Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Big changes when we go back in time and draft the first round of the 2023 NFL draft all over again.
We are nearing the midway point of the 2023 NFL season and the 2023 rookie class is really starting to show itself. Teams are relying heavily on rookies. But as always, there are players who step up and prove they should have been drafted sooner and others make it clear they might have been drafted too early.
We decided to jump into our time machine and draft the first round of the 2023 NFL draft all over again with all the information we know now.
The Saints shook up their secondary by starting rookie safety Jordan Howden, not Marcus Maye, against the Colts. Maye was questionable to play:
This was a little surprising. The New Orleans Saints shook up their secondary by starting rookie safety Jordan Howden, not Marcus Maye, against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. It meant that most of their rookie draft class was active in a game for the first time this season — everyone but fourth-round quarterback Jake Haener, with sixth-round receiver A.T. Perry finally dressing out.
So what went into that decision? Maye was questionable to play after a hamstring injury limited him throughout the week; he was also listed with an illness on Friday’s injury report. So Maye was watching kickoff from the sidelines while Howden started next to Tyrann Mathieu over the top. When the Saints went into dime personnel (where Howden normally goes into games), versatile defensive back Lonnie Johnson Jr. got the nod.
Much like the case with Andrus Peat a few weeks back coming off an injury, the Saints appear willing to play Maye in an emergency, but they’d rather have him on standby while putting other players into the game. But Howden’s emergence as a starting-quality talent shouldn’t be overlooked. Few teams have drafted and developed defensive backs like New Orleans, and more positive plays from Howden will only open up more opportunities for him.
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Saints rookie wide receiver A.T. Perry will make his season debut against the Colts. What should you expect from him?
Rookie wide receiver A.T. Perry will make his season debut for the New Orleans Saints against the Indianapolis Colts. Perry had been a healthy scratch all year, but the Saints opted to sit Keith Kirkwood instead of him for Week 8’s game.
It’ll be interesting to see how Perry is used in his first action. Kirkwood’s primary usage was as a blocker on run plays. He was only targeted four times this year with one catch. Perry showed potential as a pass catcher in preseason (leading the team with a dozen receptions), but he was also arguably the top option with the starters out for those exhibition games.
Perry will more than likely slide into Kirkwood’s role now that the Saints have their full arsenal at wide receiver. Look for him to get limited snaps behind Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, and Rashid Shaheed along with Lynn Bowden Jr. Hopefully the rookie can perform well and execute his assignments so he can earn more snaps in the weeks ahead.
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Pro Football Focus has #Chiefs rookie Rashee Rice graded as the fourth-best rookie in the NFL.
The Kansas City Chiefs have had success drafting talent in recent seasons, and seem to have struck gold in their selection of wide receiver Rashee Rice in the second round of the NFL selection meeting back in April.
His exceptional performances through Week 7 have helped Rice gain acclaim from fans and pundits alike and earned him PFF’s fourth-highest grade of any player in the 2023 draft class.
Rashee Rice: 82.0 PFF grade this season 👑
4th among all rookies 📈 pic.twitter.com/ZZUp2Lw8eE
— PFF KC Chiefs (@PFF_Chiefs) October 26, 2023
Through his first seven games as a professional Rice has caught 26 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns, and become one of Patrick Mahomes’ preferred targets on passing downs. These statistics might not lead the league, but as the reigning MVP hits his stride under center after a breakout performance against the Chargers last week, Rice’s production seems primed to spike as Kansas City heads into the middle part of its 2023 schedule.
Keep your eye on the promising rookie when the Chiefs play the Denver Broncos in Week 8, and expect him to put together a special performance to help earn Kansas City its seventh straight win.
When was Panthers OC Thomas Brown sold on Bryce Young this past spring?
The comparisons between Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud are hitting another peak this week, as the Carolina Panthers are set to host the Houston Texans on Sunday. But first-year offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, in what was a pretty savvy move, sidestepped that discourse.
Ahead of the team’s Week 8 outing, one where he’ll be in charge of play-calling duties for the first time in his coaching career, Brown was asked about his time evaluating Stroud during the pre-draft process.
