With final cuts just around the corner (all teams must reduce their rosters to 53 by Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. EST), and the 2022 regular season starting Thursday, September 8, anybody who doesn’t have a lock on a starting job tends to see the final week of the preseason as a sort of Hunger Games. At this point, you’re not just trying to impress your coaches and your teammates — you’re just trying to hang onto the roster spot you have, or give enough of an effort to make other teams aware. Perhaps one of those teams will pick you up if you do get cut.
Our Secret Superstars list for that final week of the preseason has a lot of guys who may have either evaded the Turk (the guy who comes to your room, knocks on your door, and quietly asks you to bring your playbook to the head coach’s office to let you know you’re off the team), or have done enough to eliminate any doubt as to their veracity as starters in the league.
The clock is ticking, oxygen is getting thin, and it’s all about to be for real. Here are the under-the-radar players who did the most to advance their cases for themselves in Week 3 of the 2022 preseason. Since there were so many of them this week, we’re splitting the list into two parts. Here are the offensive Superstars, and here’s the defense for Week 3.
Chris Streveler, QB, New York Jets
The Jets finished their 2022 preseason with a 3-0 record, and Streveler, an undrafted free agent out of South Dakota who first landed with the Cardinals in 2020, is a big reason for that.
#Jets QB Chris Streveler in the preseason:
Game 1: 6/9, 62 yards, 2 TDs –including game-winner with 16 seconds left.
Game 2: 8/11. 119 yards, 1 TD — came in when Jets were down 16-3 and won the game.
Game 3: 10/13, 96 yards, 2 TDs – including game-winner with 22 seconds left. pic.twitter.com/xbNovBWvqx
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 28, 2022
Streveler finished his preseason with 24 completions in 33 attempts for 277 yards, five touchdown passes, one interception, a passer rating of 124.6, and the clutch moments detailed above.
“Streveler had probably one of the greatest preseasons in the history of football,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said after the Jets’ 31-27 win to close out the preseason on Sunday. “He’s been awesome.”
All in all, Streveler had five come-from-behind drives this preseason.
“It’s not just me,” Streveler said after the Giants game. “It’s everyone going out in the fourth quarter, everyone fighting for roster spots, being locked in and ready to execute in clutch moments. A lot of guys contributed to that last drive. And it’s just fun to win football games.”
Can Streveler make the squad? Zach Wilson is the obvious incumbent, but Wilson is recovering from knee surgery, which most likely leaves Joe Flacco as the team’s starter against the Ravens in the regular-season opener.
Let’s see how that whole thing is going.
Joe Flacco is elite pic.twitter.com/IVusngiUWF
— alex (@highlghtheaven) August 28, 2022
Not that Streveler is ready to go against Baltimore’s ones on defense, but he’s done everything possible to state his case.
Skylar Thompson, QB, Miami Dolphins
Thompson, selected 248th overall in the seventh round of the 2022 draft, found himself on Mark Schofield’s radar following his performances against the Buccaneers and Raiders. In the Dolphins’ preseason finale against the Eagles, in which he completed seven of 10 passes for 103 yards and three (!) touchdown passes, he definitely made mine, as well.
As Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said the day after Miami’s 48-10 thumping of Philly last Saturday, Thompson has made things difficult for the guys deciding final cuts.
“I think those type of players that are able to, as rookies, come in and contribute, are always really exciting, and it’s more rare that you see a quarterback doing that. It’s more than just his quarterback rating and his completion percentage. He has owned the responsibility of the quarterback in terms of all the other players on the field with him. He’s made them better by helping them get aligned, and we’ve had very few procedural issues. And so I think in preseason football, there are a lot of quarterbacks that get opportunities. It’s rare that a guy can be a seventh-round draft pick and people outside of the organization actually know his name.”
If there was one play from Thompson’s first preseason that really stood out to me, it was this one. You always want to see what a quarterback will do when things get weird.
Dolphins seventh-round rookie Skylar Thompson with the serious pump-fake/reset and tight-window touch throw. One of his three TDs against the Eagles, and one of five in the preseason. pic.twitter.com/76dlUo0Fxi
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 29, 2022
#Dolphins QB Skylar Thompson dominated this preseason 🔥
His stats…
• 36 for 48 (75%)
• 450 passing yards
• 5 TDs – 0 INTs
• 138.4 passer rating
• 26 rush yards pic.twitter.com/8EosAhBRQa— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) August 28, 2022
Thompson and Streveler tied for the league lead this preseason with five touchdown passes, and Thompson was the only one to do so without an interception.
Sam Howell, QB, Washington Commanders
Why was Howell taken in the fifth round in a quarterback-light draft? Well, he lost most of his best offensive personnel in the 2021 draft, came back to North Carolina as a running back as much as a quarterback, and slipped from first-round consideration to that despite a solid final collegiate season. All Howell could do from there was to prove most of the NFL wrong.
