10 Unheralded Stars Who Helped Teams Contend in 2016
Sports fans often wait until it's too late to appreciate an undervalued star.
Earl Thomas has never received more national attention than on Sunday, when the safety missed the first game of his decorated career. Dominant with him patrolling the field for years, the Seattle Seahawks suffered a 38-10 loss to the Green Bay Packers as a torn labrum relegated him to spectator status.
Seattle shouldn't enter panic mode just yet. Even with Thomas, facing Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field is a tough assignment. Besides, the All-Pro defender could't have prevented Russell Wilson's five interceptions, a career-high mark highly unlikely to reoccur during the playoffs.
His absence, however, serves as a sobering reminder to value stars who don't always get adorned with mainstream praise. They don't play the most idolized positions or post the gaudiest stats, but they're huge reasons why their teams contended, won it all or are currently mounting a title push.
Don't take these stars' underappreciated 2016 achievements for granted.
Steven Adams
1 of 10
It took four years, and unfortunately occurred shortly before losing another superstar, but the Oklahoma City Thunder finally enjoyed a payoff to the James Harden trade.
Selected with the 2013 first-round pick acquired from the Houston Rockets, Steven Adams didn’t stand out over the course of three seasons. That abruptly changed during the 2016 postseason, when he morphed into a significant piece to support superstars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
During a second-round upset over the San Antonio Spurs, the center cleaned up the glass with double-digit boards in all six games. He also scored 11.0 points per game on an incredibly efficient 70.3 field-goal percentage, giving the Thunder a much-needed ancillary point producer.
He continued to shine in the Western Conference Finals, averaging 10.0 points and 8.9 rebounds during an epic seven-game series against the Golden State Warriors. They fell short despite jumping to a 3-2 series lead, but they would not have pushed the best regular-season team in NBA history to its limit without his breakout.
Adams’ progression has carried into the new season, where he has registered 11.5 points and 7.8 boards per bout with a 58.3 field-goal percentage. Durant defected to Golden State, but the Thunder remain a playoff contender with a realistic chance of placing as high as No. 4 in the Western Conference.
He won't remain unheralded much longer, as Oklahoma City awarded him $100 million worth of recognition in the form of a four-year extension. Then again, everyone got paid during the summer.
Vic Beasley
2 of 10
After delivering a strong performance without star wideout Julio Jones, Matt Ryan enters the final three weeks as a top NFL MVP candidate. The Atlanta Falcons also wield a blossoming Defensive Player on the Year contender in Vic Beasley.
The second-year pass-rusher annihilated the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14, sacking Jared Goff three times while scooping up his own forced fumble for a touchdown. Following the dominating display, he's tied with Von Miller with an NFL-high 13.5 sacks, and his sixth forced fumble lifted him ahead of Khalil Mack for the league lead.
As the 24-year-old told ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure after trouncing the Rams, he still sees room for improvement:
"I would say I'm definitely becoming a dominant player. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm dominant yet. I think there's a lot of areas out there that I think I can critique. My tackling, I don't think I'm a very good tackler right now. I'm missing a lot of run tackles. Just that extra edge, if I can get better at that, it will make me a better player.
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Those limitations keep him behind Miller and Mack as a serious Defensive Player of the Year favorite, but he's already a lethal disruptor for the Falcons, who need those big plays to keep their No. 28-ranked defense from imploding.
If Beasley continues to decimate passing pockets, Atlanta will make the playoffs as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Sean Lee
3 of 10
Everyone knows about rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. By now, most football fans also acknowledge the Dallas Cowboys' amazing offensive line as a major reason for the youngsters' success. The unit ESPN.com's Bill Barnwell endorsed as the NFL MVP has likely graduated from unheralded status.
With so much attention bestowed on a resurgent offense, not all fans notice that Dallas' defense has allowed the fifth-fewest points per game (18.3) this season. Aside from getting beaten on one Odell Beckham Jr. slant, Sean Lee and Co. dominated the New York Giants' offense during Week 14's 10-7 loss.
Lee in particular stymied Big Blue on Sunday night, recording a season-high 18 tackles and a fumble recovery. The 30-year-old was all over the place, shutting down everything Eli Manning tried to dial up. Per Jon Machota of Dallas Morning News, head coach Jason Garrett noticed.
"He's probably playing his best ball right now," Garrett said of Lee after Week 14's loss. "His production has been off the charts. He's everywhere."
