Marcus Mariota, Brandon Dorlus, and Jevón Holland are the NFC’s Week 3 Secret Superstars

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 NFC 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!

Very few people expected the Washington Commanders to light up the Seattle Seahawks’ defense on Sunday. Yes, Seattle was without safeties Julian Love and Ty Okada due to injuries, but in the first two games of the 2026 season, the defending champs were one of five teams since 2010 to allow fewer than 20 points and fewer than 4.0 yards per play. They had not allowed a single explosive play in the passing game, and had nabbed three interceptions on five opponent attempts of 20 or more air yards.

Then came Marcus Mariota, subbing in for injured quarterback Jayden Daniels. Mariota had done the same in the 2025 season, completing 139 of 227 passes for 1,695 yards, 10 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a passer rating of 86.1. Not horrible for a backup, but not a guy you’d expect to complete 19 of 31 passes for 183 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 110.0 against a defense that, from Week 1 of the 2025 season through Week 2 of the 2026 season, had allowed a cumulative opponent passer rating of 77.8.

Mariota also had no issue throwing deep, as he did on his 30-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin with 10:43 left in the third quarter. All in all, it was enough for Washington to come out with the upset of the early season in a 33-31 win.

”He made an unbelievable play,” Mariota said of McLaurin’s touchdown. “Yeah, it kind of changed on the fly. He beat [Seahawks cornerback] Josh [Jobe] really well, or really bad, off the line. It was one of those, like, he kind of mailboxed it. Me, if it’s one-on-one, I’m gonna take my shot with Terry every time, and he made an unbelievable catch.”

This after Mariota’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks with 6:47 left in the first half.

“That was something through the week that we thought we would maybe get a chance at, and Trey did a good job. It’s not an easy route. He’s got to cross the face with the safety, and the way that he was able to do that, protect the throw, hang onto it. It was an unbelievable play by him. Like I said, it was some of that, game plan-wise, our coaches thought we might have a shot at it, and it just ended up being the perfect look.”

This is a quarterback with a complete understanding of David Blough’s offense. The execution of those concepts was beyond expectation for any backup.

“Marcus is an unbelievable person, a human being first and foremost,” McLaurin said of his quarterback. “I call him a salt of the earth person, where he just comes in our building every single day looking to serve. When he’s in the backup role and Jayden’s starting, he’s doing nothing but supporting Jayden, supporting us, being communicative on the sidelines. When he’s in there, and when he’s been in there, we believe wholeheartedly he could give us a chance to win a football game, and him and I have been playing football for a long time.

“Now, in our third year together, we’ve built a really great rapport. He trusts me to make plays, and I trust that he’s going to put the ball where he needs to be, and our communication is great, too. On the sideline and when we’re out there, seeing what the defense gives us, and just being able to adjust on the fly.

“As long as Marcus is back there, we have trust in him, just like we have trust in Jayden.”

It was never more true than it was on Sunday.

The 2026 Falcons were on the verge of watching their season go down the proverbial drain after a 20-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1, and getting blown out 34-3 by the Carolina Panthers in Week 2. Then, they got to face the Green Bay Packers’ surprisingly stale offense last Thursday night, which turned out to be the pause that refreshes. Yes, it was great that Michael Penix Jr. returned to the field for the first time since last November after recovering from a torn ACL, but Atlanta’s 35-14 win over the Packers was just as much about a defense with some real spiciness under defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.

In that game, per Sumer Sports, the Falcons blitzed on just 16.7% of their plays, but they were able to pressure Jordan Love 44.4% of the time. Nice ratio if you can get it, and the main reason for all that disruption (beyond the tattered status of Green Bay’s offensive line) was the efforts of third-year defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus.

Who, by the way, was one of my favorite underrated draft prospects in 2024.

Regardless, Dorlus had to wait until the 109th overall pick in the fourth round of that draft to hear his name called, which was a mistake on the part of every NFL team, the Falcons included. We discovered this last season when the 6’3”, 295-pound Dorlus had nine sacks and 26 total pressures in 314 pass-rushing snaps, and it was patently obvious once again in the Packers game. Dorlus didn’t have a sack, but he did put up five quarterback hits and a quarterback hurry, and every time he got near Love, it seemed that another non-play was about to occur.

