NFL: Rookie-Watch: Saints’ Super-Draft surpasses everything

The mid-term mark of the season has already been passed – it’s high time to take a first look at the rookie vintage! How’s the quarterback class looking? How’s the top pick? What surprises have the draft produced and which team has benefited most from its draft? Shortly before the end of the regular season, SPOX takes a look at the performance of the rookies.

Mitchell Trubisky (Chicago Bears)

For Trubisky, the season began in Week 5 against Minnesota Vikings. The second pick of the drafts was supposed to get used to the league, but the coach’s team was forced to put the rookie in the limelight after poor performances by Mike Glennon.

Trubisky has one of the weakest receiving corps in Chicago, and even the side line play calling doesn’t always seem ideal. After a very small number of attempts to pass the rookie, one slowly starts to believe that the rookie is getting more and more trusted. Improvements are clearly visible, but bad reads and a lot of uncertainty under pressure determine his game.

Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs)

The hype from the off-season is already clearly flattened. Alex Smith is probably the best season of his career with the Chiefs. However, the Chiefs should be able to leave their backup and hoped for quarterback of the future at least with a good feeling on the field.

Deshaun Watson (Houston Texans)

Watson’s injury was an absolute shock report. The rookie filled those after the injuries of J. J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus have already lost some of the Texans’ season with great hope. The young quarterback surpassed all expectations.

From the pocket presence to the escape-capabilities and passports out of the race, Watson showed a much broader skill set than you could have expected from a rookie. The offense, which was limited before his time, only played under 200 passing yards as a starter in Watson’s first game, while coach Bill O’ Brien did a great job and adapted the offense to Watson’s style.

The highlight of his young NFL career was undoubtedly a 400-yard game against the Seahawks, in which Watson also threw four touchdowns. Only a few days later, however, a cruciate ligament rupture paralysed him for the rest of the season.

DeShone Kizer (Cleveland Browns)

In the midst of the criticism and chaos of a failed trade for A. J. McCarron recently delivered Kizer the best game of his career to date when he brought 21 of his 37 pass attempts for 232 yards to the limited edition Receiving Corps in Detroit. It was the climax of a rookie season that couldn’t have been much more difficult in terms of the external circumstances.

In another wild season at the Browns he “won” and lost the starter role already, only to be allowed to hold it again for lack of suitable alternatives. The 21-year-old’s game is characterised by great inaccuracies, with passports only being successful in 54.4 percent of cases. And even then, they only cross an average of 5.5 yards at field position. In addition, four touchdowns are confronted with bitter twelve exceptions and a quarterback rating of 24.0.

Davis Webb (New York Giants)

According to coach Ben McAdoo, Webb is likely to be hoping for time. In a horrible Giants season, the coach likes to blame Eli Manning for something he did not like to ask questions about a quarterback change.

C.J. Beathard (San Francisco 49ers)

Like Kizer, Beathard, who was also extremely inconsistent in accuracy of fit, had the best game of his career last weekend. However, this came about against a completely confused Giants squad and doesn’t change the fact that the quarterback behind a lazy line serves as a crash test dummy. And this will probably last until the line can withstand a pass rush. Then Jimmy Garoppolo, who was recently hired, will take over the helm.

Nathan Peterman (Buffalo Bills)

Somewhat surprisingly, the Bills announced during the week that Tyrod Taylor is no longer starting quarterback in Buffalo. For him, Rookie Peterman will start against the Chargers this weekend. Peterman took over for Taylor against the Saints and played a 75 yard drive with touchdown. He is supposed to fit better into the short, fast passes than Taylor, but he has to prove it first.

Corey Davis (WR, Tennessee Titans)

The running intensive play of the Titans doesn’t really benefit a receiver like Davis. Nevertheless, Nashville was expected to have more of his fifth pick of the drafts than 13 receptions with 28 targets. Davis was used in only four games after a prolonged thigh injury. For this reason, the Titans are expecting a significant increase in performance over the course of the season as well as a possible number 1 receiver. The potential is definitely there.

John Ross (WR, Cincinnati Bengals)

One of the league’s weakest offenses needs – in addition to improvements for the line – new weapons. Who would be a better than the record holder of the 40-yard dash? So far, Ross has not been able to live up to this hope: The Wideout, who suffered from a number of injuries, has only just completed three outings this season and is still completely naked without a reception.

