{"id":535074,"date":"2025-11-18T14:13:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/535074\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T14:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:13:14","slug":"secret-superstars-2025-jaquan-mcmillian-becomes-the-free-hitter-of-all-free-hitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/535074\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret Superstars 2025: Ja\u2019Quan McMillian becomes the free hitter of all free hitters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation\u2019s Doug Farrar writes about the game\u2019s Secret Superstars<\/a> \u2014 those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we focus on Denver Broncos defensive back Ja\u2019Quan McMillian, who went off against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday in Denver\u2019s narrow (and crucial) win.<\/p>\n

There are times as an analyst when the time you have to watch tape when it comes out, and the time you have to complete and publish an article, are in direct conflict. As a result, you can\u2019t always pack everything in when it comes to a particular subject. On Sunday night, I did a piece over at Athlon Sports<\/a> about the NFL\u2019s increased use of defensive back blitzes to create \u201cfree hitters\u201d (unblocked rushers), and the one guy I didn\u2019t put in the piece was slot defender Ja\u2019Quan McMillian of the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n

But when I observed McMillian\u2019s efforts against the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday in Denver\u2019s 22-19 win that put the Broncos at 9-2 on the season, I knew it\u2019d have to go somewhere, and so, Mr. McMillian becomes a Secret Superstar, which is only right. In this game, McMillian had two sacks on two pass-rush snaps, totaled four solo tackles and three stops, and allowed five catches on eight targets for 78 yards, 33 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 55.2.<\/p>\n

Pretty good for an undrafted free agent out of East Carolina (Go Pirates!) in his fourth NFL season. McMillian was a bit player in Denver\u2019s defense in his rookie year of 2022, but he\u2019s become more and more of a staple in Vance Joseph\u2019s defense, and as primarily a slot defender with additional versatility, he\u2019s become one of the glue guys in the NFL\u2019s most disruptive squad.<\/p>\n

McMillian\u2019s sacks came on plays in which he was a late blitzer, and the Chiefs had already accounted their protections to the guys they could see. On the first sack, right tackle Jawaan Taylor and right guard Trey Smith had committed to double edge-rusher Nik Bonitto, which is generally a smart thing to do. But that also game McMillian free access to Mahomes. The second sack came on a six-man rush look in which linebacker Dre Greenlaw dropped into coverage, running back Kareem Hunt plowed into the middle to counter what looked like a double A-gap blitz, and left tackle Josh Simmons was busy dealing with Mr. Bonitto. Ergo, another free rush where McMillian damn near took Mahomes\u2019 head off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a timing thing, you know,\u201d McMillian said of the sacks. \u201cYou try and hold it as long as possible. Some of the quarterbacks, they\u2019re looking at the nickel because the nickel shows what the defense is in a lot every time. I just try and hold it as long as possible, and you try and find keys to when the ball is snapped\u2014I noticed early in the game when he was snapping the ball, his hands were coming up and the ball was coming out. So I just timed it so when his hands start coming up, I start sneaking toward the edge and made a play. They didn\u2019t slide a protection. I just went in.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to the play in which Mahomes almost went headless, there was a design behind that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just [saw] him winding up, and that\u2019s kind of why I jumped. I jumped in the air. I didn\u2019t want him to throw the ball, so I was going to bat it down or either get the sack. One of those, but he wasn\u2019t going to get the ball off.\u201d<\/p>\n

That second sack with 3:53 left in the fourth quarter basically sealed the game for the Broncos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we needed to make a play,\u201d McMillian recalled. \u201cI knew it was going to be one of us and \u2018V.J.\u2019 [Joseph] just so happened to call the right play for me. I kind of timed it up well off Mahomes\u2019 hands, and I went in and made a play on him. The offense went there, did their job, drove down the field, [Receiver] Troy [Franklin] had a great catch, we wound the time down and [kicker Wil] Lutz, he made a kick, and we won the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if that wasn\u2019t enough, McMillian also grabbed his first interception of the season with 10:23 left in the third quarter, and the game tied 6-6.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did think it was coming back,\u201d McMillian said. \u201cHonestly, I was tired. It was a long drive, I made a few moves, and I didn\u2019t know the guy [Mitchell] was behind me, kind of stripped the ball, but I was tired and I just made a play on the ball. A wonderful play to make for my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that they say about luck being the residue of design?<\/p>\n

McMillian isn\u2019t a one-game wonder, either. This season, he has four sacks, six total pressures, 27 solo tackles, 16 stops, and 32 catches allowed on 49 targets for 339 yards, 163 yards after the catch, one touchdown, the aforementioned interception, and an opponent passer rating of 83.5. He\u2019s one of many reasons the Broncos\u2019 defense has managed to retain their best performances on the field despite the absence of Patrick Surtain, who has now missed the last three games with a pectoral injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s dialing it up, man,\u201d Bonitto said postgame about what Vance Joseph is calling week to week. \u201cWhether it\u2019s rushing coverage, sending extra people. Obviously, you\u2019re seeing with \u2018J-Mac\u2019 today, being able to send him and get some sacks with him, that was very crucial. Just everybody doing their jobs and, obviously, with \u2018V.J.\u2019 the way he calls things, he puts in a great position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between talent and scheme, \u201cNext Man Up\u201d for Denver\u2019s defense can put opposing offenses in the same bag, regardless. Ja\u2019Quan McMillian\u2019s Sunday performance showed that he can be a main man, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation\u2019s Doug Farrar writes about the game\u2019s Secret Superstars \u2014 those players…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,57069,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-535074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denver-broncos-film","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115571117655338125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}