”Yeah, so he plays the big end in our system,” Ulbrich said of Dorlus on September 22, two days before Dorlus went off. “And that role is defined in that he has the ability to play outside [and] inside. We have lost a few pieces on the edge, and from that standpoint, he gives us great flexibility. Like when we’re lighter [and] deficient on game day at edge, he provides that for us. And then the beauty of Dorlus is his ability to reduce inside, and at the same time, be a very effective inside pass rusher.

“So, although the production isn’t where I know he wants it, where we all want it, I do believe he’s playing at a high level. When you really watch the tape, a lot of one-on-one wins, a lot of really good run defense from inside and outside. So, he’s playing really well for us right now. It’s just opportunity hasn’t knocked yet, but it will. Keep playing like he is, keep developing and pushing and growing like he is. And we’re going to be really happy with the version of him that we’re going to get. But I’m super excited about not only what he is today, but what he will be here.”

Well, opportunity knocked against the Packers. And it will continue to do so as Dorlus keeps proving his huge value to a defensive line without Jalon Walker (out for the season) and James Pearce Jr. (suspended for the first eight games of the 2026 season).

When you’re short a couple of key players, it always helps to have one guy who can get it done from every gap.

The Giants signed former Miami Dolphins safety Jevón Holland to a three-year, $45.3 million contract with $27.4 million guaranteed before the 2025 season, and in the first year of that contract, Holland didn’t make the waves everybody hoped. It didn’t help that Big Blue’s defense was poor overall, ranking 26th in DVOA, but Holland was also a bit of a disappointment, allowing 18 catches on 31 targets for 263 yards, 83 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, one interception, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 93.9.

Not ideal for a guy you have patrolling the deep third on 80% of his snaps.

As it turned out, the Giants just needed to wait a second for everything to come together. New defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson’s aggressive tendencies have helped, and now, Holland sees everything back there with eyes he’s never had before. Holland came into Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans with two interceptions on the season already, and he saved the best for when his team really needed him.

With 24 seconds left in the game, the Giants were up 12-7, but the Titans had the ball at the New York 7-yard line. A touchdown there, and Holland’s team falls to 1-2 on the season.

Which Holland was not going to allow.

“I just saw the quarterback got pushed out of the pocket,” head coach John Harbaugh said of the game-clinching pick. “Tried to make a throw to, I think, someone coming in on the back line, and I’m sure he didn’t see Jevón. Jevón did a great job. He was kind of a poach player there. A little bit of a free player. And I think he had a good sense of where the routes were, obviously. And he just got in position to make a great play. He’s been doing that all year so far. He’s been our turnover guy on defense. He’s done a great job.”

Holland’s explanation of the play was a bit more… creative.

Postgame, Holland went into further detail when asked whether he thought that quarterback Cam Ward was going to run the ball on that play.

“Yeah, actually, lowkey. I saw him break the pocket and I was like, I’m the free player, so I was going to hold them up, basically. If he sees me running at him, he might stop and try to let the ball go, but then I saw him step to stay lateral and find people. He does scramble with his eyes downfield, and I just stayed around the front of the endzone.“

Holland also had a ready answer for why he’s become a turnover machine all of a sudden — seven interceptions in five previous seasons, and three in three games this season. Not to mention this overall stat line: Two catches allowed on four targets for 18 yards, 10 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, those three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 22.9.

“The ball is just coming my way,” he said. “Anybody can tell you, there’s no rhyme or reason to it. I’m just trying to catch the ones they throw to me. I have been on the Jugs [machine] every day, just in case they do, but other than that, they come in bunches. The ball has just been coming my way, and I’ve been trying to make sure I’m on my keys and technique, so I’m in the right spot.”

The Giants are facing uphill battles with major injuries to Jaxson Dart and Brian Burns, but if Holland keeps finding himself in the right spot, that will help immeasurably.