“Nah, I’m not gonna touch that one,” he said with a smirk. “Again, I got a ton of respect for C.J., and he is playin’ really well right now. They’re doin’ a great job as far as preparing him week in and week out. But there’s no doubt that we’re . . . I am, we all are happy about Bryce bein’ our quarterback and we’ll keep buildin’ forward with him.”
Brown’s certainly not wrong, as Stroud has burst onto the scene over his first six weeks in the NFL. The No. 2 overall pick has thrown for 1,660 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception while leading Houston to a surprising 3-3 record.
So, if he didn’t want to touch on his past evaluations of Stroud, maybe he was more than glad to do it for his own quarterback. (Spoiler: He was.)
Brown was later asked if he could pinpoint a particular moment where he knew Young was worthy enough for the No. 1 overall selection.
“It was kind of a building process,” he replied. “As I mentioned before, I had a chance to kinda talk about him goin’ through the evaluation process while I was goin’ through those five different interviews for the OC positions, and watchin’ tape on all the quarterbacks that were available in the draft.
“But as I mentioned before, havin’ a chance to actually meet him, sit down and talk with him, talk ball with him, pick his brain, get to meet his family—that kinda solidified more the thought process about why he’s the guy for us.”
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PFF has ranked their top 15 rookies overall at this point of the season and one Lions defensive rookie made an appearance on the list.
PFF grades are commonplace in the circle of content life at Lions Wire. As the mid-point of the season approaches, we again are leaning on PFF to show us a deeper analysis of the season. The analytics site recently released their list of the top rookies so far this season and a certain young Lion playmaker made the list.
Despite missing the last two weeks, defensive back Brian Branch was able to come in, ranking 14th overall among rookies.
At No. 14 overall and eighth among defensive players specifically, Branch has proven that he was worthy of going much higher in April’s draft. It was seen at the time as too far a drop for one of the best players in college football and his performances against the best of the Lions schedule backs that sentiment up.
In the article posted by PFF, they said about Branch that “while he may have lost his footing a bit this past week, he still boasts a fantastic resume. Branch has produced nine stops in coverage this season, tied for fourth-most by a corner in the league. This has helped contribute to his 77.0 grade, the fourth-best mark in the rookie class.”
Through five games this year, outside of the PFF side of things, Branch has made plays resulting in one interception, four pass deflections, and one defensive touchdown. The rookie will look to make his next set of plays in primetime against the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night.
Panthers QB Bryce Young was asked about the early comparisons to No. 2 overall pick C.J. Stroud.
Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud have been linked before, are linked now and will be linked forever. It’s just how it goes.
The former spoke about that connection this afternoon, just a few days ahead of the Week 8 matchup between his Carolina Panthers and Stroud’s Houston Texans. Young, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NFL draft, was asked about his thoughts on the early comparisons to his longtime pal, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2023 NFL draft.
“Whether it’s media or fans or people say—everyone’s obviously always gonna have an opinion,” he replied. “That’s the beauty of sports. Everyone has a voice and everyone gets to talk, and I think everyone’s entitled to have opinions and comparisons. It’s always a part of the game. That’s not a me thing. It happens with everyone. So, that’s a part of it and it’s always gonna be a part of it.
“But for me, it’s not really something I focus on. It’s not really something I put energy into. Again, for me, I try to run my own race, be the best version of myself and focus on the things I can control. And I wish everyone well.”
Stroud has been doing quite well, as he’s already picked up an Offensive Rookie of the Month award and has the Texans at a very respectable 3-3 mark. Young, however, hasn’t seen nearly as much success—as he’s passed for 693 fewer yards, three fewer touchdowns and three more interceptions with the Panthers sitting at 0-6.
Nonetheless, Young’s race isn’t against Stroud—even when the two rookies go “head to head” this Sunday.
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Panthers HC Frank Reich on selecting Bryce Young over C.J. Stroud: You can’t put a label on a guy after six weeks
Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich wanted to put the big rumors to a big rest ahead of this Sunday’s outing.
That Week 8 matchup will see Reich and company play host to the Houston Texans and rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud, whom the Panthers passed on with the No. 1 overall pick this past spring. So, with Stroud having quite the start for the team who did select him and No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young not having quite the start for Carolina, Reich was asked if he still thinks his franchise made the right choice.