Howell looked great against the Panthers in the Commanders’ preseason opener, stumbled a bit against the Chiefs in Week 2, and then really showed up against the Ravens last Saturday. Howell completed 24 of 35 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions, and he added 62 rushing yards on eight carries for good measure. Had former North Carolina and current Commanders teammate Dyami Brown not dropped two excellent deep passes, Howell’s stats would have been even more impressive.
When Howell was connecting with the deep ball and showing subtle pocket movement along the way, you could see the development.
Here's the Sam Howell deep pass Dyami Brown DID catch against the Ravens. Watch Howell's subtle pocket movement to re-set, and hitting the deep crosser with anticipation. pic.twitter.com/rwsHYHZR2R
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 29, 2022
Howell may not be ready to take the starting job away from Carson Wentz or Taylor Heinicke, but given the variance those two quarterbacks have shown, 2023 is a safe bet, and Howell may be asked to pull this team out of the fire sooner than that.
Dameon Pierce, RB, Houston Texans
If it seems as if Pierce winds up as a Secret Superstar every time he gets on the field — well, it’s okay to go with that feeling, because that’s what’s happened so far. He bulled though the Saints’ defense for 49 yards on five carries in the preseason opener, didn’t play at all against the Rams in Week 2 because head coach Lovie Smith and his staff were suddenly in the position to want to protect the fourth-round rookie, and then blew it up again when Houston played the 49ers last Thursday.
Pierce picked up right where he left off, gaining 37 yards and scoring a touchdown on six carries, and leaving little doubt as to who the epicenter of Houston’s offense might be this season.
Dameon Pierce is in for a @HoustonTexans TD! @IRep229
📺: #SFvsHOU on Prime Video
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/LTxiJ66vfR pic.twitter.com/7bwjssxpGG— NFL (@NFL) August 26, 2022
“We want to be a tough football team that loves to run the football, and I think that’s what we have been trying to establish throughout the preseason,” Smith said Friday. “That should open up things. And by saying that, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to be a good passing team. Our practices we have nine-on-seven, where the defense knows the offense is running the ball and they need to do something about it. Yes, we want that to be our personnel. Pro-I leads, maybe one of my favorite plays last night. It’s a lead with Troy [Hairston] leading as the fullback and Dameon carried the ball for 9 yards. One of my favorite plays from the game.”
Well, here’s how that looked.
Observers who understood that Pierce was the best back in this draft class can’t wait to see what he does in his first regular season.
Tyler Goodson, RB, Green Bay Packers
Sometimes, a player isn’t able to show his entire skill set in college, and he has to wait for the right opportunity in the NFL to make that happen. This would seem to be the case for Goodson, the Packers’ undrafted rookie from Iowa. He gained 1.398 yards from scrimmage and scored seven touchdowns for the Hawkeyes last season, and that got him graded as a “priority free agent” in NFL.com’s scouting report, and ranked as the 31st-best running back in this class by The Athletic’s Dane Brugler.
Not that Brugler or NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein were wrong per se — sometimes, you just need the right home to show what you can do. The Packers, who picked Goodson up as an undrafted free agent, have provided just that. Against the Chiefs in Week 3, Goodson scampered for 28 yards on seven carries, and blasted out of the gate on this touchdown run.
Tyler Goodson is having quite the preseason in Green Bay. pic.twitter.com/RbebSfCf4X
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) August 26, 2022
That wasn’t Goodson’s only explosive play this preseason — there was also this 15-yard run against the Saints. Acceleration, check. Contact balance, check. Spin move, check.
And if you want a 23-yard catch and run against the Chiefs? Well, he can do that, too.
The post-Davante Adams Packers are light in the receiver room, and full of promise with running backs Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon. Expect their personnel packages to reflet that. and don’t be surprised if Goodson gets some of those reps.
Erik Ezukanma, WR, Miami Dolphins
We missed out naming Ezukanma to our Secret Superstars list last week when he caught six passes on eight targets for 114 yards against the Raiders. Whoops. Guess he was a secret to us, too. Let’s make up for that by showing this nice zone-buster against the Eagles, where the rookie fourth-rounder from Texas Tech showed the right way to sit in coverage and deal with traffic.
The 2022 Dolphins are set up to look like a track team with their receivers, led by Tyreek Hill. Ezukanma adds a different color with his size (6-foot-2, 209 pounds), and with 10 catches for 156 yards this preseason, he’s pushed his new coaches for some real playing time.
Samori Toure, WR, Green Bay Packers
We’ve mentioned that receiver-light room for the Packers — the good news is that there are some young guys stepping up, starting with Romeo Doubs, who you all know by now. But there’s also Toure, taken in the seventh round of this draft out of Nebraska. Toure caught three passes for 42 yards in the opener against San Francisco, was shut out on one target against the Saints, and then did very well against the Chiefs, catching six passes on eight targets for 83 yards, and one very pretty route in which he took slot cornerback Dicaprio Bootle right to the blender.
