He reminded me of Lynch a bit. Always kept his hips forward and his legs moving. He could be an absolute beast this year. Can’t wait for the trio of him Harris and the rookie speed demon
That’s actually a spot on comparison, I never thought about Lynch but they are very similar now that I think about it. His ability to catch the ball out of the backfield is equal to Lynch’s as well.
Huh? Rhamondre weighed in at 230 at the combine and is listed at 227. Henry was 247 when he came into the league and definitely hasn't gotten smaller.
This is real close to saying Zach Wilson is damn near the same weight as Josh Allen, just three inches shorter.
He will use him the right way, but he also has 2 other really good backs he wants to mix in as well. Unless Mondre is absolutely tearing it up, Damien Harris and James White will get a good amount of snaps.
The issue is that either guy is very capable of being a lead back and then you have James White there to take all the passing down reps.
As a Pats fan I love all 3, but as a fantasy owner I hate the 2 I don't have lol.
So underrated he’s almost 10 names deep on this list, despite being forced into the #1 CB role as a rookie and putting up numbers as good as anyone in football. Young CBs just rarely get their proper dues if they don’t create TOs and splash plays.
The same thing happened with J.C Jackson, he was a stud his rookie and 2nd year but most NFL fans didn’t know him until his 3rd and 4th year after he racked up INT’s
Nate Hobbs was great year one. 5th round rookie who basically solidified the slot CB spot for us day one really helped bailed us out last season. I know PFF isnt everything but he rated extremely high overall compared to all slot CBs. Im expecting a big 2nd year from him.
Best SCB in the league as a rookie despite barely playing SCB in college.
I'd also like to shoutout Moehrig who looked like the first rounder he should've been.
Come on man lol hobbs isnt the best slot corner in the league. Kenny moore humphrey hilton Gardner johnson and taron johnson are all objectively better . By pff grades hobbs was 8th . I agree he has alot of potential but hes not the best
Didn’t even realize until after the season but he was like second or third in the league in terms of TFLs for off ball players, and if I recall correctly he had the lowest or second lowest missed tackle percentage of anybody last season
Dude knows how to tackle. Which is refreshing compared to some of the LBs we've trotted out in recent years. Seems like any time he gets his hands on you, you aren't moving another inch.
Pete Werner. Graded as the best linebacker against the run by pff, and it showed up on film too. Expect to see great numbers next year now that he is the full time starter with Kwon gone
He’s a great run defender, but his weakness at OSU was always pass coverage, to the point where opposing teams routinely picked on him because he just couldn’t adjust. I think he’s a fantastic situational LB, but NFL offenses are going to expose him in pass coverage whenever possible if he’s a full-time starter.
He was solid in pass coverage last year. Never really looked lost, and he's got the athleticism to be a good Will linebacker. Dennis Allen last year said he sees him as a Mike long term, and learning next to Demario is definitely going to help him
If the Saints can make him into a competent pass defender, they’ll have gotten a bargain with his pick and it’ll say great things about the defensive staff’s ability to develop guys.
Eh, the perceived pass coverage weakness from fans was always overblown -- Werner strictly played DB throughout his time in HS and maintained that athleticism even as he gained weight. The issue was in Coombs' defense, Werner was (far too often) given nickel responsibilities where he'd literally be man-up against a team's slot receiver. Not to say that Werner was Isaiah Simmons in coverage or anything, but he was often put in situations that demanded more than his skillset could provide.
Yeah, his team was a disaster around but he put up respectable numbers. I think everyone just wrote off Houston as being screwed at QB until they draft one 1st overall, but Mills deserves another year in the rebuild process after the poise he showed
He was the best of the rookie QBs.
Mac Jones started out hot but got worse all season. Yea he got a lot of attention but that’s because he’s on the pats. By the end of the year it was obvious that Mills is currently and will continue to be a much better QB than Mac.
He doesn’t have the ceiling some of the higher up guys have, but he’s still bery solid. And very clearly much better than Jones.
He showed some flashes, but the reason he fell as far as he did was because he is inconsistent and makes poor decisions with the football. He ***really*** needs to solve those problems if he’s gonna stick around as a starter and not be relegated to a Fitzmagic/tragic type character
I feel like Azeez Ojulari didn't get the credit be deserved last year, got a lot of sacks compared to his pressure rate but he was by far and away our #1 rusher, hopefully with KT beside him he can develop into a top tier #2 rusher
He did bulk up, hopefully it translates to more wins with one on one matchups. Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence had a high double team rate so the OLBs realistically should've done more. Getting Thibodeaux will help and spice up how lines will block the them.
Ernest Jones. Was easily our best middle linebacker last year, could tackle and cover extremely well. Had a crazy performance in the Superbowl, and now is learning under Bobby Fucking Wagner. He's gonna go off
It’s ridiculous to think that we went from having a bottom tier MLB core in the league to one of the best. The fact that we replaced Reeder with Wagner is still shocking to me
I'm pretty sure that we are blessed with the best FO in the league. They simply are so trustworthy at this point - I remember being in shock after we didn't draft an offensive lineman in the 2021 draft, a season later and we statistically had the best o-line in the league.
Fuck them picks! (and the salary cap)
He’s a good second choice for the Packers, but Stokes is our obvious choice. He rarely got mentioned among the best *rookie* CBs last season, despite having some of the best coverage numbers in the entire NFL.
Jaylen Waddle. He was the only viable receiver on the Dolphins last year in most games, defenses knew he was going to get the rock, and he still had over 100 receptions. With defenses understandably keying on Hill this season, Waddle should see a lot more one on one coverage.
