In defense of sidekicks

I don’t like the word “sidekick” but I use it a lot.

In the most recent episode of Blue 58, I called J.J. Enagbare a “sidekick” player. He’s someone who’s never going to be a star for the Packers, but he supports the stars and helps them be their best. Enagabre isn’t a defining player on the Packers’ roster, but he’s an important part of what makes it tick.

Reducing that kind of contribution to “sidekick” status feels derogatory in a way that I don’t mean it, but it still feels accurate. The problem is, I can’t think of what else we’d call them that doesn’t feel equally pejorative.

Enagbare is a second-stringer, but we can’t say that because it makes him sound like a backup. We could call him and players like him “middle class” players, since they’re not stars but they’re not in the low-end group that’s going to get churned every year, but that, too, feels like a backhanded compliment at best.

Maybe the best thing we can do here is acknowledge what they are when we talk about them. It’s a praiseworthy thing to be a part of the core rotation at a key position, whether that’s as an edge rusher, a cornerback, a wide receiver, or some other group that depends on a lot of people to make it go. Even if you’re not a star, playing 500-plus snaps on a team that fancied itself a Super Bowl contender isn’t nothing. You’re on the upper end of the bell curve of NFL players at that point! That’s a big accomplishment!

I guess I want to make sure that when they play well, guys like Enagbare get their recognition. This is a good year to do that. As I said on the aforementioned episode of Blue 58, players in Enagbare’s category weren’t the reason the Packers came up short this year. Enagbare, as well as similar mid-tier players (maybe that’s the term? I don’t like calling them any variation of “mid,” but you get it) did more than their fair share. It was the shortcomings of the highest-paid players on the team, like Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Jaire Alexander, and even Jordan Love at times, that did the Packers in.

It’s crucial to roster building that players like Enagbare fill their niches well, and Enagbare and his peers did. Maybe that makes them a sidekick, but even Batman rarely gets anything done alone these days.