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NFL's low-key MVPs: 4 players in the middle of the field who add tons of hidden value like…

Frank Ragnow’s retirement has me thinking about a few other NFL players that do some in-between things and have more of an impact on their team’s success than first meets the eye.

The center in football is naturally at the point of attack, and that is true in a philosophical sense. Just like there's a defensive spectrum in baseball regarding the importance of certain positions, the center in football has been growing in impact recently because of the increasingly complex mental checklist they have to go through on a snap-to-snap basis. (A checklist second only to the quarterback in length, and sometimes longer than the quarterback on a given play.) Likewise, the center of the defense is important as defenses put fewer bodies in the middle and ask their defenders to be more athletic and versatility with their asks.

The middle, center or spine of a unit will always be important in sports, from soccer to basketball to baseball to hockey. And football is no different. With the increased focus, talent and pay going toward more centrally located positions, I wanted to look at some of the more low-key MVPs around the NFL that have an outsized impact on the game from their spots in the middle.

A center, an off-ball linebacker, a slot defender, and a nose tackle. With some always-fun on-off splits (with the usual NOISY DATA caveat attached) included for a flourish.

Zach Frazier, C, Pittsburgh Steelers

It might seem early to plop a second-year player on this list, and this section can be considered a quasi-breakout player prediction. Frazier was a plus-starter at the pivot spot as soon as he stepped on the field as a rookie last season. He missed a few games because of injury, but Frazier already showed off a high IQ (he’s an excellent presnap communicator, and handled all protection and identification duties even with veteran quarterbacks behind him) and recorded the second-lowest one-on-one pressure rate allowed among qualifying centers, per Next Gen Stats. Frazier’s 2.9% rate was only behind Luke Wattenberg, center for the Broncos' strong line.

Even with a quarterback in Aaron Rodgers with 241 starts now joining the Steelers offense, Frazier will likely continue to handle the presnap mental load for the unit. That would Rodgers’ burden if Arthur Smith and the Steelers' coaches feel comfortable enough with Rodgers playing point guard and adding some flourishes to the scripted offense with his love for hand signaling and ad-libbing.

There were some major protection issues during Rodgers’ tenure with the Jets, sometimes because of talent level but also because of a surprising lack of awareness from the veteran quarterback. Frazier is more than up to the task mentally, on top of being a technician with athleticism to boot. (Frazier’s excursions to block defenders on the second level are enjoyable to watch.) If he stays healthy, I predict that Frazier has an All-Pro nod in his future. And it might be sooner than later.

If you want breakout linemen outside of the center position, Arizona's Paris Johnson Jr. looks like he’s about to make a leap in his third year. There are also a couple of other highly drafted tackles that could be in line for a breakout year as their teams try to find starters around them. Seattle Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross should get a boost from the Klint Kubiak's offensive scheme, Abe Lucas healthy, the emergence of Olu Oluwatimi and the Grey Zabel draft pick. Cross' underlying numbers aren’t overwhelming, but he's shown the upside of a Pro Bowl-level left tackle for stretches in his career. With some help around him, those flashes could turn into real sustained strong play as a pass protector and a run blocker (which Cross has improved tremendously on in his professional career). Darnell Wright is a similar discussion on the right side for the Bears.

Azeez Al-Shaair, LB, Texans

It’s hard not to notice Al-Shaair. He’s a vocal player with a nose for the ball that seemingly had a knack for playing to — and pushing his opponents to — the limit.

Al-Shaair is also a good football player who was a cornerstone for the Texans' defense last season. Al-Shaair missed six-plus games in 2024 because of an injury and a suspension for a hit on Trevor Lawrence. The on-off sample size with Al-Shaair is actually stronger than usual because of the time Al-Shaair missed, and even without looking at advanced stats, his absence was felt when watching the Texans' defense over those 498 plays he wasn’t on the field.

The Texans allowed an explosive run rate of 10.9% with Al-Shaair off the field. Does that sound high? Because it is high. That would have been the highest rate allowed by any defense in the NFL if it were a season-long rate. (And 498 plays is not a tiny data set!) With Al-Shaair on the field, that explosive run rate dropped to 8.5%, which is still middling and would rank 16th, but is far more tolerable and also indicative of the other weaknesses with the Texans' defense last season. The yards per run allowed by the Texans dropped by a half yard (from 4.6 to 4.1) with Al-Shaair on the field, going from a bottom-10 number to a top-five mark.

