Tag: rookie class

Saints’ 2022 rookie class gets B-minus grade from NFL.com one year later

The Saints’ 2022 rookie draft class received a B-minus grade from NFL.com one year later, tying for best marks in the NFC South:

It’s tough to get a read on the New Orleans Saints’ rookie class a year later. Many of their 2022 draft picks missed large chunks of the season with injuries which makes them unknown quantities going into 2023.

But we found an even-keeled take from NFL.com’s Nick Shook, who credited the Saints for hitting big on Chris Olave (saying he “should have received more attention in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race than he did”) while getting solid production out of Alontae Taylor and Rashid Shaheed. It’s enough for the team to earn a B-minus grade despite having gotten no snaps out of their late-round picks D’Marco Jackson (due to injury) and Jordan Jackson (due to underwhelming practice reps).

And as Shook observed, a lot hinges on the Saints’ other first rounder, writing: “Injuries curtailed Trevor Penning’s rookie year, reducing him to a sixth-lineman role before making a start in the final game of the season. The Northern Iowa product needs more time on an NFL gridiron for proper evaluation.”

If Penning can stay healthy in 2023 and meet the high expectations the Saints have set for him, he can do a lot to singlehandedly raise the team’s draft grade. But that feels like a big “if” given the time he missed with foot injuries to start and end his season. He has a lot to prove.

One interesting wrinkle from Shook’s analysis is the consideration given to undrafted free agents, and that’s an area the Saints continue to do well. He pointed to Lewis Kidd as a competent backup along the offensive line, but the real diamond in the rough here is Rashid Shaheed, who totaled 1,058 all-purpose yards as a receiver, runner, and returner on special teams.

Elsewhere around the NFC South: the Atlanta Falcons were also graded a B-minus, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers received a C-plus and the Carolina Panthers brought up the rear with a C-minus,

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Seahawks rookie class receives high marks in 2022 season grades

Following an impressive first year, the Seattle Seahawks rookies received high marks in Eric Edholm’s end-of-the-season grades.

The Seattle Seahawks rookie class came out on top in the NFC West rookie grades, receiving an A- from Eric Edholm of NFL.com.

“It’s not a stretch to say that the Seahawks might not have returned to the postseason without the contributions of their rookie class,” Edholm writes. “They received notable playing time from six first-year players — three on offense, three on defense — and replenished some of the depth issues that plagued Seattle down the stretch in recent seasons.”

Seattle selected two offensive tackles last April, Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas, who both earned starting roles in their first season. The Seahawks also picked up running back Kenneth Walker III, who actually received more first-place votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year than the winner Garrett Wilson.

The Seahawks rookies shined on the defensive side of the ball as well.

“Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant might be the Seahawks’ starting corners for the next few years,” Edholm continued. “How Woolen fell to Round 5 is anyone’s guess, but he’s a Seattle-style corner if there ever was one, tying for the league lead in picks with six (one pick-six) and flashing outstanding playmaking ability. Bryant opened eyes with four forced fumbles and has the makings of a quality slot corner if he can clean up his tackling and tighten his coverage a shade.

“Boye Mafe brought energy as a subpackage rusher and figures to reprise that role — or even start — in 2023.”

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CBS Sports ranks Seahawks rookie class No. 2 in NFL behind only Jets

After an impressive 2022 campaign, the Seattle Seahawks rookie class earned second-place awards from CBS Sports, behind only the NY Jets.

Now that the Super Bowl is in the books, analysts around the league are busy with their final power rankings to assess to where teams stack up after the 2022 season. One of the more telling metrics is how each team’s rookie class performed in year one.

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports ranked each club based on players who “hit” in their rookie seasons and the Seahawks’ class came in at No. 2 overall, behind only the Jets.

“The Seahawks wouldn’t have sniffed the postseason without stellar play from their rookie class,” Trapasso writes. “(Kenneth) Walker got the most first-place votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year, while (Abe) Lucas and (Charles) Cross were nasty blockers from Week 1 on.”

 

“Then there’s (Tariq) Woolen, an impossibly tall, fast cornerback who was supposed to be a long-term project,” Trapasso continues. “He wasn’t super-sticky in coverage late in the season yet hauled in six interceptions early.

“Impressive city.”

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Ravens GM Eric DeCosta optimistic about trajectory of team’s 2022 rookie class

Ravens general manager DeCosta discussed the performance and trajectory of the team’s 2022 rookie class

The Baltimore Ravens selected 11 players in the 2022 draft with high hopes that they could contribute both in the present and future. Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta gave a lengthy explanation of his feelings on his 2022 rookie class in comments to the media during the team’s end-of-season press conference.

