NFL Rookie Watch: Week 7 - Brendan Darr's Blog

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Brendan Darr's Blog

NFL Rookie Watch: Week 7 Stuck

Posted on October 24, 2012 at 04:59 PM.

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We are nearing the halfway point of the NFL season and we have started to see which rookies are for real and which rookies have had a let down. Here are the top 5 rookies so far.

First Five Out:

Kicker Blair Walsh, Minnesota Vikings: Yeah, I seriously put a kicker in the top 10. Already has a game-winning kick in overtime.

LB Vontaze Burfict, Cincinnati Bengals: Coming off a 15-tackle performance against Pittsburgh.

SS Mark Barron, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Barron is racking up tackles like a linebacker, and already has an interception and 8 pass break-ups.

RB Trent Richardson, Cleveland Browns: Ranks third of all rookies in rushing, and second in receiving.

DE Chandler Jones, New England Patriots: Leads all rookies with 5.0 sacks and 3 forced fumbles

The Top Five:

5. LB Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers

Kuechly leads all rookies in tackles, and is breaking up passes as well. Kuechly will have to step up even more now with Jon Beason out for the year.

4. QB Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins

Tannehill is blowing away all expectations as a rookie this year. Granted, he hasn�t had the best season of all the rookie QB�s, he�s been able to improve week to week after he started slow.

3. QB Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts

He�s leading all rookies in yards per game. The #1 pick has not disappointed so far this season. His most impressive accomplishment to date may be outplaying Aaron Rodgers in an upset win over the Packers.

2. RB Alfred Morris, Washington Redskins

I�m going to keep harping on Morris until everyone is aware of his talents. He�s leading all rookies in rushing yards, and is second in the NFL -- he trails Arian Foster by one yard -- despite averaging five less carries a game. The sixth-round pick has been a revelation under Mike Shanahan.

1. QB Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins

This one is too obvious, but there�s no clear alternative here. It�s maddening that Ryan Tannehill has been up for the Rookie of the Week award more times than RGIII at this point. A few stats for you:

He�s currently leading the NFL in yards per passing attempt and yards per carry -- that�s never happened before.

He�s currently leading the NFL in completion percentage, so there�s that as well.

His 468 yards yards rushing are second for all rookies, and 12th overall. His 6 rushing touchdowns are second in the league.

Case closed.

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Comments

# 1 bigdoc85 @ Oct 24

Alfred Morris -- Didn't Shanahan draft another 6th rounder while in Denver who turned out to be pretty darn good? Helped him win a Super Bowl?

Burfict was UNDRAFTED! The guy is a beast. Look for him to replace Malaluga in the middle next year.

Tannehill -- All I remember about the draft this year was the hoopla over his wife!

# 2 bccards13 @ Oct 24

@bigdoc22 If you're implying Alfred Morris is the next Terrell Davis then you may want to step back from that stance. He's good but with such a major threat in the passing game in RGIII it's hard to not be a successful running back.
On a side note, where was this Tannehill when he played for A&M?

# 3 Calipup @ Oct 25

'He’s currently leading the NFL in completion percentage, so there’s that as well."

This stat is still a bit skewed though. The Redskins offense runs a lot of short routes leading to more passes. Put all the other QBs in the same system, he won't be the leader. He is a beast though, wonder if he can keep it up.