, football is a team sport – there’s also a better-than-good chance plenty of the game’s biggest plays are swung by some of the game’s less-heralded assets.
Fantasy Life and every other media outlet out there certainly has plenty of preview information on the rock stars ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, but today’s goal is different: We’re highlighting the other guys involved.
49ers FB Kyle Juszczyk
How important is Juszczyk to the 49ers offense? Well, they have averaged a whopping +0.148 EPA per play when he’s been on the field this season – a mark that tops every other offense in the NFL.
Part of the allure here is the FB’s ability to accomplish just about anything on a football field. Juszczyk has truly been head coach Kyle Shanahan’s queen chess piece; the man lines up EVERYWHERE.
- Backfield: 187 snaps (33.3%)
- Inline: 183 (32.6%)
- Slot: 112 (20%)
- Wide: 78 (14%)
Hell, in Week 8 Juszczyk even took a snap under center at QB and converted a tush push for the first down. The husband of the year also made waves with his unrelenting support of his wife’s objectively dope jackets; Kristin has since landed a licensing deal with the NFL.
Oct 8, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk (44) blocks for running back Christian McCaffrey (23) during the first quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
While the eight-time Pro Bowler and 2023 first-team All-Pro has only received 22 touches this season, his blocking has remained an integral piece of Shanahan’s ever-efficient rushing attack. Throw in some legit smoothness as a receiver both on the sideline and downfield – and you have one pretty, pretty, pretty important cog inside of the league’s third-ranked scoring offense.
Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed and Trent McDuffie
Feel free to throw the rest of the team’s corners and safeties in here too if you want: The point is that this Kansas City secondary has been BALLING out all season long.
After all: The Chiefs are the only NFL team that hasn’t allowed at least 30 points in a single game this season. The likes of Zay Flowers (5-115-1), Josh Palmer (5-133-0) and Christian Kirk (11-110-0) are the only receivers to clear the century mark against this group all year long.
Sneed has been making all sorts of big plays in recent weeks. Whether it was him “jamming Tyreek Hill’s ass to Cancun,” or forcing a game-changing fumble on Zay Flowers at the literal one-inch line: It’s rare to see an individual corner make one splash play after another during a singular playoff stretch, but that’s been the case here.
And then there’s McDuffie, who led all corners with five forced fumbles and 17 pressures this season – no other corner had more than three or 10, respectively. The first-team All-Pro slot corner hasn’t been afraid to stick his nose in the run game or get after the opposing QB all year long, affording Steve Spagnuolo all sorts of flexibility on his way to engineering the game’s third-best defense in EPA allowed per drop back on the season.
49ers WR Jauan Jennings
Will you just look at this man block?
Jennings has only caught 25 total passes this season, but that’s mostly because Brock Purdy generally has a ton of other avenues to go with the football.
As the third-year receiver has demonstrated in the playoffs: Jennings (5-61-0 vs. the Packers) is capable of making some big plays as a receiver when forced into a bigger role, while his remarkable one-handed catch against the Lions last week reinforced the “3rd and Jauan” nickname.
Only two WRs received a run-blocking grade of at least 80.0 in 2023 from PFF: Puka Nacua (80.4) and Jennings (80.1). Whether it’s leading up into the teeth of the defense, or putting in all the effort in the world to get his teammate an extra few yards of YAC: Jennings is a big reason why the 49ers ranked first and fourth in explosive pass and run play rate this season.
Chiefs WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Kansas City has gone through a number of changes in their WR room this season in search of any level of consistency. There were times when six to seven players were regularly rotating in and out of the game, leading to pretty much all parties involved disappointing in the box score until rookie Rashee Rice took off down the stretch.
However, the Chiefs decided to lean on their $30 million receiver in the AFC Championship, as MVS actually led all WRs in route participation rate.
While this regular season (21-315-1) was a big step back from what Valdes-Scantling accomplished in 2022 (42-687-2), “Playoff MVS” has become a real phenomenon. Consider: Valdes-Scantling caught just three passes thrown at least 20 yards downfield all regular season – only to match that total over the past two weeks alone against the Ravens and Bills.
It’s not like MVS hasn’t missed in the playoffs – he’s still finished with under 10 receiving yards in three of his six postseason games with the Chiefs – but his other 6-116-1, 2-62-0 and 2-38-0 performances have gone a long way toward providing a real semblance of a deep threat in the absence of Tyreek Hill.
I doubt anyone expected Valdes-Scantling to ice the AFC Championship with a downfield contested catch against the best defense in football – but that happened! Kudos to MVS for overcoming some truly brutal drops in the regular season; don’t be surprised if he gets at least one or two downfield shot plays next Sunday.
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49ers LB Dre Greenlaw
While Fred Warner understandably gets most of the praise, Greenlaw has served as a rather awesome “Robin” all season long. Don’t believe me? Listen to long-time stud LB Luke Kuechly, who said Greenlaw reminds him of his former teammate Thomas Davis.
Whether it’s picking off Jordan Love TWICE, JACKING up Sam LaPorta, or simply providing consistent down-to-down effort in the middle of the field: Greenlaw has made some BIG plays during these playoffs – even if he gave 49ers fans a heart attack with his last-second Polamalu-esque open-field running.
The 49ers have been a problem all season long when it comes to creating down-to-down Havoc, and Greenlaw is a big reason why.
It’d make sense if Andy Reid and company are more concerned with identifying Warner and Nick Bosa before the snap; just realize Greenlaw has the athleticism and physicality to still make his presence felt in a major way.