When asked for his impression of the work that Baltimore’s rookies put in this season, he did not hold back in his praise of the younger talent on the Ravens’ roster. He mentioned how he thought the team’s first-year players did well, and is excited for the potential of a second-year jump that has been seen many times throughout the organization.

“I think they did well. We’re excited about what these guys are going to do. It was a huge draft for us last year, and we had a lot of picks. We spent a lot of energy on that draft. There was a lot of anxiety, I know for me, just looking at players. There were so many players last year. I think those guys did well across the board, but we think they have a lot more to give, too. These guys are young players, and so, what we see often times is guys get a lot better, they come in here their second year, they’re in the offseason program, they learn, they understand what it means to be a pro, and they play a lot better. That’s what we expect, and that’s what we demand. And so, the fact that some of these guys played as well as they did this year, that is a good indication that they’re futures are very bright, and I think a lot of these guys have a chance to be good players. When we look at the 2018 Draft, I think eight or nine of those guys are starters now in the league. Looking at this draft, I’m not going to say that, but when we look at it, we think a lot of these guys have a lot of potential to play and be significant players for us at some point.”

For comparison, DeCosta pointed to Baltimore’s 2018 class as an example of a successful draft strategy that paid dividends for the Ravens over the course of time. Though he wouldn’t go so far as to say the most recent crop of new talent would exceed the 2018 class’ track record, DeCosta seems to think Baltimore’s young talent was built to last.

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Lions rookie class ranked 7th in most overall production

The Lions rookie class ranked 7th in most overall production in 2022 contributions, nearly all of it on defense

The 2022 Detroit Lions leaned heavily on GM Brad Holmes’ second rookie draft class to play key roles, especially on defense. And after some early bumps, the 2022 rookies made considerable contributions for a resurgent Detroit team that finished 8-2.

Along the way, the Lions set the NFL record for most sacks by a rookie class and also had the third-most interceptions.

ESPN, in conjunction with Football Outsiders and Sports Info Solutions, ranked the contributions of all 32 rookie draft classes for 2022. Detroit finished seventh overall in the rankings on the heels of Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph, Malcolm Rodriguez and the late-season blossoming of James Houston.

Here is ESPN’s explanation of the production criteria and judgment,

To rank the rookie classes, we started with Sports Info Solutions’ Total Points metric. Based on game charting, Total Points takes every element of a play and uses all of that data to evaluate each player on a scale that allows you to compare between positions: How many points do we estimate that this player either earned for his offense or saved for his defense?

Seattle took the top spot with a fantastic rookie class. Detroit’s finish at seventh instead of higher up stems from the relative lack of impact from the two offensive rookies, WR Jameson Williams and TE James Mitchell. Both Williams and Mitchell began the season rehabbing and recovering from torn ACLs in college and were brought along slowly by design and intent.

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Packers rookie class in 2022 ranked middle of the pack for production and value

The Packers got important contributions from at least five rookies in 2022 but the class overall ranked 14th in production and value by ESPN.

The 2022 draft class of the Green Bay Packers ranked 14th among NFL teams in production and value during its first season by ESPN.

The ranking focused primarily on production and used inputs from Sports Info Solutions, DVOA from Football Outsiders and ESPN’s player tracking metrics to establish a pecking order.

The Packers received important contributions from first-round pick Quay Walker, second-round pick Christian Watson, fourth-round picks Zach Tom and Romeo Doubs and fifth-round pick Kingsley Enagbare, but the draft class only just finished in the top half of the rankings.

The post highlighted Walker’s numbers from 2022:

First-round linebacker Quay Walker had an excellent year, one of just 11 rookies to earn 40 or more Total Points in that SIS metric. Walker had 121 total tackles with a 10% broken tackle rate, outstanding for a rookie linebacker, and allowed just 2.4 yards per target in coverage. Green Bay’s other defensive first-round pick, tackle Devonte Wyatt, played a much smaller role, seeing 22% of defensive snaps.

Walker was nothing if not productive during his first season, even if his rookie campaign was a healthy mix of good and bad.

At wide receiver, the Packers got 88 catches, 1,118 yards and 13 total touchdowns out of Watson, Doubs and seventh-round pick Samori Toure. Tom played almost 500 total snaps across four different positions along the offensive line, and Enagbare started seven games at edge rusher and produced eight quarterback hits. Even seventh-round pick Tariq Carpenter became a productive special teams player down the stretch.

