The stars were out in full force in Week 2, with several familiar faces making strong claims for early consideration for top honors.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen had another breakout performance to open the week, while Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams turned back the clock and was dominant Monday night with Puka Nacua out. Other stars like CeeDee Lamb and Jaxon Smith-Njigba also had strong outings on Sunday.
But were those performances strong enough to earn those star spots on our Week 2 All-Star Team? From the quarterback to the team that had the best offensive line to the best players at each defensive position and more, here are the best from Week 2.
Twice in two weeks? It was an easier call this time, with Josh Allen going for five total tackles — three passing, two rushing — in a win over the Detroit Lions to break into their new home stadium. Touch games with two plus passes and two plus rushes? Allen now has 10 in his career, and no one else in league history has more than four. Can we call that an NFL double-double? There were worse names.
Allen is now the odds-on favorite to win MVP honors, with a big role in two big wins to start the season for Buffalo. Dak Prescott and Jared Goff both had four-hit, zero-interception games — there were only 22 of those in the entire league last season — but neither did as much as Allen did.
Not a great week for running compared to last week. You can put the Bills all over this team, and James Cook deserves it, rushing for 135 yards on 6.4 carries and a touchdown in their win over the Lions.
The second movement is much tougher. Sunday night’s game saw Indianapolis Colts star Jonathan Taylor rush for 92 yards and two touchdowns as he was a big part of the reason that game went into overtime. However, Taylor was throttled by Walker on Sunday night. Walker continues to be a game-changer for the Kansas City Chiefs offense, rushing for 117 yards on 4.9 yards per carry and picking up another 61 yards in Kansas City’s overtime win.
You just don’t see receivers getting three touchdowns in a game, but Jaxon Smith-Njigba did it in the Seahawks’ win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday with nine catches for 155 yards. There were only five times a receiver had three touchdowns in a game last season.
For the second place, we had a bunch of options. We could have gone with Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase after getting two tackles or Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown going for 142 and two scores in a loss. Before Monday, we had CeeDee Lamb’s pencil. The Dallas Cowboys star took a back seat to George Pickens for most of last year, but went for 153 yards and two touchdowns Sunday in their win over the Washington Chiefs. It’s week 2 and he’s up to his 2025 hit total with three now on the year.
But Davante Adams did a lot on Monday night to keep him off the list. He carried the Los Angeles Rams’ passing offense with Puka Nacua out, posting eight receptions for 195 yards and two touchdowns in their dominant win over the New York Giants. In fact, Adams had five catches for 145 yards in the first half alone. It was done for the day in the middle of the third quarter.
Patrick Mahomes missed out on this week’s team despite throwing .382 and three touchdowns. So we’ll go with tight end Travis Kelce, as he went for 101 yards and a touchdown in the Chiefs’ overtime win.
There were several other worthy candidates to make the team at tight end this week. We could have gone with Houston Texans standout Dalton Schultz (12 for 140 in the loss) or Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid, who was 7 for 95 with a score in Buffalo’s win. Kelce’s 101 yards is his most in any game in nearly three years, after he had 179 against the Chargers in October 2023.
OL: Denver Broncos
We also looked at the San Francisco 49ers’ front, but the Denver Broncos got great defense by not giving up a single sack against a Jacksonville Jaguars defense that had five possessions against the Cleveland Browns in Week 1. This is viewed as the best offensive line in the NFL, with consistency and experience. From left to right, are Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz and Mike McGlinchey. Bo Nix had 31 pass attempts and just three quarterback hits, and the Broncos rushed for 104 yards as well in a needed comeback victory.
We probably should have included Dallas Turner last week when he had seven QB hits in the Minnesota Vikings’ season-opening win against the Green Bay Packers, but we’ll make up for it here. Turner had two more sacks, two tackles for loss and four QB hits against the Chicago Bears, giving him a remarkable 11 QB hits in two weeks. Minnesota’s insane run defense is one of the best stories of the first two weeks, and Turner is showing why the Vikings were okay with losing another key veteran to free him up.
The same is true for Greg Rousseau, who followed up a monster opener with two sacks, a forced fumble and four QB hits in the win over the Lions.
The Carolina Panthers made two big signings in free agency to improve their defense, and Devin Lloyd got his start Sunday with two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) in a rout of the Atlanta Falcons. He also had one sack and nine tackles, and coach Dave Canales called it perhaps the best linebacker he’s seen since he’s been in the NFL. Jaelan Phillips, signed to an even bigger deal, has a sack in each of his first two games.
The fifth-round pick out of Florida International had a game of biblical proportions to help the Las Vegas Raiders to an improbable 2-0 start, picking off two passes in their win Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers. He added a tackle for loss and two passes defensed, starting and playing 50 of 68 snaps in his second NFL game.
Faith is not an issue for the masses either.
“It’s mine. It’s not a 50-50 ball,” Masses said after the game. “I’m trying to get every ball.”
We’ll also give a shout out to Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Hamilton, who had 13 tackles and a tackle for loss in their loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Skyy Moore amassed 208 yards on eight returns Sunday between kickoffs and kickoffs, but his biggest play was a 63-yard punt return with less than five minutes remaining and the Packers still trailing the New York Jets. That set up the tying field goal that allowed the game to go into overtime and gave the Packers a chance to win the game there. Moore had a 98-yard kickoff return last season with the 49ers — not for a touchdown, surprisingly — and he came through when Green Bay needed him most Sunday.
We also have to mention Vikings kicker Will Reichard, who had all the points with three field goals in a 9-3 win over the Bears in inclement weather.