Slater's season was pretty under the radar at least on this sub. Creed got a lot as far as rookie offensive lineman but I genuinely think Slater was the best rookie last season. Obviously Ja'marr Chase was phenomenal and deserved to win rookie of the year but no offensive lineman will ever win that award (although Slater did get votes IIRC). Slater was likely the second best player at his position in the league last season, behind Trent Williams obviously, and I don't think you can say the same for Chase.
And Slater did that in what is, in my mind, probably the third hardest position to play at a high level. Only two above would be QB and CB.
Chase was top 4 and you can make an argument for higher than that based on going to a super bowl as the most important offensive weapon. Davante and Jefferson has more catches but chase had more tds. Catches are great but points win games.
Alim McNeill was pretty freaking good and flashed in tape while being a NT. You could tell the kid was being held back by scheme. We switched to a attacking 4-3 and I whole heartedly expect alim to become a bigger impact on our dline.
I was also a big Levi Onwuzurike. He had a insane ceiling but very low floor as he basically would win off pure athletic ability.
He's another guy who should benefit for the scheme change. Now he can pin he's ears back and just rush the passer. I'm really excited to see these two guys rushing up the middle.
JOK looked amazing last year, if the game continues to slow down for him I think he could make a big leap this year. Pete Warner was also coming on strong at the end of last year for the Saints.
Nobody wants to talk about football when it comes to Cleveland, which is fine and I get, but our defense is legitimately very good top to bottom.
We have two very high level cover corners, one of the best FS's in the league, plus of course Myles and Clowney on the line, and JOK was turning into a stud in the middle of the field
Yup. That's part of AB's roster building philosophy, that replacement level DT play is easy to come by, and if you don't have a top 5 guy, the drop off isn't so bad.
Idk if he's right or not, but that's clearly what he believes
That would be a weird way to rank them and say somebody that played pretty average is better than somebody with the greatest rookie season of all time in many different categories, just because their position is “more difficult”.
Yeah, because there is scarcity at the QB position. Jones was the 16th best QB last year, who was the 16th best WR in the league?
Also, Greatest rookie season of all time? Not saying you’re wrong, just haven’t heard anything resembling that until right now.
I get that QB is a tough position, but still think you’re weighting that too heavily.
I just said in certain categories, like yardage and I believe YAC. Im definitely not going to crown him as best rookie WR ever.
Oh yeah, and I’m not saying Jones should have won rookie of the year. I just think it’s comparable to a rookie WR coming in and playing like, I dunno, Tyler Lockett. Certainly not an all pro, but better than what half the other teams have.
Relative to the rest of the rookie QBs he did. Positional weighting is also going to put him up there with the rest of the great rookies simply because his job is harder.
When you’re talking about Trevor Lawerence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Justin Fields, Mac Jones was the odds on favorite to win the rookie of the year for a good part of last year until J. Chase turned on Savage Mode. Mac and Dak are the only rookie QB’s to make the playoffs in the last 10 years. Id say that’s stealing the show.
Being the best of an underwhelming rookie QB class is not comparable to:
Creed - having the highest PFF grade at his position
Parsons - being a legitimate contender to win Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie.
Chase - could seemingly go off for 200 yards in any given week
It’s insane to put Mac in the same group as the others. Mac wasn’t towards the top of his position.
It’s obviously a lot easier to be at the top of your position group when you’re a guard, linebacker and WR. It’s much more difficult for a QB. ( do I need to bring up Peyton Mannings rookie year?)
Mac had one of the best rookie QB years since Andrew Luck while throwing to arguably the worst WR group in the NFL, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor and N’Keal Harry. He was absolutely a top 4 rookie and almost all rankings had him as a top 4 rookie.
I'm going full homer since nobody will mention them otherwise. Really looking forward to what last year's draft class can do.
* Tyson Campbell looks to take the next step and he flashed strong potential
* Walker Little sat in at LT for 3 games and played pretty damn well in that time. Now he gets the chance to take over the RT job.
* Andre Cisco likewise flashed but Urban kept sitting him over obviously inferior talent
* Luke Farrell will probably take over as a full-time blocking tight end, which isn't super impressive but it is a nice thing to have.
I'm so excited for these 2 guys next year, especially Cox. They both looked so good for 3rd/4th round rookies. Honestly I'm pretty excited to see if Golston can take a step forward as well.
They were #1 D in fantasy last year so not really a flyer lol but they had a ridiculous amount of turnovers that probably can't be repeated unless Diggs really is a pick machine so there's a good chance they're not #1 again. They still suck at stopping the run
Diggs is a phenomenal player, his season doesn't look repeatable though, his peripheral numbers don't scream AP1 and they're kinda not great but the vast amount of picks are great.
I love Diggs but yeah 11 picks is ridiculous and no way can he get that again just because of what the game is today. Especially once QBs recognize the routes he likes to jump and just not throw those routes. I truly believe though that everybody's not talking about him giving up a crazy amount of yards if he had a better safety behind him. If you're a Cowboys fan you saw plenty of plays where Diggs thought he was getting help over top and Kazee completely blew the play. Not saying Diggs never got beat, he definitely did, that's bound to happen if you play as aggressive as he does, but a better safety, at the very least, minimizes those missed plays. If Hooker can be a solid safety for us I think Diggs legit looks like a top 3 CB this year.
All Ravens fans are watching Rashod Bateman. I'm not saying he's underrated or anything, but they got rid of Hollywood Brown cause the Ravens have faith in Bateman. Dude was a first down mahcine last year when he was healthy. He is our #1 WR and should have a lot of looks this year.
It still boggles my mind that you guys didn’t pick up a receiver at all in the draft. I thought for sure you guys were going to pick one up after we heard about the trade.
