It takes more than stars to win the Super Bowl. In so many cases, backups and depth options play key roles for the teams that win the NFL's title game. Ask the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost most of their offensive line and were overrun by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV. Three years earlier, the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII in a shootout in which backup quarterback Nick Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns. He even caught a TD pass for good measure.
The Rams didn't have some of their key replacements on the roster to begin the 2021 season, but they needed to make additions on the way in order to win Super Bowl LVI. Sean McVay & Co. traded two draft picks to both get pass-rusher Von Miller and convince the Broncos to eat all of his salary. L.A. signed wideout Odell Beckham Jr. when he was cut by the Browns, and when the defense lost both of its starting safeties in December, it signed Eric Weddle out of retirement. By the time the Super Bowl rolled around, Weddle was the defensive signal-caller.
We spend plenty of time focusing on the stars, and it's for good reason. NFL teams can't win without stars. There are also plenty of players around the league who qualify as luxuries; they're either overqualified for their existing roles or contributors in some element of the game at an extremely high level. Those players might not be great at everything or look as impressive in a larger role, but their teams are spoiled to have them in their existing spot.
Let's celebrate those players as the NFL's luxuries. Deliberately, I'm not focusing on stars who could fit into secondary or limited roles. Christian McCaffrey or Alvin Kamara might be the league's best receiving back, but when I talk about the
Read more on espn.com
espn.com
