The Super Bowl is the largest single entertainment or sporting event in America. And the people of interest surrounding the game aren’t confined to just the field. From players and coaches to broadcasters and entertainers and more, the Super Bowl features plenty of personalities to grab your attention. Here are The Post’s top 56 people to watch around Super Bowl 2022:
Rams players
Matthew Stafford
The Rams pursued the quarterback as the necessary piece to their Super Bowl puzzle, and he has lived up to every bit of their vision. After failing to capture a playoff win in his 12 seasons with the Lions, Stafford, who turned 34 on Monday, has been near-perfect in this playoff run with the Rams.
Cooper Kupp
The machine-like receiver became just the fourth player to capture the receiving triple crown: He led the NFL in receptions (145), receiving yards (1,947) and receiving touchdowns (16). He has 386 receiving yards and four touchdowns in the Rams’ three playoff games.
Odell Beckham Jr.
Mercurial? Misunderstood? Matured? Which one is in the eye of the beholder. The former Giants star got his dream move to Los Angeles, signing with the Rams during the season as a free agent after his — and his father’s — antics got him cut by the Browns. He has been critical to the Rams’ late-season success.
Cam Akers
The second-year running back tore his right Achilles tendon in July, somehow returned to play in Week 17, reclaiming his place as the Rams’ lead option out of the backfield.
Cam Akers APAndrew Whitworth
The 40-year-old left tackle is still looking to capture his first Super Bowl title, three years after he came up short with the Rams. A future Hall of Famer, Whitworth faces his former team, where he played 11 of his 16 seasons.
Aaron Donald
The lead man on a loaded defense, the 30-year-old has been the best pass rusher — and overall defensive player — since soon after he entered the league in 2014.
Von Miller
The Super Bowl 50 MVP (with the Broncos) can add another title to his résumé. He has helped elevate the Rams’ star-studded defense even further since joining his friend Beckham as a late-season arrival.
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Jalen Ramsey
The loudmouth cornerback is coming off his second-straight All-Pro season, and third of his career. He will be tasked with containing the Bengals’ loaded receiving group.
Leonard Floyd
Taken by the Bears one pick before the Giants likely would have drafted him in 2016, the sixth-year linebacker, now in his second season with the Rams, has turned into a strong pass-rushing complement to Donald and Miller.
Eric Weddle
The 37-year-old ended his decorated 13-year career in 2019 without a Super Bowl appearance … until the Rams called him out of retirement last month, in need of safety help. Help he did, playing every defensive snap of the NFC Championship.
Robert Woods
The Rams’ trusted partner for Cooper Kupp tore his left ACL in November — just a day after the team signed Beckham, making that addition all the more vital.
Bengals players
Joe Burrow
Joe Cool, Joe Shiesty, Joey Franchise — you fill in the blank. The former No. 1-overall pick, in just his second season, has lifted the Bengals to unthinkable heights and is rapidly taking over as the face of the NFL.
Ja’Marr Chase
The newly crowned NFL Rookie of the Year began his symbiotic connection with Burrow at LSU, where the two captured a national championship. That connection led to 1,145 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season.
Tee Higgins
The second-year receiver had six catches for 103 yards in the AFC Championship game and has emerged as one of Burow’s most trusted weapons.
Tee Higgins USA TODAY SportsTyler Boyd
The Pennsylvania native is completing his sixth season with the Bengals, and he has provided a consistent source of production at receiver for Cincinnati throughout his career.
Joe Mixon
In his fifth season as the Bengals’ lead running back since being drafted in the second round, Mixon’s 1,205 rushing yards were good for third-best in the league this year.
Trey Hendrickson
The first-time Pro Bowl defensive end led the Bengals in sacks (14) in his first year after signing a four-year, $60 million contract with the team this past offseason.
Jessie Bates III
The fourth-year safety is a leader on defense and rarely — if ever — comes off the field on that side of the ball. He will be tasked with helping contain Kupp and Beckham.
The 22-year-old rookie kicker is a perfect 12-for-12 on field goals in the playoffs and can break the NFL record (14) of most in a single postseason. Since surprisingly being drafted in the fifth round, he has become among the most trusted and popular players in the locker room.
Sam Hubbard
A local Cincinnati native who remained in-state to play at Ohio State, the fourth-year defensive end had two critical sacks in the AFC Championship.
Eli Apple
Taken by the Giants with the No. 10-overall pick in 2016, the cornerback’s stint of two-plus seasons in New York ended with contempt that he, and Giants fans, continue to hold today.
Coaches
Sean McVay
The NFL’s poster boy for young, forward-thinking head coaches, which are becoming more abundant throughout the league. Many of those coaches worked under him. He gets his second chance at seemingly the only triumph he’s missing — a Super Bowl ring.
Zac Taylor at practice prior to Super Bowl 2022. Getty ImagesKevin O’Connell
The Rams’ 36-year-old offensive coordinator will soon take over as the Vikings’ new head coach once his job is done Sunday, as the McVay coaching tree continues to expand.
The former Buccaneers head coach is the brains behind the Rams’ swarming defense. He is completing his first season as defensive coordinator, which resulted in him getting a few head-coaching interviews.
Zac Taylor
After two losing seasons, the Bengals’ 38-year-old coach will attempt to deliver the team’s first Super Bowl win, against his former mentor. Just three years ago, he was the Rams’ QBs coach under McVay when they lost in the Super Bowl.
Lou Anarumo
Born and raised in Staten Island, he was part of Pat Shurmur’s first Giants staff as defensive backs coach for a season before taking over as Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator. The 55-year-old interviewed for the Giants’ recent head-coach opening.