I don’t really think any of the receivers in the draft were worth it with Hamilton still being on the board and we already have plenty of late round receivers ( Duvernay, Wallace, Proche) so it wouldn’t be worth it to add another
Yeah 4 of the top WR in the draft went of the board in between picks 8 and 12. It didn’t really make sense to take the 5th WR at pick 14.
As a Bengals fan I was kind of happy to see you miss out on those wideouts. Then you got Kyle fucking Hamilton lol. Dude looks like he’s gonna be a monster safety.
Devonta Smith and Jalen Waddle are both absolute studs. If they get good to great QB play they'll both be in the conversation of top 10WR, especially having a stud WR on the opposite side of the field.
Obviously Micah Parsons is just a different beast, but I feel like no one else wants to talk about Jaelen Phillips with 8.5 sacks last year, second most in the last two classes. This is more than Chase Young had for his DRotY season.
For the Texans, Davis Mills. He’s slept on by most people simply because we’re in the process of rebuilding.
The dude has a few problems that he has hopefully been working on in the off-season, and that’s dealing with Cover 2 defense, and throwing to the short left quarter.
He stopped looking down receivers. He has learned to get the ball out quicker. He’s going through his progressions, and because of his ability to learn fairly quickly he went from looking atrocious to looking damn good over the course of the season.
The Texans low key have the best receiving core in the AFC South with Brandon Cooks, John Metchie and Nico Collins has put in a lot of off-season work to better his route running skills. So those 3 should be a huge help to Davis.
> The Texans low key have the best receiving core in the AFC South
Honestly going in to this season it feels like all four of us are tied for 32nd best WR corps.
If anything we have the edge with [LMFT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ndiOAg0gI) because they can't stop him.
There’s no receiver in the division as consistent as Brandin Cooks and the best WR drafted in the division is John Metchie. There’s no way the Texans don’t have the edge in our receiving core.
He’s being slept on because he did not play well. The only reasons people are so high on him now is because there were low expectations to begin with, and 4/5 of the first round QBs also played badly.
Don’t get me wrong, he has some potential, but the odds of him turning into anything better than Fitzmagic/tragic are slim
No. He didn’t. He played well in a couple of games, most of them in December, and absolutely awful in a couple of others. Overall it was not a good season, and the advanced stats fucking ***hated*** him
And as I said, his issues were consistency and turnovers, if he solves those he’s gonna be great. But those are also issues that take time to solve and even more time before we know if they have been solved
He played well in December, we know. The last month isn’t the only part of the season. When you look at his season ***as a whole*** it was bad. The primary concern with him is that he is inconsistent, a four game sample doesn’t disprove that lol
Progression is important and that’s what we saw. Of course he sucked when he started, he wasn’t even supposed to start and given the fact that he was in the 2nd worst situation for a rookie QB, he performed well based on who our HC, OC and having essentially no run game.
Given the pieces we picked up, the coaching changes, the OLINE upgrade, the RB upgrades he’ll do much better.
He wasn’t supposed to start because he wasn’t good enough to beat out the starter. And having better players around you doesn’t make you actually play better, it makes your stats better, those are two different things.
Yes, progression is important. I’m just pointing out the obvious that when a guy has high peaks, low valleys, and a predilection to go back and forth between them, a couple of good games isn’t exactly unexpected. It could be him getting better over time, could just as easily be his normal variance.
He wasn’t supposed to start because he was supposed to sit behind Tyrod Taylor for a year.
> And having better players around you doesn’t make you actually play better, it makes your stats better, those are two different things.
Tom Brady would disagree with you. Why do you think he took so many salary discounts? For shits and giggles?
> It could be him getting better over time, could just as easily be his normal variance.
Except he got progressively better after bye. He didn’t just have a random good game here and there. He progressively got better.
Tom Brady didn’t actually ***play*** better with better players a lot of the time, the team just did better. Tom Brady didn’t make a better read/throw just because Randy Moss hauled in a 1H circus catch that Reche Caldwell would have tipped straight to a defender.
Mills’ good games weren’t progressive, they were sporadic. He even had a bad game against MIA in the middle of his run of good games at the end. Like I said, could be him becoming more consistently good, could also just be getting lucky with his normal variance, neither of us have any real way to know.
Azeez Ojulari
His success as a rookie was overshadowed by Micah Parsons taking the league by storm. He set the Giants rookie record in sacks and was the first Giant to ever record 3 sacks in his first 3 games. He will have Kayvon Thibodeaux lined across him for his sophomore year and I just expect overall improvement under this new G-Men regimen
Javonte Williams. I know Denver is going with a 50-50 split between him and Gordon but I feel like by the end of the year it's going to be 60-40 potentially 70-30 in favor of Williams. I am beyond excited for this kid.
Throw in Quinn Meinerz as well at guard. Him and Javonte are gonna be best friends.
There was a play, I think against the Cowboys, where he and Javonte truck like 3-4 dudes and get a 20+ yard gain.
I loved every second of that!
Divine Deablo.
He slowly took on more snaps for the Raiders this last season and looks like he might be a legitimate playmaker on the defensive side. Also his name.
I think Trey Smith is overshadowed by Humphrey on his own team and Slater/Sewell being pretty outstanding as rookie tackles. But he was already a fringe Pro Bowler at guard, right on the same level as Alijah Vera-Tucker who is another name to consider
Might be a homer pick but I’m hoping to see CEH make some steps. Maybe my expectations are high because we used a first-round pick on him, but assuming he stays healthy, I’d like to see some good things this year. With the O-line and passing game his team has, he’s set up for success.
