Jonah Laulu vs. Creed Humphrey
A year ago, Jonah Laulu was trying to find his way on a new team after the Las Vegas Raiders claimed him off waivers.
Now heading into this Week 7 matchup, he's tied with Crosby for the team lead in sacks with four.
Laulu was thrust into a starting role as a rookie due to large amount of injuries across the defensive line in 2024. Now, he's settling into a role that he's earned outright. Through six games, he's racked up 10 solo tackles, six tackles for loss, six quarterback pressures and two pass deflections. While on the field with either Adam Butler or Thomas Booker IV getting double-teamed on nearly 50 percent of all snaps, Laulu has made the most of his one-on-one opportunities on the line of scrimmage.
"He's playing great football," Carroll said. "It's not just size, weight, speed thing, it's his heart, the intensity that he plays with, the technique you saw, great pass rushes over the last couple weeks where he's winning one on ones, and he's doing a tremendous job. The plays we like the most were the perimeter tackles that he made out on the edge, just showing great effort, really complete effort. So, I'm really fired up for him."
The Las Vegas native now faces arguably the best center in the NFL in Creed Humphrey. A three-time Pro Bowler, Humphrey hasn't missed a game in his entire career, with the lowest quarterback pressure rate allowed of any center in the league (min. 100 pass blocking snaps).
While Laulu has five sacks in his career, Humphrey has allowed only sack since 2024.
"With Creed, he's a very smart player and he can move actually pretty good," Laulu said. "Overall, it just makes him a great player. Obviously, he's in the middle of the field, he's the center so he's the heart of the O-line. The guys next to him, I think they just play together really well. And so, we have to take account for that and come up with a good game plan."