Every Super Bowl is remembered for a few defining plays — and the players who made them.
As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots prepare to meet in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night (6:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock), the spotlight will burn hottest on the stars built for moments like these.
With that in mind, here are the 20 best players in Super Bowl LX, ranked in inverse order.
20. Seahawks LB Uchenna Nwosu
Nwosu is a standout pass-rusher for the Seahawks, who tied for seventh in the NFL in sacks during the regular season (47). Nwosu tied with Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy for the team lead in sacks (seven). His average tackle depth (1.6 yards, via Sports Info Solutions) was also outstanding. — Clark Dalton
19. Patriots safety Jaylinn Hawkins
Hawkins, a 2020 fourth-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons, is having his best NFL season, notching a career-high four interceptions and adding six passes defensed, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and recovery in 15 regular-season games. He ranks third among safeties in Sports Info Solutions’ total points saved metric, trailing first-team All-Pro Kevin Byard and second-team All-Pro Talanoa Hufanga. — Eric Smithling
18. Seahawks DE DeMarcus Lawrence
Lawrence, a former Dallas Cowboys star, remains one of the top pass-rushers in the league after making his fifth Pro Bowl in 2025. Per Pro Football Reference, he ranked fourth in the league in QB hurries — when a QB throws earlier than intended or is chased out of the pocket — during the regular season (19 in 16 games). He also had six sacks and 53 tackles. — Clark Dalton
17. Seahawks safety Julian Love
Despite missing nine games earlier this season with a hamstring injury, Love is still a top playmaker for Seattle’s secondary. Including the playoffs, Pro Football Focus credits him
with only allowing seven receptions on 15 targets for 55 yards, an interception and four pass breakups this season. According to NFL Pro, opponents lost 17.7 expected points when targeting Love this season, the ninth most among qualifying defensive backs. His 35.3 percent hawk rate — which measures how often players disrupt a pass as the nearest coverage defender — ranks fifth. — Eric Smithling
16. Patriots RB TreVeyon Henderson
Rhamondre Stevenson is RB1 for the Patriots, but Henderson — a 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year finalist — is the more impactful player. He led the team in yards from scrimmage during the regular season (1,132, 911 rushing and 221 receiving) and TDs (10, nine rushing and one receiving). — Clark Dalton
15. Seahawks DT Byron Murphy
In just his second season, Murphy is already a huge factor for the Seahawks defense. He ended the regular season with 62 tackles and tied for a team-high seven sacks. He ranked 16th among all defensive tackles in ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric. Per Pro Football Focus, his 41 stops, or tackles that constitute a failure for the offense, are the sixth most among defensive linemen, one behind his teammate Williams. — Eric Smithling
14. Seahawks RT Abraham Lucas
The Seahawks’ improved pass blocking is one key reason they’ve made it this far, and Lucas has played a large part in that. Per Sports Info Solutions, he allowed four sacks on 527 passing snaps during the regular season, the second-best mark of his four-year career. Pro Football Focus, meanwhile, gave him a 75.6 grade, 25th among 134 offensive tackles. — Clark Dalton
13. Patriots RG Mike Onwenu
The right side of New England’s offensive line is its strength, with Onwenu and tackle Morgan Moses doing an excellent job of protecting QB Drake Maye. Per NFL Pro, Onwenu allowed the third-lowest pressure rate (4.6 percent) among right guards during the regular season. He’ll be key to stopping Williams and Murphy — one of the league’s top defensive line pairings — in the Seahawks’ interior. — Eric Smithling
12. Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III
Walker — a free agent this offseason — has made himself money this season. The fourth-year RB rushed for 1,027 yards during the regular season, the second-best mark of his career, and has stepped up in the playoffs. He ranks third in the postseason in rushing yards (178) and first in rushing TDs (four). — Clark Dalton
11. Seahawks WR Rashid Shaheed
The dynamic speedster was one of the most mutually beneficial trade-deadline additions, with the Seahawks sending the Saints two 2026 draft picks to acquire the fourth-year undrafted free agent wideout from Weber State. Shaheed — who had 687 yards receiving on 59 catches in 2025 — gives Seattle a receiver who can stretch the field vertically, although he’s arguably more important on special teams, where he has already accounted for three touchdowns as a Seahawk, including the opening kickoff of the divisional-round blowout of the San Francisco 49ers. — Eric Smithling
10. Seahawks QB Sam Darnold
What a turnaround for Darnold, who flopped with the New York Jets. After guiding the Seahawks to a 14-3 record, he joined former Patriots star Tom Brady as the only QBs to win 14 or more regular-season games in consecutive seasons. (Darnold went 14-3 with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024.) He has played mistake-free in the playoffs, tossing four TD passes and no interceptions. — Clark Dalton
9. Patriots DT Milton Williams
A 2025 free-agent signing, Williams — a 2021 NFL Draft selection — will play in his third Super Bowl. He’s seeking back-to-back wins after helping the Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LIX, 40-22, over the Kansas City Chiefs. New England’s defense has been much more formidable with Williams on the field, with NFL Pro noting New England’s pressure time, pressure rate and sack rate were all diminished when Williams sat.