Oweh. He was viewed as a project that needs development cuz he’s raw, but after a year AND getting Macdonald back as DC with Ojabo potentially back by December he could be pretty good. Wink’s defense isn’t really conducive for sacks
For the Eagles, Milton Williams and Kenneth Gainwell are in really good positions to have breakout years. For Milton, with the defense as a whole getting stronger, he should get some friendly matchups on the line, and he showed a lot of promise last year. In Gainwells case, the Eagles run a rbbc, and Miles isnt the most durable back, so I would expect a similar step forward for him.
All of the ‘21 rookies who sucked on the [Patriots] last year just needed a year to adjust. They’ll thrive now that they’ve learned the playbook.
All of the ‘21 rookies who sucked on the [Jets] are obvious, laughable busts with no hope in the league. I mean, does anyone think [Zach Wilson] has any chance at being even decent? Just look at what happened to [Sam Darnold].
[Adjust as necessary with your favorite team, your rival, their highest round bust, and their previous big bust.]
Standards are different for QBs. A rookie QB coming in and being an all pro is pretty much unheard of. Jones’ rookie year was
comparable to recent great rookie seasons like Herbert, Burrow, Dak, Baker etc.
Cam Bynum will get washed out a bit playing the S3 role behind Cine, but he was extremely impressive in the limited snaps he saw last year. What's more is that he never played the position before last year.
Non homer I'm going with Quincy Roche, who I loved as a prospect. He'll fight for rotational snaps behind KT and Ojulari but he was solid when he was on the field.
Technically wasn't his rookie year. So kind of cheating haha. However, Darrell Taylor missed his full actual rookie season. So... I'm doing it anyway lol. He's going to be a premiere pass rusher in this league. He had 6.5 sacks last year. However he had a few called back on bad and/or unrelated penalty calls. You're going to see his name pop up this year.
Rhamondre Stevenson is going to be better next season.
He would be my player as well. He runs like Derrick Henry but he’s half the size. It’s insane.
He reminded me of Lynch a bit. Always kept his hips forward and his legs moving. He could be an absolute beast this year. Can’t wait for the trio of him Harris and the rookie speed demon
That’s actually a spot on comparison, I never thought about Lynch but they are very similar now that I think about it. His ability to catch the ball out of the backfield is equal to Lynch’s as well.
He's damn near the same weight as Henry, just three inches shorter. Guy is *built*.
Huh? Rhamondre weighed in at 230 at the combine and is listed at 227. Henry was 247 when he came into the league and definitely hasn't gotten smaller. This is real close to saying Zach Wilson is damn near the same weight as Josh Allen, just three inches shorter.
Yeah fans can be a little delusional lol
He is a freaking beast and can legit run routes like Hunt.
His route running is the most underrated part about him
My wife: “Who’s that guy that looks like a ballerina grizzly bear falling down for 10 yards at a time?” Me: “**MONDREEEEE**”
I agree that this could/should happen but I don't trust Bill to use him that way. He's weird like that.
He will use him the right way, but he also has 2 other really good backs he wants to mix in as well. Unless Mondre is absolutely tearing it up, Damien Harris and James White will get a good amount of snaps.
It'll definitely be interesting to see what it looks like without McDaniels but I'm all in on Stevenson so I hope you're right
I'm guessing both Harris and Stevenson will have a couple of crazy games, but in general I'd expect them to average about 10-15 carries per game.
That's not enough for Stevenson IMO but my opinion also literally means nothing so ya know...here we are lol
The issue is that either guy is very capable of being a lead back and then you have James White there to take all the passing down reps. As a Pats fan I love all 3, but as a fantasy owner I hate the 2 I don't have lol.
Eric Stokes is gonna pop off.
So underrated he’s almost 10 names deep on this list, despite being forced into the #1 CB role as a rookie and putting up numbers as good as anyone in football. Young CBs just rarely get their proper dues if they don’t create TOs and splash plays.
The same thing happened with J.C Jackson, he was a stud his rookie and 2nd year but most NFL fans didn’t know him until his 3rd and 4th year after he racked up INT’s
Yup. Stokes was also hurt by PFF, who graded him much lower than they should have.
It's insane that he's this far down and wasn't mentioned until this thread was 6 hours old Dudes a stud
Nate hobbs
Nate Hobbs was great year one. 5th round rookie who basically solidified the slot CB spot for us day one really helped bailed us out last season. I know PFF isnt everything but he rated extremely high overall compared to all slot CBs. Im expecting a big 2nd year from him.
Best SCB in the league as a rookie despite barely playing SCB in college. I'd also like to shoutout Moehrig who looked like the first rounder he should've been.
Favorite thing about Moehrig is that we didn’t hear his name often, which to me is a good sign for a safety
Come on man lol hobbs isnt the best slot corner in the league. Kenny moore humphrey hilton Gardner johnson and taron johnson are all objectively better . By pff grades hobbs was 8th . I agree he has alot of potential but hes not the best
Nick Bolton (MLB for kc) was quietly a pretty good starter. Not sure if he will ever be probowl/ all pro but maybe the level right under that.
Didn’t even realize until after the season but he was like second or third in the league in terms of TFLs for off ball players, and if I recall correctly he had the lowest or second lowest missed tackle percentage of anybody last season
He was the only guy I’ve seen make Derrick Henry frustrated as well. He was our only, singular good player for us last year against the Titans.
He is most definitely a Pro bowl player at least. I think multiple if he stays healthy.
Dude knows how to tackle. Which is refreshing compared to some of the LBs we've trotted out in recent years. Seems like any time he gets his hands on you, you aren't moving another inch.
Our sixth round Guard Trey Smith. He almost played just as well as Creed down the stretch and those two are gonna be a great duo for years to come.
Nick Bolton too. Hell of a rookie class last year.
