With the regular season over, the time has begun to honor the best players in the league. There will be teams put together by many outlets. One such team is the all-rookie team. The first to announce its team of the top rookies at each position is Pro Football Focus.
The analytics site used its grading system to determine the top rookies. To the surprise of many, Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Kyler Murray did not make the cut.
Instead of Murray, Gardner Minshew of the Jacksonville Jaguars was the quarterback of the all-rookie team.
The highest-graded rookie quarterback in the NFL wasn’t Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins or Daniel Jones; it was the sixth-round pick, Gardner Minshew. His 70.3 overall grade on the season ranked 20th among 32 qualifying quarterbacks. Despite some concerns over his arm strength coming into the NFL, Minshew was one of the top deep-ball passers in the league this season. His 129.0 passer rating on passes 20 or more yards downfield was the highest mark in the league, and his PFF grade on those throws trailed only Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson.
Minshew completed 60.6% of his passes for 3,271 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and only six interceptions and he was 6-6 in his 12 starts.
Murray’s completion was four points higher. He had almost 500 more passing yards but threw six more interceptions and Minshew won more games. Murray rushed for 200 more yards and four more touchdowns.
Minshew had a very good season. He was good. Murray entered the season with high expectations, met them, improved the team and did something only Cam Newton did as a rookie only five other players ever did — throw for more than 3,500 yards and rush for more than 500.
Murray should be the rookie of the year. Any rookie team that doesn’t include him isn’t a good enough team.
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Ep. 254
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Ep. 253:
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