Long regarded as the heart and soul of Dallas' defense, Lee's 130 tackles rank second this season to Bobby Wagner's 139. Despite again losing to their NFC East foe, the Cowboys still maintain a two-game lead atop the conference with three weeks left.
For all the offense has accomplished, Lee deserves more credit for the Cowboys' ascent to Super Bowl favorites.
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Kris Letang
4 of 10
Kris Letang frequented another stratosphere during the Pittsburgh Penguins' Stanley Cup run.
The defender had already enhanced his game throughout the 2015-16 season, setting personal bests with 16 goals and 51 assists. His breakout culminated in a star-making title triumph in which he logged three goals and 12 assists over 23 contests.
He saved his best hockey for the Stanley Cup Final series against the San Jose Sharks, distributing four assists before making the championship-clinching goal in Game 6. Letang glided across the ice on a beautiful shift before driving home the pass from superstar Sidney Crosby.
With Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and their esteemed "HBK Line" (Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel) piling up the points, the Penguins had no shortage of star power. In 2016, Letang joined those headliners as their standout defenseman who averaged 28:53 minutes of ice time during the playoffs.
On the heels of his remarkable season, ESPN.com placed him No. 49 in its 2016-17 rankings of the top 100 NHL players behind four Pittsburgh teammates (Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and goalie Marc-Andre Fluery). Having already doled out 17 assists this season, he's pressing for a higher designation.
Kyle Lowry
5 of 10
Perhaps second-best to LeBron James doesn't count as a contender. The Toronto Raptors lasted among the NBA's final four before getting eliminated by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but nobody gave them much of a chance to pull off the upset.
Nevertheless, they deserve credit for finishing the season one game shy of Cleveland at 56-26. They're again the No. 2 seed this year with a 17-7 record and conference-best scoring margin of plus-8.9 points per game.
DeMar DeRozan and his 27.9 points per game have stolen the show this season, but Kyle Lowry has also emerged as one of the NBA's most underrated stars.
History will say Cleveland cruised into the 2016 NBA Finals, but Toronto evened the series at two wins apiece before suffering two series-ending blowout losses. During the two victories, Lowry went 21-of-33 from the floor with 55 combined points.
The point guard has continued to progress this season, averaging 21.2 points, 7.3 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game. Per Basketball-Reference.com, his 4.0 wins shares top LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and all but seven NBA players.
Toronto's offense is reaching new heights, generating an NBA-best 117.1 points per 100 possessions. With the backcourt tandem playing the best basketball of their careers, a Raptors-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals rematch would be far from an open-and-shut case.
Oakland Raiders Offensive Line
6 of 10
After resisting the temptation to include Dallas' entire offensive line, let's give the Oakland Raiders' unit those honors instead.
Just like Dallas, Oakland is still sitting pretty despite a tough loss to a division foe (Kansas City Chiefs). Like the Cowboys, the Raiders must credit their five-man shield for their strong season.
Behind Donald Penn, Kelechi Osemele, Rodney Hudson, Gabe Johnson and Austin Howard, the Raiders rank No. 6 in total offense. They're No. 7 in rushing offense without a star such as Elliott to fully capitalize on the running lanes, and no team has allowed fewer sacks than their 13.
They were guiding second-year quarterback Derek Carr to MVP candidacy before he mustered just 117 yards on 41 pass attempts against the Chiefs last Thursday night. He's likely out of the race barring a masterful three-game stretch, but he wouldn't have lasted this long without a perennially clean pocket.
Through draft picks and free agency, Oakland invested heavily in its offensive line, and it's reaping the rewards at 10-3. Only Atlanta has scored more points this season than the Raiders, who have needed all of them to counteract a defense that has relinquished the third-most yards.
Tanner Roark
7 of 10
Max Scherzer, who won the 2016 National League Cy Young Award, did not boast the lowest ERA among Washington Nationals starters. That honor went to Tanner Roark, who submitted a 2.83 ERA over 210 innings.
Scherzer also stockpiled 112 more strikeouts and 17 fewer walks, so he was still the team's clear ace. Yet Washington wouldn't have finished the season second in runs allowed behind the Chicago Cubs if not for the less recognized Roark replacing the injured Stephen Strasburg as a strong No. 2 hurler.