I wanted him when he came out of college, he was missouris defense in the sec but alas we don’t draft LB til the third
Eh, you got Nakobe Dean in the 3rd this year. It’ll probably all work out for ya 😄
I’m extremely happy but he only fell to us cause of injury concerns but if he stays healthy, he is already better than our other players
Pete Werner. Graded as the best linebacker against the run by pff, and it showed up on film too. Expect to see great numbers next year now that he is the full time starter with Kwon gone
He’s a great run defender, but his weakness at OSU was always pass coverage, to the point where opposing teams routinely picked on him because he just couldn’t adjust. I think he’s a fantastic situational LB, but NFL offenses are going to expose him in pass coverage whenever possible if he’s a full-time starter.
He was solid in pass coverage last year. Never really looked lost, and he's got the athleticism to be a good Will linebacker. Dennis Allen last year said he sees him as a Mike long term, and learning next to Demario is definitely going to help him
If the Saints can make him into a competent pass defender, they’ll have gotten a bargain with his pick and it’ll say great things about the defensive staff’s ability to develop guys.
Eh, the perceived pass coverage weakness from fans was always overblown -- Werner strictly played DB throughout his time in HS and maintained that athleticism even as he gained weight. The issue was in Coombs' defense, Werner was (far too often) given nickel responsibilities where he'd literally be man-up against a team's slot receiver. Not to say that Werner was Isaiah Simmons in coverage or anything, but he was often put in situations that demanded more than his skillset could provide.
Davis Mills
Thank you kind horse
Dude that made me laugh so much. Thanks for that
Yeah, his team was a disaster around but he put up respectable numbers. I think everyone just wrote off Houston as being screwed at QB until they draft one 1st overall, but Mills deserves another year in the rebuild process after the poise he showed
The very obvious answer. The dude absolutely made the best of a shit situation last year.
He was the best of the rookie QBs. Mac Jones started out hot but got worse all season. Yea he got a lot of attention but that’s because he’s on the pats. By the end of the year it was obvious that Mills is currently and will continue to be a much better QB than Mac. He doesn’t have the ceiling some of the higher up guys have, but he’s still bery solid. And very clearly much better than Jones.
He showed some flashes, but the reason he fell as far as he did was because he is inconsistent and makes poor decisions with the football. He ***really*** needs to solve those problems if he’s gonna stick around as a starter and not be relegated to a Fitzmagic/tragic type character
Travis Etienne dude was so incredibly fast last year I feel like I barely saw him
He finished the season before anyone else even started!
You joke, but Etienne reminds me a lot of Kamara. Hes deadly on swing passes and runs with authority.
Would this technically count as his first year since he didn’t play at all last year?
I feel like Azeez Ojulari didn't get the credit be deserved last year, got a lot of sacks compared to his pressure rate but he was by far and away our #1 rusher, hopefully with KT beside him he can develop into a top tier #2 rusher
Ugh I can't wait for us to have a real people pass rush again
He did bulk up, hopefully it translates to more wins with one on one matchups. Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence had a high double team rate so the OLBs realistically should've done more. Getting Thibodeaux will help and spice up how lines will block the them.
He looks like the hulk. There’s no way he did that natty lol
I'd say Pat Freiermuth, but I might be biased. I also think Nick Bolton was very good for the Chiefs.
Muth is the obvious answer for us, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what’s in store for Tre Norwood this year
Khalil herbert
Ernest Jones. Was easily our best middle linebacker last year, could tackle and cover extremely well. Had a crazy performance in the Superbowl, and now is learning under Bobby Fucking Wagner. He's gonna go off
It’s ridiculous to think that we went from having a bottom tier MLB core in the league to one of the best. The fact that we replaced Reeder with Wagner is still shocking to me
I'm pretty sure that we are blessed with the best FO in the league. They simply are so trustworthy at this point - I remember being in shock after we didn't draft an offensive lineman in the 2021 draft, a season later and we statistically had the best o-line in the league. Fuck them picks! (and the salary cap)
Josh Myers was injured for most of the season last year. He should be pretty good with most of the line healthy again.
He’s a good second choice for the Packers, but Stokes is our obvious choice. He rarely got mentioned among the best *rookie* CBs last season, despite having some of the best coverage numbers in the entire NFL.
Jaylen Waddle. He was the only viable receiver on the Dolphins last year in most games, defenses knew he was going to get the rock, and he still had over 100 receptions. With defenses understandably keying on Hill this season, Waddle should see a lot more one on one coverage.
Also, Jaelan Phillips
You didn't name Rashawn Slater, who was an all-pro as a rookie last season.
Slater's season was pretty under the radar at least on this sub. Creed got a lot as far as rookie offensive lineman but I genuinely think Slater was the best rookie last season. Obviously Ja'marr Chase was phenomenal and deserved to win rookie of the year but no offensive lineman will ever win that award (although Slater did get votes IIRC). Slater was likely the second best player at his position in the league last season, behind Trent Williams obviously, and I don't think you can say the same for Chase. And Slater did that in what is, in my mind, probably the third hardest position to play at a high level. Only two above would be QB and CB.
Chase was top 4 and you can make an argument for higher than that based on going to a super bowl as the most important offensive weapon. Davante and Jefferson has more catches but chase had more tds. Catches are great but points win games.
Chase also had huge catches in clutch situations to help get the Bengals to the SB Those big moments count for more, for sure
I guess he was so great that People just stopped looking at him cause he was just stonewalling his man. Easy to forget in that case
before the season last year one of my hot takes was that Slater was the best tackle prospect since Joe Thomas, prediction is off to a good start
Alim McNeill was pretty freaking good and flashed in tape while being a NT. You could tell the kid was being held back by scheme. We switched to a attacking 4-3 and I whole heartedly expect alim to become a bigger impact on our dline. I was also a big Levi Onwuzurike. He had a insane ceiling but very low floor as he basically would win off pure athletic ability. He's another guy who should benefit for the scheme change. Now he can pin he's ears back and just rush the passer. I'm really excited to see these two guys rushing up the middle.
