Which player had the biggest breakout for each team last season?
Seattle Seahawks CB Byron Maxwell
As always, there’s an awful lot to choose from on the Seattle Seahawks, but nobody fits this bill better than Bryon Maxwell, who has proven to be a significant upgrade over the solid Brandon Browner. Yeah, that’s how good Maxwell is, and he was playing at around the Richard Sherman level during the postseason. A budding shutdown corner in his own right, Maxwell, per PFF, allowed just 50% of all passes in his coverage to be completed, had four interceptions compared to three TDs allowed, and QBs had just a 57.8 QB rating when targeting him. Yeah, don’t mess.
San Francisco 49ers CB Tramaine Brock
The San Francisco 49ers also had a number of quality candidates, but this spot pretty much had Tramaine Brock‘s name written in sharpie. He played so well during the season that the 49ers rewarded the 25-year-old with what should prove to be a team-friendly four-year deal (they gave it to him in late November). Brock’s play since the extension held steady, and he’s penciled in as the team’s No. 1 corner with Tarell Brown gone. He defended a whopping 15 passes and had five picks to go along with very steady coverage after barely doing anything in his previous three seasons.
Arizona Cardinals WR Michael Floyd
I thought Michael Floyd was going to be a high-impact player as a rookie when he came out of Notre Dame in 2012, but he only had 45 receptions for 562 yards in what was doomed to be a wasted season under a QB carousel of Kevin Kolb and a host of other names I would rather not mention. Anyway, Floyd blew up last season as a big-time playmaker and WR across from Larry Fitzgerald for the Cardinals, as he hauled in 66 passes for 1,054 yards and five touchdowns. From Weeks 11 to 13, he had games with 193, 104, and 99 receiving yards. The scary part is that Floyd’s second season could have been even better had he not been injured, as he had to slog through a painful AC sprain (well, there aren’t many non-painful shoulder sprains).
St. Louis Rams DE Robert Quinn
Robert Quinn has always been exceptionally talented and certainly showed more than his fair share of flashes in his first two seasons, as he had 10.5 sacks in 2012. However, those sack totals were bloated, as Quinn’s pass rushing wasn’t quite as consistent as it needed to be, and he also didn’t make a vast impact in run defense.
In 2013, Quinn entrenched himself as one of the best player’s in the NFL, period. The guy was on a mission to destroy anything in his path, and there were times when he would take over games single-handedly and keep the Rams in it despite having Kellen Clemens at QB. He had three-sack games against the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he took a massive dump on Jermon Bushrod, and he made Sam Baker look foolish en route to winning our “Player of the Week” honors in Week 2.
The quick rate at which Quinn put pressure on the quarterback was just unprecedented, and he finished the year with a whopping 19 sacks and well over 20 QB hits. He also flat-out dominated in run defense with 57 tackles, and his season was just about flawless. J.J. Watt was just so good that he’s my top defensive player, but I certainly wouldn’t blame you if you had Quinn on top; he’s the epitome of disruption.