Tag Archives: NFL Rookies

NFL Rookies

NFL All-Rookie team 2024/25:

We’re taking a small break from the NFL playoffs to spotlight the players with the best debut seasons. As always, I constructed a full 11-player lineup on both offense (11 personnel) and defense (nickel personnel), along with four special teamers (kicker, punter, return specialist, and core team player). I also added six key substitutes/backups for the first two units.

Overall, I’d say this is one of the strongest rookie classes we’ve had in recent memory, with six names who at worst should be on the fringe of Pro Bowl nomination and a handful of names who didn’t even quite make the cut who I’d already label as average starters. So this wasn’t an easy exercise, although several guys were no-doubters based on how bright they were able to shine straight away. And just for clarity purposes, I only took the regular season into account.

Let’s meet the squad:


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NFL Quarterbacks, NFL Rookies, Player Rankings

Checking in with the rookie and sophomore NFL quarterbacks:

Over the last two drafts, ten quarterbacks were selected within the first 33 picks respectively and now that all but one of them have logged double-digit starts, I thought it was time to review what they’ve shown. I will provide my general thoughts, aided by some advanced metrics, and express my level of confidence in their long-time viability at the pro level.

Just to be clear, I won’t be discussing this year’s eighth and eighth overall selections Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons) and J.J. McCarthy (Vikings), who only saw very limited action in mop-up duty and unfortunately got hurt after a promising preseason showing respectively. Therefore, we’ll be looking at four guys from each of those draft classes.

Let’s dive in, going by chronological order of when they got selected:


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NFL Draft, NFL Offseason

AFC South Draft & Roster Review 2024

We complete our trip down South by looking at the AFC side of things with the Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans – discussing all the players these teams drafted, the state of their rosters and how the new pieces fit in!

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NFL Rookies

NFL All-Rookie team 2023/24:

The regular season has come to a close and after 17 games, it’s time to talk about what players were able to show in their first years as pros. Therefore, I put together my annual NFL All-Rookie team, consisting of a starting lineup on offense and defense, along with six “key backups”.

Just like the All-Pro teams this year, I decided to add a 12th spot to offense and defense, along with the classic four special-teamers. However, I took a little more freedom with that, since only two rookie fullbacks saw extended run (Cowboys’ Hunter Luepke and Saints’ Adam Prentice) and I thought there were more deserving players along the defensive front than an additional slot defender, since I already went with nickel personnel.

Let’s get into it:


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NFL Rookies

NFL All-Rookie Team 2022/23:

Since I managed to predict five or six Wildcard games correctly and therefore already broke down all but one of the Divisional Round matchups in my preview of the full 2023 playoffs, I decided to once again put together my all-rookie team at this point, where I fill out a full starting lineup of 11 offensive and defensive players each, along with a group of four specialists. I listed seven key backups on each side of the ball, plus three more honorable mentions, who largely didn’t get a chance to put together a full body of work, along with a couple of names who I thought deserved to be mentioned.

For the purposes of this list, I only considered regular season performance. If I felt compelled to do so, I may have mentioned what a couple of these players did in the Wildcard Round, but it’s not taken into account in terms of the players I chose.

Here’s my squad:


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NFL Rookies

NFL All-Rookie team 2020:

The only game left this season is the Super Bowl, which we will break down in depth here on my page next week, but right now let’s take a look what these NFL rookies have done in their pro debuts. I filled out a starting lineup for offense and defense, plus notable backups, and the key special teamers (just like you would usually when voting for the Pro Bowl).

For the offense, I went with 20 personnel, meaning two running backs and three receivers, because that definitely gives me the best eleven players out on the field. Tight-end I only listed among the notable backups, because the whole class didn’t even combine for 100 catches or 1000 yards in all of 2020. Vikings rookie receiver Justin Jefferson alone outperformed them as a group basically.

And on defense I went nickel personnel. So a four-man front with two stacked linebackers behind it and three safeties on the field, even though one of them is more of a slot backer anyway. That is the most common personnel grouping in the NFL today (or rather if you put a true nickelback in there) and it also once gives me the best eleven defenders in one lineup I feel like.

Make sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel, where I will put out my detailed recap of the Conference Championship games and already give out my initial thoughts on this Super Bowl matchup between Kansas City and Tampa Bay.

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NFL Rookies

NFL All-Rookie team 2019:

Since we are still waiting for injury reports and different storylines to emerge for the Super Bowl, I thought I would use this week to focus on something different – How did the first-year guys do? To do so I put together my perfect team of rookies based on their play in 2019. Therefore I did not consider players who missed the majority of the season due to injury or simply didn’t have enough time to showcase their talent.

Since 11 personnel is the new base offense nowadays, that is the personnel grouping I used, while adding in a flex spot for another deserving rookie. Defensively I used a 4-3 front and added another flex – for an extra defensive back in this case. Then finally I named four special team performers like you would on a Pro Bowl ballot and for each side of the ball I added a few key backups.

This is my squad:

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NFL Rookies

NFL All-Rookie Team 2018:

With the regular season wrapped up and a full 16-game schedule for the first-year players in the books, I decided to name my All-Rookie team for 2018. To do so I put together starting lineups on offense, defense and the specialists, plus I added key substitutes for each unit. While I did want to put the best 11 players out there respectively, the full body of work for these players had to be considered and I could not go with a couple of players I liked but simply didn’t play enough. So here are my starting lineups:

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NFL Rookies

Evaluating the rookie quarterbacks with three weeks to go:

We have now played 14 weeks and it is time to reflect a little. At this point I want to take a look at the five rookie signal-callers, who were drafted in the first round and all played between four and twelve games. To make this clear, I didn’t want to rank the quarterbacks against each other because I think it’s still too early for that, but we can see what they have shown so far and talk about them. So I listed them purely based on where they were drafted at. While all of them have shown promise and won some big games, the guy at the very top has truly stood out.

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Storylines around the NFL

Preseason standouts 2018:

Time to switch back to NFL football! I have now watched pretty much every snap of the first three weeks of preseason and it’s time to point out the guys, who have impressed me the most. I’m not here to tell you that legends like Tom Brady have looked sharp, but rather this list is about rookies and a few second- and third-year players, who aren’t on a lot of people’s radars at this point and have looked like impact performers to this point. Not all of these youngsters might see a significant amount of snaps this season because of the veterans ahead of them taking away opportunities, but they have looked like guys who could step in and make a difference for their teams. With that being said, these young men have caught my eye:

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