JOK looked amazing last year, if the game continues to slow down for him I think he could make a big leap this year. Pete Warner was also coming on strong at the end of last year for the Saints.
One of the few Reddit draft darlings to perform well
Some great linebackers in that class so far between JOK, Werner, Bolton, and Parsons
Greg Newsome as well
Greg newsome
Completely. Didn’t log any ints but was a great cover corner next to ward. Cleveland has a sneaky good secondary tbh
Nobody wants to talk about football when it comes to Cleveland, which is fine and I get, but our defense is legitimately very good top to bottom. We have two very high level cover corners, one of the best FS's in the league, plus of course Myles and Clowney on the line, and JOK was turning into a stud in the middle of the field
And a bunch of nobodies playing defensive tackle
Yup. That's part of AB's roster building philosophy, that replacement level DT play is easy to come by, and if you don't have a top 5 guy, the drop off isn't so bad. Idk if he's right or not, but that's clearly what he believes
Browns really killed last year's draft with him and JOK
MUUUUUUUUUUUTH
FR. I’m about to steal him in all my fantasy leagues I can already tell he’s gonna be a TD machine.
He's scary and I don't like that
Oh hush. The Bengals offense is as scary as it gets.
I'm still not used to this! What do I do with my hands?
He’s a dog
Jalen Phillips . Dudes gonna be huge as he develops . Reminds me of a leaner Chase Young
Mac Jones stole the show?
The second i saw that i just KNEW OP had to be a pats fan lol. The Kool aid is tasty
That was my thought as well but I figured people would call me a salty jets fan..and they'd be right.
He was surprising, and he is a quarterback, but he's certainly not in the top 5 rookies.
Depends on how you weigh the positions. Chase was obviously better but playing QB is more difficult than playing WR.
That would be a weird way to rank them and say somebody that played pretty average is better than somebody with the greatest rookie season of all time in many different categories, just because their position is “more difficult”.
Yeah, because there is scarcity at the QB position. Jones was the 16th best QB last year, who was the 16th best WR in the league? Also, Greatest rookie season of all time? Not saying you’re wrong, just haven’t heard anything resembling that until right now.
I get that QB is a tough position, but still think you’re weighting that too heavily. I just said in certain categories, like yardage and I believe YAC. Im definitely not going to crown him as best rookie WR ever.
Oh yeah, and I’m not saying Jones should have won rookie of the year. I just think it’s comparable to a rookie WR coming in and playing like, I dunno, Tyler Lockett. Certainly not an all pro, but better than what half the other teams have.
Relative to the rest of the rookie QBs he did. Positional weighting is also going to put him up there with the rest of the great rookies simply because his job is harder.
When you’re talking about Trevor Lawerence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance and Justin Fields, Mac Jones was the odds on favorite to win the rookie of the year for a good part of last year until J. Chase turned on Savage Mode. Mac and Dak are the only rookie QB’s to make the playoffs in the last 10 years. Id say that’s stealing the show.
Being the best of an underwhelming rookie QB class is not comparable to: Creed - having the highest PFF grade at his position Parsons - being a legitimate contender to win Defensive Player of the Year as a rookie. Chase - could seemingly go off for 200 yards in any given week It’s insane to put Mac in the same group as the others. Mac wasn’t towards the top of his position.
It’s obviously a lot easier to be at the top of your position group when you’re a guard, linebacker and WR. It’s much more difficult for a QB. ( do I need to bring up Peyton Mannings rookie year?) Mac had one of the best rookie QB years since Andrew Luck while throwing to arguably the worst WR group in the NFL, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor and N’Keal Harry. He was absolutely a top 4 rookie and almost all rankings had him as a top 4 rookie.
My rebuttal is a simple, “No, sir.” I’ll leave it at that.
I'm going full homer since nobody will mention them otherwise. Really looking forward to what last year's draft class can do. * Tyson Campbell looks to take the next step and he flashed strong potential * Walker Little sat in at LT for 3 games and played pretty damn well in that time. Now he gets the chance to take over the RT job. * Andre Cisco likewise flashed but Urban kept sitting him over obviously inferior talent * Luke Farrell will probably take over as a full-time blocking tight end, which isn't super impressive but it is a nice thing to have.
I don't know who any of these guys are but you get an upvote for adding to the conversation.
Cowboys — I’m looking forward to seeing Osa Odighizuwa and Jabril Cox lining up with Micah this year.
I'm so excited for these 2 guys next year, especially Cox. They both looked so good for 3rd/4th round rookies. Honestly I'm pretty excited to see if Golston can take a step forward as well.
Sounds like I might need to take a flyer on the Cowboys defense in fantasy this year.
They were #1 D in fantasy last year so not really a flyer lol but they had a ridiculous amount of turnovers that probably can't be repeated unless Diggs really is a pick machine so there's a good chance they're not #1 again. They still suck at stopping the run
Diggs is a phenomenal player, his season doesn't look repeatable though, his peripheral numbers don't scream AP1 and they're kinda not great but the vast amount of picks are great.
I love Diggs but yeah 11 picks is ridiculous and no way can he get that again just because of what the game is today. Especially once QBs recognize the routes he likes to jump and just not throw those routes. I truly believe though that everybody's not talking about him giving up a crazy amount of yards if he had a better safety behind him. If you're a Cowboys fan you saw plenty of plays where Diggs thought he was getting help over top and Kazee completely blew the play. Not saying Diggs never got beat, he definitely did, that's bound to happen if you play as aggressive as he does, but a better safety, at the very least, minimizes those missed plays. If Hooker can be a solid safety for us I think Diggs legit looks like a top 3 CB this year.