Demarcus Robinson, WR, Baltimore Ravens
Speaking of receiver-light rooms, there’s the Baltimore Ravens, pretty much every season. To try and back out of that eternal problem, Baltimore signed Robinson, the former Chiefs and Raiders receiver, after the Raiders released him on August 16. We’ve been waiting for Robinson to live up to his athletic potential, but against Washington’s defense (disclaimer: It’s Washington’s defense), Robinson caught four passes on six targets for 135 yards and a touchdown.
New #Ravens WR Demarcus Robinson in tonight's preseason game: 4 catches, 135 yards, 1 TD.
This route was filthy. pic.twitter.com/J1JcKhaBn5
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 28, 2022
Filthy indeed, and it caught John Harbaugh’s attention.
“Well, he’s run those routes before,” Baltimore’s head coach said after the game. “Right? It’s not the first time he’s run those routes. He ran an all-go, and then he ran an out and up, so those are routes he’s run. But, it wasn’t just that. He had a couple other catches on basic offensive, passing game routes, and he executed very well. That’s what we expected. That’s what we thought we were getting. To see him go out there and do it in the purple and black uniform is kind of nice to see.”
It was probably nice for Baltimore’s quarterbacks, too.
Matt Bushman, TE, Kansas City Chiefs
An undrafted free agent out of BYU who signed with the Raiders in 2021 and had no targets in two games, Bushman signed with the Chiefs and helped his new team against the Packers with two touchdown catches, and three receptions overall for 73 yards. He kinda looked like a nice reinforcement for when the Chiefs want to throw some two-tight end packages together with Travis Kelce and whoever’s around.
Matt Bushman: still good at football pic.twitter.com/M38ng7iJPg
— Daily Universe Sports (@DailyUnivSports) August 26, 2022
Sadly, Bushman suffered a fractured clavicle on this third reception, which puts his 2022 timeline in doubt. But he does have that Packers game to remember while he recovers.
Zach Tom, OT, Green Bay Packers
Tom played center and left tackle for Wake Forest, so when the Packers took him in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, it was clear that he passed the versatility test for a team that values such things. What’s been interesting about Tom’s preseason is that he’s played left guard and right tackle for his NFL team. What’s even more interesting is that in 75 pass-blocking snaps over three games, he hasn’t allowed a single pressure of any kind — no sacks, no quarterback hits, no quarterback hurries. And for a guy who had some questioning his core strength coming out of college, Tom (No. 50) seems to have no issue winning wrestling matches whether he’s run-blocking or in pass protection.
I am happy to report that Zach Tom is good https://t.co/0rchifS8T4 pic.twitter.com/jUW9WVPOTo
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) August 22, 2022
Loveeeee this backside work from Zach Tom/Royce Newman
Newman's right hand on this is incredible (great displacement on the DT). And then the finish from Tom! Beautiful stuff from the big uglies@zachtom5 @RoyceNewman4488 pic.twitter.com/v3FNnCCP2v
— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) August 20, 2022
Against the Chiefs last Thursday, Tom also showed nice refinement when it was time to get to the second level from the left guard position. A lot of young linemen struggle to hit their targets in space; Tom seems to have avoided that particular issue.
“Yeah, he’s done a great job,” head coach Matt LaFleur said in mid-August of Tom’s ability to flip positions. “It’s not easy to do that with a rookie, that doesn’t have the time on task where you feel really good about him at one position, and then you start to cross-train him at another. But for a young guy to handle it the way he has, I thought it’s been pretty impressive.”
The Packers selected Elgton Jenkins in the second round of the 2019 draft, and watched as he became a force all over the line. Perhaps Tom is on the same fast track.
Abraham Lucas, OT, Seattle Seahawks
There are some statistics you can see, and others you have to glean from watching tape. Even with all the advanced metrics out there today, there isn’t a repository for pancake blocks — those instances in which an offensive lineman simply imposes his will on a poor defender, bulling him to the ground, and ending any threat.
Were there such official statistics, Seahawks rookie right tackle Abraham Lucas would be the king of this preseason. The delightfully-named Big Kat Bryant discovered that when the Cowboys faced Seattle last Friday.
Abe Lucas (72) vs. Big Kat Bryant (59). The result: Abe's fifth pancake block of his first NFL preseason. pic.twitter.com/LM6kXjVjE6
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 27, 2022
Of course, we’ve seen this from Lucas before.
Seahawks RT Abe Lucas burying dudes, Pt. 2 pic.twitter.com/OWWPl0xkSj
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) August 17, 2022
No mere mauler, Lucas allowed no sacks, no quarterback hits, and three quarterback hurries on 88 pass-blocking snaps this preseason. He’s sewn up the Seahawks’ right tackle job, the coaches love him, and he’s officially put the NFL on notice.