The only noteworthy return was a 12-yard run against the Texans in the second game of the season. At the end of this fumbled horse, however, and was no longer used. The coaches recently demanded that Ross publicly (a questionable approach) be better able to identify and respond to coverages.

O.J. Howard (TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

The Bucs-Offense went into the season with incredibly high expectations. These came about not least through the engagement of Tight End Howard, who played furiously in Alabama and surprisingly in draft until the 19th century. The spot fell. Howard was supposed to be one of the league’s most dangerous tight-end duos with Cameron Brate, but the 22-year-old’s only task seems to be blocking. Howard was only 22 times target of one of the two Bucs quarterbacks in nine games. At least three touchdowns make the Stat-Line look nice.

Jabrill Peppers (S, Cleveland Browns)

Peppers came into the league as a flexible defensive back and was used primarily in the safety position. Here, however, he was caught several times in poor positioning and missed important placements. Not yet the X-factor player, whom not a few have seen before the draft in him.

Taco Charlton (DE, Dallas Cowboys)

Charlton won his first bag two weeks ago against the Chiefs. That was it, however, again with positive side notes from the defensive end. Otherwise, the rookie will be lost alongside DeMarcus Lawrende and Michael Irving. Five tackles and a handful of pressures are still to come.

Zay Jones (WR, Buffalo Bills)

The Bills Offense continues to have major problems and is dependent on Shady McCoy. Right now, when Taylor’s just gonna be sitting on the bench. Jones came with great expectations and even got a big role after Sammy Watkins’ trade. But then he caught only 16 of his 44 targets. The Bills must have considered their decision to be a mistake and meanwhile they traded for Kelvin Benjamin.

Joe Mixon (RB, Cincinnati Bengals)

Even the Bengal’s offshoots do not spread happiness when you take a closer look. Mixon came in the draft with doubts about his behaviour off the pitch, but not because of his abilities. It runs on average for only 3.0 yards, although the running backs of only twelve teams are rarely stopped before the line of scrimmage.

Myles Garrett (DE, Cleveland Browns)

A protracted ankle injury and a concussion resulted in the First-Overall-Pick having spent a significantly long time on the sidelines. Garrett was frustrated by the helplessness he felt on the sidelines. Indeed, his ability to help made himself felt when he was on the field.

Garrett has already booked four sacks and twelve tackles in four missions. In addition, his colleagues benefit from being on the field. Defensive End Emmanuel Ogbah, who had the best game of his career next to Garrett in Detroit, emphasized this. In an already lost season, the Browns focus on improving the individual players. They appear to be entering when Garrett is on the green.

Mike Williams (WR, Los Angeles Chargers)

Williams’ punctual start into the season fell flat due to back surgery. The Wideout has now been active for four games and has seen little playtime behind Keenan Allen, Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin. Most recently, he was able to secure both passes in Jacksonville in his direction. An increased number of snaps should be on the agenda soon.

Malik Hooker (S, Indianapolis Colts)

Hooker got off to an impressive start in his rookie season until his knee hit him in the head. The safety team tore their cruciate ligament in Week 7 against Jacksonville. After interceptions in each of his first three starts, Hooker was even the subject of discussions about the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. The colts are likely to have found an important piece of the puzzle in the rebuilding process.

Jonathan Allen (DE, Washington Redskins)

So far this season, Allen has only been able to participate in five games. A foot injury has now taken the Redskins-Lineman out of action for the rest of the season. However, if he stood on the pitch, Allen was able to prove himself as an important building block of the Redskins defense. He has recorded three sacks, three quarterback hits and ten hurries and is one of the most productive pass Rusher from 3-4 formations. There are also five run stops on the account.

Dalvin Cook (RB, Minnesota Vikings)

Cook would have been – without Deshaun Watson, admittedly – probably with his running-back colleagues Kareem Hunt and Alvin Kamara in the rookie-of-the-year conversation, if his knee hadn’t been cut off. In three of the four games, Cook ran for over 5 yards per run. The explosive back also showed his talent as a receiver. After all: Minnesota’s running game seems to work despite the violation of the rookie.

Page 1: Quarterbacks, disappointing and injured persons

Page 2: Solid, Surprises and Outstanding