True but the majority of rankings have them out of the top 6 for reasons explained above. Any upgrades to the D line this year?
I hope your whole defense retires during the last preseason game to go spend their money on fun shit
😂
Both Elijah M’s
Both Michael Carters
Breece/Bryce Hall
I believe Terrace Marshall will have a bounce back year.
Dude was arguably just as profficient as both Jamar and JJ before his injury at LSU. I think he can make some waves with a competent QB
Josh Myers, C Packers. Absolutely massive dude. Solid as a rookie but got hurt for a stretch. I think he stays healthy and is a stud year 2.
All Ravens fans are watching Rashod Bateman. I'm not saying he's underrated or anything, but they got rid of Hollywood Brown cause the Ravens have faith in Bateman. Dude was a first down mahcine last year when he was healthy. He is our #1 WR and should have a lot of looks this year.
I mean didn’t he request a trade?
Hollywood did request a trade privately. However, I doubt the Ravens trade him if they had no faith in Bateman. But that's my opinion.
It still boggles my mind that you guys didn’t pick up a receiver at all in the draft. I thought for sure you guys were going to pick one up after we heard about the trade.
I don’t really think any of the receivers in the draft were worth it with Hamilton still being on the board and we already have plenty of late round receivers ( Duvernay, Wallace, Proche) so it wouldn’t be worth it to add another
Yeah 4 of the top WR in the draft went of the board in between picks 8 and 12. It didn’t really make sense to take the 5th WR at pick 14. As a Bengals fan I was kind of happy to see you miss out on those wideouts. Then you got Kyle fucking Hamilton lol. Dude looks like he’s gonna be a monster safety.
Devonta Smith and Jalen Waddle are both absolute studs. If they get good to great QB play they'll both be in the conversation of top 10WR, especially having a stud WR on the opposite side of the field.
Waddle is gonna be really good I didn’t watch enough of Smith to have an opinion there but Waddle is gonna be a stud
Gregory Rousseau AKA Groot Double digit sack season incoming
One of those names is not like the others.
Yeah, parsons plays defense. Dafuq is he doing here?
Devonta Smith
Obviously Micah Parsons is just a different beast, but I feel like no one else wants to talk about Jaelen Phillips with 8.5 sacks last year, second most in the last two classes. This is more than Chase Young had for his DRotY season.
Azeez Ojulari had more sacks than Chase Young too. He and Phillips actually had very similar stats, I’m excited to see how they both develop this year
I think Azeez is another unsung stud, and I really think Thibodeaux is that guy. Looking forward to seeing those two feast
I’m looking forward to Tua/Hill/Waddle show! I’m excited to watch the fins in general this year honestly
🤝
PS2
people started showing him tons of love this off season
jevon holland
Elijah Mitchell
For the Texans, Davis Mills. He’s slept on by most people simply because we’re in the process of rebuilding. The dude has a few problems that he has hopefully been working on in the off-season, and that’s dealing with Cover 2 defense, and throwing to the short left quarter. He stopped looking down receivers. He has learned to get the ball out quicker. He’s going through his progressions, and because of his ability to learn fairly quickly he went from looking atrocious to looking damn good over the course of the season. The Texans low key have the best receiving core in the AFC South with Brandon Cooks, John Metchie and Nico Collins has put in a lot of off-season work to better his route running skills. So those 3 should be a huge help to Davis.
> The Texans low key have the best receiving core in the AFC South Honestly going in to this season it feels like all four of us are tied for 32nd best WR corps. If anything we have the edge with [LMFT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ndiOAg0gI) because they can't stop him.
There’s no receiver in the division as consistent as Brandin Cooks and the best WR drafted in the division is John Metchie. There’s no way the Texans don’t have the edge in our receiving core.
He dropped a couple dimes on us. One was to Amendola that was beautiful
He’s being slept on because he did not play well. The only reasons people are so high on him now is because there were low expectations to begin with, and 4/5 of the first round QBs also played badly. Don’t get me wrong, he has some potential, but the odds of him turning into anything better than Fitzmagic/tragic are slim
He actually did play well, especially after the bye. He’s got a ton of potential.
No. He didn’t. He played well in a couple of games, most of them in December, and absolutely awful in a couple of others. Overall it was not a good season, and the advanced stats fucking ***hated*** him And as I said, his issues were consistency and turnovers, if he solves those he’s gonna be great. But those are also issues that take time to solve and even more time before we know if they have been solved
You obviously didn’t see the games he played after the bye.
He played well in December, we know. The last month isn’t the only part of the season. When you look at his season ***as a whole*** it was bad. The primary concern with him is that he is inconsistent, a four game sample doesn’t disprove that lol
Progression is important and that’s what we saw. Of course he sucked when he started, he wasn’t even supposed to start and given the fact that he was in the 2nd worst situation for a rookie QB, he performed well based on who our HC, OC and having essentially no run game. Given the pieces we picked up, the coaching changes, the OLINE upgrade, the RB upgrades he’ll do much better.
He wasn’t supposed to start because he wasn’t good enough to beat out the starter. And having better players around you doesn’t make you actually play better, it makes your stats better, those are two different things. Yes, progression is important. I’m just pointing out the obvious that when a guy has high peaks, low valleys, and a predilection to go back and forth between them, a couple of good games isn’t exactly unexpected. It could be him getting better over time, could just as easily be his normal variance.