The class was likely dragged down due to Devonte Wyatt’s lack of playing time and the redshirt rookie season of third-round pick Sean Rhyan.

The post included other relevant information on a few other rookies:

Wide receiver Christian Watson really came on in the second half of the season, starting every game from Week 8 onward and catching 41 passes for 611 yards and seven touchdowns in a little more than half a season. He finished 20th out of 85 qualifying wide receivers in Football Outsiders’ receiving DVOA rating. The Packers also got valuable contributions from edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare, who started seven games and had three sacks with 23 pressures, and offensive lineman Zach Tom, who had five starts at both left tackle and left guard.

The following teams ranked ahead of the Packers, in order from first to 13th: Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons.

Overall, this was one of the most productive and valuable rookie classes from the Packers in recent team history, even if the rankings here suggest otherwise.

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A quick look at the rookie season of each Packers 2022 draft pick

The Packers got a lot of help from the 2022 draft class. Let’s take a look at each rookie.

The Green Bay Packers’ 2022 season has come to an end, and so has the rookie year for their most recent draft class.

The Packers selected 11 players in last year’s draft: six offensive players and five defensive players. Some went on to play meaningful snaps, while others struggled to get on the field.

Obviously, it is hard to draw any major conclusions from a player’s first season. At some point, we will take a more in-depth look at each individual player, but for now, let’s look back with an overview of each draft pick.

Seahawks assign jersey numbers to their 2022 NFL draft class

Ahead of the start of rookie minicamp, the Seattle Seahawks assigned jersey numbers to their 2022 NFL draft class.

The Seattle Seahawks kicked off rookie minicamp on Friday, and with that, announced the assignment of jersey numbers for this year’s draft class.

Below are the new numbers in ascending order.

Seahawks 2021 rookie class finishes dead last in end-of-year rankings

The Seattle Seahawks 2021 rookie class of Dee Eskridge, Tre Brown and Stone Forsythe finished dead last in NFL.com’s end-of-year rankings.

The 2021 NFL season is now a distant memory and the end-of-the-year grades have been issued. A couple of writers over at NFL.com, Gennaro Filice and Nick Shook, evaluated the rookie classes of all 32 teams and ranked them from first to worst.

The Seattle Seahawks’ draft class of just three players – wide receiver Dee Eskridge, cornerback Tre Brown, and tackle Stone Forsythe – finished dead last.

“With a league-low three picks in the 2021 draft, this Seahawks class was fighting an uphill battle from Day 1,” Filice writes. “And then injuries hit, leveling the limited sources of joy. Eskridge, Seattle’s only pick in the first two days of the draft, missed much of the offseason ramp-up due to a nagging toe injury. He was active for the season opener, but suffered a concussion and missed the next seven games. All in all, he played 10 games and posted a grand total of 14 touches for 123 yards.”

“Brown’s rookie campaign had to be the biggest gut-punch of them all, though,” Filice continues. “After starting the season on injured reserve with a knee sprain, the cornerback made his NFL debut in Week 6 and immediately provided positive returns in an area of extreme need. One month later, he suffered a season-ending patellar tendon injury . . .  Forsythe, Seattle’s final pick, played just 14 offensive snaps on the season.”

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Lions rookie class comes in 6th in ESPN’s rankings

The Detroit Lions rookie class comes in 6th in ESPN’s rankings of the most productive first-year contributions

The Detroit Lions relied heavily on rookie contributors in the trying 2021 season. And the results, while uneven in a 3-13-1 campaign, bode well for the future. The analysts at ESPN definitely like what they saw of the first-year players in Detroit.

ESPN called upon Pro Football Focus and its value-added metric to rank the rookie classes of all 32 teams. Or to let them explain,

“With the help of Pro Football Focus’ Wins Above Replacement (WAR) metric, we ranked all 32 teams on the value of their rookie class over expectation given where each player was selected in the 2021 NFL draft.”

The Lions class fared quite well, coming in at No. 6 overall. Detroit hit it big with first-round pick Penei Sewell but also later with fourth-rounder Amon-Ra St. Brown and undrafted Jerry Jacobs. All three were among the top 25 overall rookies in the class.

Detroit owned two of the 12 most valuable non-quarterback rookies in the 2021 draft class with first-round offensive tackle Penei Sewell and Day 3 wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. Undrafted free agent cornerback Jerry Jacobs also ranked inside the top 25 among that group. Sewell’s success was to be expected, but St. Brown and Jacobs surpassed expectations with flying colors.

The New England Patriots were at the top, with the Minnesota Vikings bringing up the rear.