Another one of those weaknesses that offenses picked at was the lack of consistent coverage ability by the other Texans linebackers besides Al-Shaair. Offenses could have their way on whichever Texans linebackers were defending in man coverage, with more savvy quarterbacks able to find workable areas over the middle against zone. The Texans were 30th in EPA per dropback allowed without Al-Shaair on the field, with quarterbacks averaging 0.16 EPA per dropback against them. (For reference, Joe Burrow’s EPA per dropback last season was 0.15.) With Al-Shaair on the field, they allowed a minus-0.12 EPA per dropback. (Again, for reference, Will Levis was last among qualifying quarterbacks in 2024 at 0.15 EPA per dropback.) This number would have ranked first if it were over an entire season last year, above the Broncos, who held quarterbacks to a minus-0.10 mark.

Offenses' yards per play (5.4 to 4.9) and net yards per pass attempt (6.4 to 6.0) all fell with Al-Shaair on the field. It should be noted that the Texans' schedule featured some stronger offenses when Al-Shaair was unable to play, including the Packers, Colts, Jets, Dolphins, Chiefs and Ravens. But it’s obvious when he’s on the field how he helped keep the Texans' run defense sound with his ability to read, run and recover behind the their hyper-aggressive defensive line. His athleticism and coverage ability helps unlock Houston's preferred third down looks of man coverage and five-man rushes.

The Texans had an outstanding unit last season that was led by their speedy pass rush and tight man coverage, but Al-Shaair is just as important to their defense continuing that success, and mindset, as the Texans' young stars that surround him.

Teair Tart, DT, Chargers

Tart has been a mauler in the middle for a few seasons now, but since his reported disagreements with management in Tennessee led to his release in December 2023, he's bounced from team to team the last couple of years. He landed in Los Angeles in 2024 and was a part of a Chargers defense that played greater than the sum of its parts and overperformed throughout the season, even despite withering against the better offenses it faced.

On-off stats can be noisy in all sports, especially football because of the number of variables involved (situation, opponent, team health, the plain fact that there are 22 players on the field). But they can align neatly with what is plainly obvious for more rotational and situation players like Tart, who played 300 early-down snaps for the Chargers last season.

It’s striking how much better the unit played with Tart holding down the interior. Especially against the run, where the Chargers performed like one of the league’s best units with Tart on the field, and mediocre with him on the sideline.

The Chargers gave up 5.2 yards per rush with Tart off the field, which would rank 31st leaguewide, and 3.9 yards per rush with him on the field, which would be tied for second. Their rushing success rate also dropped from first with him on the field to 19th with him off it. The Chargers allowed just a paltry 32.1% success rate against early down runs last year with Tart on the field. (Think about that: two out of three first- and second-down runs with Tart on the field would put the offense behind the chains.)

Explosive rush rate allowed? Ninth with Tart on the field, 20th with him off. EPA allowed per run? Minus-0.07 without Tart, minus-0.20 with him. Which, again, would rank first just above the Broncos.

(Sidebar: That Broncos defense is looking to also be quite excellent in 2025. Maybe “best in the NFL” excellent. D.J. Jones was another name I almost included in this article.)

Tart has had stretches of unblockable play when on the field, and I think the Chargers did a nice job to get him back on another one-year deal. As part of an astute unit under defensive coordinator Jesse Minter that would give underprepared offenses issues, Tart is one of the valuable role players that helps lift the floor by making life harder on what should be the “simple” plays for the offense.

Deommodore Lenoir, DB, 49ers

A former fifth-round pick, Lenoir earned a nearly $40 million guaranteed payday in November that maybe makes this “low-key” designation a little ill-fitting. But Lenoir has turned into one of the best defenders in the NFL at the critical slot defender position, with the versatility to still be a strong starting cornerback on the outside when needed.

Lenoir finished 2024 with five tackles for loss against the run (tied for second among slot defenders) and nine passes defended (ranking fifth), as well as a 63.6 QB rating when he was the closest defender targeted, fourth-best among slot defenders last season. He’s a tough, explosive, smart player that helps make throwing between the numbers against the 49ers a risky adventure for quarterbacks with All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner also nearby.

The 49ers have been trying to add more beef to their front seven this offseason, but Lenoir has been an impact player in Santa Clara and could take another step forward as the 49ers continue to transform their defense.

The league is littered with slot dynamos right now, from starters like Detroit's Brian Branch and the Ravens' Kyle Hamilton/Marlon Humphrey pairing to rookie needle-mover Cooper DeJean in Philadelphia to about another dozen other young talented players (Devon Witherspoon! Kyler Gordon! Roger McCreary! Andru Phillips! Jalen Pitre! I’m sure I’m missing one!) on top of vets like Mike Hilton and Taron Johnson.

Garrett Williams also deserves some love as a key player on the Cardinals' psychedelic defense that could be a surprisingly strong unit this season. Budda Baker is the skeleton key of that defense, but Williams has become a standout player in his own right as a versatile playmaker that is seemingly always near the ball.

But I'll go with Lenoir as the low-key MVP at this position. And he'll have to play like it to fend off the competition from his own specialty across the league.

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