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 for the 2026 season right here.

Here are our AFC Secret Superstars for Week 7 of the 2026 regular season. And if you haven’t yet, download the new SB Nation app, so you can better read our stuff and join the conversation wherever you are!

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Next Gen Stats, Pro Football Focus, Sports Info Solutions, and Sumer Sports unless otherwise indicated).

The Tennessee Titans haven’t won two straight games since Weeks 10 and 11 of the 2022 season, and that streak — which currently ties the all-time record of futility set by the Cleveland Browns from 2014 through 2018 — will continue after the Titans’ 27-24 Sunday loss to the 2026 Browns. The Titans do have some talent for a team with so little on the ball in a winning sense, though. Jeffery Simmons is either the NFL’s best interior defensive lineman, or he’s on a very short list. And as problematic as their offense has been (Cam Ward’s development is… um… ongoing), running back Tony Pollard is doing everything in his power to make things better.

Against the Browns, Pollard ran the ball 25 times for 129 yards and three touchdowns. Not bad when facing a Cleveland defense that ranks 11th in run defense DVOA, and Pollard now has 478 rushing yards on the season. Which means that he’s well on his way to keep his own personal record going — from 2022 through 2025, he and Derrick Henry were the only NFL backs to gain more than 1,000 yards in each of those seasons.

This was a full-service game from Pollard, who ran around and through Cleveland’s defense, forcing five missed tackles and adding four runs of 10 or more yards.

”We just wanted to be physical coming out the gate, get some early runs in, lean on those guys, depend on our O-line to block those guys up front, and that’s what we did,” Pollard said post-game.

Sadly for the Titans, it wasn’t enough — as most things have not been enough. That’s how you wind up at 1-6 after two straight 3-14 seasons.

Pollard is in the final year of the three-year, $21.75 million contract he signed in 2024, and it’s entirely possible that the Titans may move him for draft picks before the November 10 trade deadline. If so, Pollard raised the price with his most recent performance.

Speaking of teams that need a Hubble Space Telescope to see the postseason…

It was not exactly a secret that the 2026 Miami Dolphins were taking a “tank year” to exorcise the personnel sins of previous administrations, and that it would not be pretty in the near term. That put first-year GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and rookie head coach Jeff Hafley in an uncomfortable spot, but all they could do was to get as much talent as possible on the roster through the draft — because when you’re carrying $186,861,179 in dead cap on the books, there isn’t a lot of room for major free agency moves. You just have to take your medicine and move along.

The results have been predictable. The Dolphins went into Sunday’s game with an 0-5 record, and only one of those losses — a 15-10 Week 4 loss to the Minnesota Vikings — was by less than a touchdown. But after a Week 6 bye, these Dolphins came back and netted their first victory, a 28-25 win over the New York Jets.

The good news beyond the wins and losses is the promise of Miami’s 2026 draft class. Offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor, cornerback Chris Johnson, linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, safety Michael Taaffe — there are potential difference-makers all the way through that group. Against the Jets, it was Caleb Douglas, the Texas Tech receiver selected with the 75th overall pick in the third round. An ankle injury had slowed Douglas’ NFL transition — he had been out since Week 3 — but against the Jets, Douglas had the look of a receiver who had been in the league for a long time. Douglas caught his first two NFL touchdown passes on his only two catches, and had it not been for a route miscommunication with quarterback Malik Willis, Douglas would have been in line for a lot more than the 70 yards he had.

On his first touchdown, Douglas put cornerback Azareye’h Thomas in hell on a seven-yard slant, and he then ran past half the Jets defense on his 63-yarder.

“I think it was cool to have the opportunity to do that for our defense and give them some juice,” Willis said postgame of Douglas’ performance. “They always give us the juice. They gave us a lot of juice in this game. They got a couple of turnovers. To get out there and just drive down the field…all these guys made plays, from the running game to the passing game. And then to finish off with getting my boy back right with a [touchdown]…he’s been gone for a couple of weeks. I think it was awesome.”

As for Douglas, he’s just happy to be back in the fold.

“It’s just about keeping the team very calm and very poised. Knowing that we got a squad — we just have
to clean up the little things and just keep stacking and assume a win will come. Now look, we got us
one.“

It will be a long journey back to true competitiveness for these Dolphins, but Sunday was an estimable start.

When the Browns selected Bowling Green tight end Harold Fannin Jr. with the 67th overall pick in the third round of the 2025 draft, Fannin was regarded as one of the new wave of “big receiver” tight ends — i.e., blocking wasn’t a big part of the package — and that was okay, because in his final college season, Fannin caught 117 passes on 150 targets for 1,555 yards and 10 touchdowns. The tape showed a playmaker who could be aligned anywhere along the formation, and big plays were soon to follow.

Fannin was able to outstrip his draft position in his rookie season. He set a Browns rookie record with 72 catches (Kevin Johnson had held the record with 66) on 103 targets for 731 yards and six touchdowns. He was a key cog in Cleveland’s offense, albeit an offense that ranked dead last in the NFL in Offensive DVOA.

Things are much better for Fannin and the Browns in the new season — they ticked up to 25th in Offensive DVOA (hey, baby steps) following their 27-24 win over the aforementioned Tennessee Titans. That win put them at 5-2 on the season, and atop the AFC North.

Though the Browns scored all their touchdowns on the ground in that game (two by Quinshon Judkins and one by Deshaun Watson), Fannin was once again a major part of the equation. Not only did he catch six passes on seven targets for 91 yards, but the blocking showed the work he’s clearly put in. Several times in the game, Fannin executed outstanding blocks to pry open gaps for Cleveland’s runners, and this included Watson’s rushing touchdown, and one of Judkins’ two.

Add in his 36-yard catch with 28 seconds left that set up Andre Szmyt’s game-winning field goal (yes, we know there was an obvious false start from right tackle Dawand Jones on the play), and Fannin made a compelling case that he’s become a complete tight end.

With all the explosive tight ends in the NFL these days, it’s nice when any of them graduates to a more multi-faceted role, and that’s what Fannin — who now has 25 catches on 35 targets for 257 yards and three touchdowns — has done. And it’s nice to see him get rewarded for the work with more production. Following his one-catch game against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 6, head coach Todd Monken explained why Fannin isn’t getting the ball as much as anybody would like.

“Well, we tried to get him a screen and they snuffed it out, so that sucked,” Monken said on October 19. “That was early in the game, and that put us at second-and-10. And sometimes the matchup’s not great, like when they go dime and that’s [Ravens do-it-all safety] Kyle Hamilton. We had some that were designed or that could get to him, and that was Kyle Hamilton covering him. And the game goes sometimes in a way where the ball doesn’t find him. And I thought Harold did a great job blocking. He did a number of things well when we asked him to do them, and he is certainly a weapon that we are trying to get the ball to.”

Everyone recognizes the improvements in Fannin’s game, and you can expect more production as the season goes along — as long as enemy defenses aren’t focusing on him to the benefit of others too much.