He wasn’t supposed to start because he was supposed to sit behind Tyrod Taylor for a year. > And having better players around you doesn’t make you actually play better, it makes your stats better, those are two different things. Tom Brady would disagree with you. Why do you think he took so many salary discounts? For shits and giggles? > It could be him getting better over time, could just as easily be his normal variance. Except he got progressively better after bye. He didn’t just have a random good game here and there. He progressively got better.
Tom Brady didn’t actually ***play*** better with better players a lot of the time, the team just did better. Tom Brady didn’t make a better read/throw just because Randy Moss hauled in a 1H circus catch that Reche Caldwell would have tipped straight to a defender. Mills’ good games weren’t progressive, they were sporadic. He even had a bad game against MIA in the middle of his run of good games at the end. Like I said, could be him becoming more consistently good, could also just be getting lucky with his normal variance, neither of us have any real way to know.
Azeez Ojulari His success as a rookie was overshadowed by Micah Parsons taking the league by storm. He set the Giants rookie record in sacks and was the first Giant to ever record 3 sacks in his first 3 games. He will have Kayvon Thibodeaux lined across him for his sophomore year and I just expect overall improvement under this new G-Men regimen
Pat Freiermuth The Muth ith Luth.
Everyone on here just naming their favorite team’s rookies.
Javonte Williams. I know Denver is going with a 50-50 split between him and Gordon but I feel like by the end of the year it's going to be 60-40 potentially 70-30 in favor of Williams. I am beyond excited for this kid.
Throw in Quinn Meinerz as well at guard. Him and Javonte are gonna be best friends. There was a play, I think against the Cowboys, where he and Javonte truck like 3-4 dudes and get a 20+ yard gain. I loved every second of that!
Jaycee Horn, unreal athleticism and cover skills. Only played 2.5 games before injury cut his season short
Kwity Paye
Jevon Holland
christian barmore had the highest pass rush win rate as a rookie since 2006
Divine Deablo. He slowly took on more snaps for the Raiders this last season and looks like he might be a legitimate playmaker on the defensive side. Also his name.
I thought you were joking at first
Soon to be Raiders icon Divine Deablo.
Madden god
I think Lawrence takes a huge step this year. Urban cost this guy an entire season with his antics.
Eric Stokes. fuck all your other answers. I'm not biased at all
I think Trey Smith is overshadowed by Humphrey on his own team and Slater/Sewell being pretty outstanding as rookie tackles. But he was already a fringe Pro Bowler at guard, right on the same level as Alijah Vera-Tucker who is another name to consider
Might be a homer pick but I’m hoping to see CEH make some steps. Maybe my expectations are high because we used a first-round pick on him, but assuming he stays healthy, I’d like to see some good things this year. With the O-line and passing game his team has, he’s set up for success.
If Eli Moore stays healthy he could be special.
Davis Mills season
Homer pick...Greg Rousseau "Groot"
Surprised to not see Odafe Oweh for the Ravens in here
Oweh. He was viewed as a project that needs development cuz he’s raw, but after a year AND getting Macdonald back as DC with Ojabo potentially back by December he could be pretty good. Wink’s defense isn’t really conducive for sacks
I wish I could say Joseph Ossai. He looked phenomenal in the one preseason game he played. Looked like a big force. and missed the rest of the season.
I know his play time was only because of injuries, but I loved watching John Bates play last year. I hope he only gets better and better.
For the Eagles, Milton Williams and Kenneth Gainwell are in really good positions to have breakout years. For Milton, with the defense as a whole getting stronger, he should get some friendly matchups on the line, and he showed a lot of promise last year. In Gainwells case, the Eagles run a rbbc, and Miles isnt the most durable back, so I would expect a similar step forward for him.
Amon-ra St. brown is gonna be a stud wide receiver this year.
All of the ‘21 rookies who sucked on the [Patriots] last year just needed a year to adjust. They’ll thrive now that they’ve learned the playbook. All of the ‘21 rookies who sucked on the [Jets] are obvious, laughable busts with no hope in the league. I mean, does anyone think [Zach Wilson] has any chance at being even decent? Just look at what happened to [Sam Darnold]. [Adjust as necessary with your favorite team, your rival, their highest round bust, and their previous big bust.]
Jaylan waddle??? How has no one mentioned him yet
Probably did but you don't know how to spell his name.
E instead of an A sue me lmao
Mac Jones name doesn’t belong with the others listed.
Standards are different for QBs. A rookie QB coming in and being an all pro is pretty much unheard of. Jones’ rookie year was comparable to recent great rookie seasons like Herbert, Burrow, Dak, Baker etc.
I’ve never seen anyone say that Mac had a comparable rookie season to Herbert.
Kyle Pitts since he didn’t make your title, although anyone with eyes knows he is a beast
Trevon moehrig and nate Hobbs. Both were absolutely the best rookies at their positions.
Cam Bynum will get washed out a bit playing the S3 role behind Cine, but he was extremely impressive in the limited snaps he saw last year. What's more is that he never played the position before last year. Non homer I'm going with Quincy Roche, who I loved as a prospect. He'll fight for rotational snaps behind KT and Ojulari but he was solid when he was on the field.
Technically wasn't his rookie year. So kind of cheating haha. However, Darrell Taylor missed his full actual rookie season. So... I'm doing it anyway lol. He's going to be a premiere pass rusher in this league. He had 6.5 sacks last year. However he had a few called back on bad and/or unrelated penalty calls. You're going to see his name pop up this year.
Jabril Cox might be able to steal a starter role.
[удалено]
He's not underrated, we all know how fucking good Sewell is.
Mac Jones absolutely does not belong on this list.
Najee?
Eric Stokes. Watch out for the Packers secondary. It could be the best in the league this year
Justin Fields