Broadcasters
Al Michaels
NBC’s 77-year-old play-by-player will call his record-tying 11th Super Bowl before hitting media free agency. The Post has reported he has a lucrative offer from Amazon Prime Video waiting for him to mull over.
Cris Collinsworth
Michaels’ longtime partner in the NBC booth, the 63-year-old was one of a handful of players to appear in both of the Bengals’ two previous Super Bowl appearances.
Michele Tafoya
Super Bowl LVI will be the last dance for NBC’s sideline reporter before she looks to pivot her career to more of an analysis and punditry role elsewhere.
Al Michaels APMike Tirico
Long expected to be Michaels’ successor as NBC’s top play-by-play man, the 55-year-old has been the network’s 2022 Olympics studio host in Beijing before flying to Los Angeles on Thursday for his fourth run as Super Bowl studio host.
Entertainers
Snoop Dogg
The 50-year-old rapper has long had ties with the NFL through his Steelers fandom and will join the collaborative halftime show.
Eminem
Born Marshall Mathers, Slim Shady’s 15 Grammy’s are most among this year’s halftime performers. The “8 Mile” star, who won an Oscar for Best Original Song for that film, is among the best-selling artists of all time.
Dr. Dre
The legendary Compton rapper and producer will join the performance with artists whose careers he helped spark. Currently the CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, the former N.W.A. member previously co-founded and ran Death Row records, through which he helped discover Eminem.
Eminem REUTERSKendrick Lamar
At 34, the Compton native and Rams fan will be the youngest performer in the halftime show.
Mary J. Blige
The 51-year-old has dominated the hip-hop world with 41 Billboard Top 100 singles to her name and is the only female halftime performer confirmed.
Mickey Guyton
The country music artist will sing the national anthem. A four-time Grammy nominee, she became the first black female solo artist to earn a Grammy nomination in a country category.
Wags/family members
Kelly Stafford
Matthew Stafford and his wife met in college at Georgia and have been together since. In 2019, she underwent a 12-hour surgery to remove a benign tumor from her brain. She was seen emotionally embracing Stafford after the NFC Championship.
Matt and Kelly Stafford Getty ImagesVeronika Khomyn
A Ukrainian model who now labels herself a luxury real estate agent, she has been engaged to McVay since 2019.
Olivia Holzmacher
Joe Burrow’s longtime girlfriend has been with “Joey Franchise” since 2017, when the two were both attending Ohio State.
Anna Kupp
At Kupp’s side since the two met in high school, the two have been married since 2015. She supported the couple financially in college so that Cooper could focus on his football career.
Lauren Wood
Odell Beckham’s pregnant girlfriend and actress boasts 1.7 million Instagram followers, and has been linked with the receiver since 2019.
Miscellaneous
Brian Flores
The recently fired Dolphins coach’s explosive lawsuit against the NFL, in which he alleges racism in the Giants’ coaching search and being offered money by Dolphins owners to lose games, hangs over the Super Bowl.
Clayton Kershaw
The three-time Cy Young award winner will be in attendance to watch Stafford, his buddy from their high school days in Dallas, try to bring a title to Los Angeles, two years after the pitcher did so with the Dodgers.
Ickey Woods
The star of the last Bengals team to make the Super Bowl in 1988, the running back made the “Ickey Shuffle” famous.
Tom Brady
The sport’s GOAT retired, after some timing theatrics, following a 22-year career terrorizing opponents and capturing seven Super Bowl wins. His Patriots team beat the Rams three seasons ago.
Jared Goff
Just two years after signing him to a four-year, $134 million contract extension, the Rams traded the quarterback, along with two first-round picks and a third-round pick, to the Lions this past offseason for the upgrade of Stafford.
Mike Shanahan
The former 20-year and two-time Super Bowl winning head coach’s philosophy will be evident on both teams. McVay worked under Shanahan in Washington, and his Shanahan-style of offense was passed down to McVay’s disciple, Taylor.
Roger Goodell
The NFL commissioner has spent Super Bowl week answering questions about Flores’ lawsuit against the league, and has pledged to reexamine and reevaluate the league’s current policies towards racial equality.
Roger Goodell speaks ahead of the Super Bowl. Getty ImagesMike Brown
The Bengals’ owner and president is the son of Paul Brown — the NFL icon who co-founded the Browns, which are named after him, then later founded the Bengals. The 86-year-old Mike Brown was often criticized for a lack of on-field success before this season’s run.
Stan Kroenke
The billionaire businessman, who is also married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton, has been the full owner of the Rams since 2010. He controversially moved the team from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016, resulting in a $790 million lawsuit settlement. He also owns the Nuggets, the Avalanche, the Rapids and Arsenal in addition to various smaller franchises.
Les Snead
The Rams’ ambitious general manager bucked league trends, trading eight years worth of first-round picks to assemble an All-Star group of players he’s banking on to deliver on an all-or-nothing plan.
John Legend
The 12-time Grammy Award-winning singer is an Ohio native and lifelong Bengals fan.
Zendaya
The superstar actress will feature in a Squarespace commercial during the broadcast.
Megan Thee Stallion
Doritos’ tradition of popular Super Bowl commercials will return, featuring the popular hip hop artist this go-around.
Pete Davidson
The most infamous bachelor in the country, the “Saturday Night Live” star took a break from his Kim Kardashian soirees to feature in a Hellmann’s commercial.
Idris Elba
The English actor, and People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2018, will be center stage of a Booking.com commercial.