“We got the guy we wanted to get,” he said. “And couldn’t be happier about that, in every way. And I would say this—I’m happy for C.J. He’s had six good games, and I have no doubt he’ll have many more good games. But I know this—when it comes to evaluatin’ quarterbacks or any position, it’s years, not weeks. You can’t put a label on a guy after six weeks, or even a year.
“I’ve seen guys have Pro Bowl seasons, and then a year later fightin’ to be a backup somewhere else. It’s a crazy league. What you’re lookin’ for and what we’re lookin’ for—not just from our quarterback, but in every position—is sustained success at a high level for a very long time. And you can’t measure it in weeks.”
“Measure” was quite the buzzword when it came to this particular quarterback class, as the first player to go was the alarmingly undersized, 5-foot-10, 2104-pound Young. That helped give way to Houston’s choice of Stroud, who stands at 6-foot-3 and almost 220 pounds.
Reich, who has been believed to prefer bigger quarterbacks over his coaching career, was also asked if size really does matter.
“I’ve never said that to one person anytime, anywhere,” he replied. “Always said—I like C.J. Stroud a lot. I’ve said this many times—I like that whole quarterback draft. I think they were all really good prospects. I think they’re all gonna have really good NFL careers.
“My eyes and our eyes were on Bryce Young, from start to finish. You look at the film, you talk to the man, you get a sense for the leader, the player and what he is and what he can be and how he fits to what we wanna do in the vision we have as an offense, as a team and as an organization. We got the guy for us.
“And I’m sure Houston feels they got the guy for them. That’s great. I mean, I think it’s great for the NFL, it’s great for our two guys. I think we’re both very happy with where we’re at and the direction we’re goin’.”
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Panthers HC Frank Reich was asked if he thinks the gap between Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud is now closer than he may have believed.
So, has C.J. Stroud’s incredible start made Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich think over who he helped pick atop the 2023 NFL draft? Nope.
Just six days ahead of their Week 8 matchup against Stroud and the Houston Texans, Reich was asked if anything he’s seen from the No. 2 overall selection has shifted the way he’s thought about what went down this past spring.
“I thought the whole quarterback draft class was a really good class,” he replied. “I really enjoyed divin’ into each one of them. I thought they all were good players. If you looked at my scorecard on all of ’em, I thought they were all good players.
“We just thought Bryce was the best. I thought Bryce was the best. Not taking anything away from anybody else. So, we’re excited to have him. I really don’t wanna . . . we talked a lot back then about what we liked about Bryce, why we chose Bryce. So I’ll just leave it at that.”
Young, of course, was taken by Reich and the Panthers with the first pick. Unfortunately, that union hasn’t resulted in the best of early results—as Carolina sits at 0-6 with a struggling offense.
Right behind Young went Stroud, who was plucked by the Texans with the second pick. He’s since gone on to shine, leading Houston to a respectable 3-3 mark with an Offensive Rookie of the Month award to show for it.
But we’re still in the first half of the first chapter in this very long book. So, there’s plenty of story left to be told—for Young, for Stroud and for these two franchises.
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Eli Ricks is proving all the NFL front offices wrong.
It was a bit of a surprise during the 2023 NFL draft when notable Alabama Crimson Tide corner Eli Ricks fell through the cracks and ultimately went undrafted. Ricks had a solid showing during his final college season with Alabama and showed he had what it took to at least get a shot in the league, though some draft pundits had him rated as highly as a third-round pick.
The Philadelphia Eagles snapped at the opportunity to snag Ricks as a priority undrafted free agent and he showed out in training camp given the opportunity. Ricks was the only undrafted free agent to make this Eagles roster and through his last few games, he is showing exactly why he was able to stick around.
Through the last four games with the Eagles Ricks has managed to put together an impressive stat line, and take full advantage of the loaded Philadelphia defense. Ricks has allowed just two receptions for seven yards on seven targets including one defended pass. Though it is a smaller sample size of only 39 passing snaps, Ricks has guarded some of the better weapons in the league and showed up big. The Eagles look like they may have yet another steal on what is the most stacked roster in the entire league.
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