Advanced metrics from FanGraphs indicate that the veteran righty pitched over his head. His 3.79 fielding independent pitching (FIP) and 4.32 skill-interactive ERA (SIERA), both metrics grading his individual pitching success, suggest he benefited from good defense and good fortune on balls in play.
On the other hand, he also induced the lowest percentage of hard-hit balls among all qualified starters and earned the lowest contact percentage (79.5) of his career, over which he now sports a 3.01 ERA.
Even if it's dangerous to expect another sub-3.0 ERA, there's no denying Roark's immense role in Washington reclaiming the NL East from the Mets. He'll never get the same buzz as his fire-breathing teammates, but he prevented runs just as well with considerably less swing-and-miss stuff.
Emmanuel Sanders
8 of 10
As Peyton Manning floundered and later retired, the Denver Broncos' identity shifted from offensive juggernaut to defensive dynamo. Despite their passing offense's decay, Emmanuel Sanders continues to deliver on a weekly basis.
Manning's sluggish postseason play dragged down top wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, who recorded seven catches for 60 yards over three combined playoff games. Sanders, on the other hand, caught 16 balls for 230 yards, including 83 of Manning's 141 yards in their Super Bowl 50 victory.
During the 2016 season, the 29-year-old has risen from second billing to Thomas' co-star. The two wield nearly identical lines, with Sanders registering 33 yards on one fewer catch. Each starting wideout has scored five touchdowns.
Sanders is 42 yards away from unlocking his third straight 1,000-yard campaign. He has developed a strong rapport with Trevor Siemian, compiling 262 yards and two scores during the rookie quarterback's last two starts.
If Denver makes the postseason, it will again lean on its defense to overcome offensive limitations. Yet with elite pass-catchers flanked on both sides, the Broncos have quietly reformed a promising aerial game behind Siemian.
Carlos Santana
9 of 10
As the Cleveland Indians took an entire cast of unassuming stars to Game 7 of the World Series, their top contributors rose to mainstream notoriety. Francisco Lindor is no longer overlooked among the elite crop of young studs set to take over the league. Corey Kluber should now get treated as the top-shelf ace he is, and Andrew Miller fortified his spot as a premier reliever.
Cleveland came a run away from a championship despite missing Michael Brantley, one of its most pivotal position players entering 2016. The offense still finished the season seventh in weighted on-base average, per FanGraphs, because of key starters exceeding expectations.
Exhibit A: Carlos Santana. After hitting .231 in back-to-back years and tallying a career-low .395 slugging percentage in 2015, the 30-year-old batted .259/.366/.498 with a career-high 34 home runs. While the former catcher didn't help defensively as a designated hitter or limited first baseman, he provided the Indians with much-needed muscle at the plate.
He didn't live up to his breakout season with a .696 postseason OPS, but he hit two timely homers to knock out the Toronto Blue Jays in a surprisingly low-scoring American League Championship Series. Indians manager Terry Francona valued Santana's bat so much that he started him in left field in Game 3 at Wrigley Field.
The way he hit this year, Santana earned the right for this section to end without a "Smooth" joke.
Ben Zobrist
10 of 10
In 2015, Ben Zobrist guided the Kansas City Royals to a championship by smacking four doubles in five World Series games against the New York Mets. Gearing up for a title push of their own, the Chicago Cubs awarded the veteran with a four-year, $56 million contract that now looks like a steal.
His versatility made him a perfect fit for the Cubs, who moved him from second base to left and right field once Javier Baez commanded more playing time. His patience also played wonderfully into a loaded offense. On the strength of a .386 on-base percentage, the 35-year-old scored 95 runs while also producing his highest home run tally (18) since 2012.
Once again, he came up huge in the Fall Classic, going 10-for-28 with three walks and three extra-base hits against Cleveland. In an epic Game 7 showdown, he hit the game-winning RBI double in the 10th inning to lock down World Series MVP honors.
Per Baseball-Reference, the double went down as the sixth-highest-leverage hit ever in a World Series Game 7.
Zobrist is far from a role player coming through at the right time. According to FanGraphs, he ranks seventh in WAR from 2009-2016 behind Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera, Joey Votto, Adrian Beltre, Robinson Cano and Evan Longoria.
He'll never post gaudy power numbers like Anthony Rizzo and 2016 NL MVP Kris Bryant, but baseball's ultimate unsung hero better hear his praises sung now.
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