— Eric Smithling
8. Seahawks safety Nick Emmanwori
Emmanwori suffered a right ankle injury during Wednesday’s practice, but Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said Thursday he expects the rookie to play Sunday. That’s pivotal for the team, as the South Carolina Gamecocks product has become a cornerstone of its secondary. 2025 Defensive Rookie of the Year finalist Emmanwori ranked first among safeties in pressures (18) and receptions allowed (56) in the regular season, according to Pro Football Focus. — Clark Dalton
7. Seahawks LB Ernest Jones IV
The fifth-year linebacker is coming off a breakthrough season, earning second-team All-Pro honors after finishing the regular season with 126 tackles and five interceptions in 15 games. Among 59 linebackers with at least 620 defensive snaps, Jones had the 13th-lowest missed tackle rate (7.5 percent), per Pro Football Focus. NFL Pro credits Jones with 63 stops — or tackles that result in negative expected points added (EPA) for the offense — the most among all Super Bowl LX defenders. — Eric Smithling
6. Seahawks DE Leonard Williams
Williams has consistently generated pressure for the Seahawks this season. He earned a second-team All-Pro nod after logging seven sacks during the regular season, tied for the third-best mark of his 11-year career. Per Pro Football Focus, he also logged 58 pressures in the regular season, the fourth-best mark among interior defensive linemen. — Clark Dalton
5. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez
The 2023 first-rounder picked a great time for his first interception of the 2025 season, clinching the AFC championship with a fourth-quarter pick against the Denver Broncos. But Gonzalez has been one of the league’s top shutdown corners all season. According to Sports Info Solutions, Gonzalez only allowed 26 receptions on 61 targets (42.6 percent) during the regular season. His one-on-one matchups against Seahawks wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba will be key. Per NFL Research, Gonzalez has faced the most targets in zone coverage (62) without allowing a touchdown in 2025. — Eric Smithling
4. Patriots WR Stefon Diggs
An ACL tear in his right knee limited Diggs to eight games with the Houston Texans in 2024, but he has reestablished himself as a No. 1 wideout in New England. Sports Info Solutions credited him with the fifth-best receiving percentage (83.3 percent) in the league (min. 20 targets) during the regular season. The former Buffalo Bills star also logged 85 receptions for 1,013 yards and four touchdown catches in 17 games. — Clark Dalton
3. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon
One of five corners all-time to receive a Pro Bowl nod in each of his first three seasons, Witherspoon does what any lockdown corner should by often forcing QBs to look elsewhere. Per NFL Pro, he was only targeted deep 14 times in 420 coverage snaps. Witherspoon also had the fifth-lowest target rate in the red zone (7.9 percent) among corners with at least 50 coverage snaps inside opponents’ 20-yard line. — Eric Smithling
2. Patriots QB Drake Maye
Maye, 23, was named a 2025 league MVP finalist after breaking out in his second season with the Patriots. During the regular season, he ranked fourth in the NFL in passing yards (4,394), third in passing touchdowns (31) and first in QBR (77.1). According to Sumer Sports, the former North Carolina Tar Heels star rates first among 78 QBs in total expected points added (169.96). — Clark Dalton
1. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba
The 2025 first-team All-Pro and recently named Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year is having one of the greatest seasons by a wide receiver in NFL history. His 1,965 receiving yards (including playoffs) are tied with Jerry Rice (1995) for fourth most all time.
Smith-Njigba has been the complete package this season, with NFL Pro noting he was one of two 2025 receivers (along with the Rams’ Puka Nacua) to gain at least 100 yards on eight different route types. He can also beat man or zone coverage schemes. According to Pro Football Focus, he has the highest reception rate (82.4 percent) and yards per route run (4.16) among receivers with at least 10 targets against man defense and leads the NFL with 1,339 receiving yards facing zone coverages. — Eric Smithling