Lots of rookies will make waves during the 2018 NFL season, but forget the obvious picks from Round 1. These are surprising rookies who will have immediate impacts this season.
The 2018 NFL rookie class is getting its first chance at real NFL game action this month in preseason games. The outcomes don’t really matter, but the reps sure do. Predicting which rookies perform well in their first season in the league is tricky business. Players mature, learn, and develop at different speeds.
Some players, like Buffalo’s Tremaine Edmunds, are even drafted for their future ceiling, knowing their current level of play will be raw and mistake-filled. Still others are stuck behind entrenched stars or are tasked with learning brand new schemes unlike anything they executed in college. These players are surprising rookies who will have immediate impacts. Not the obvious few, but names to watch during the 2018 NFL season.
Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the NFL 2018 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.
Todd Salem:
It is easy to target Saquon Barkley or Bradley Chubb as rookies likely to succeed right away. They have talent and technique, but also a clear shot at playing time and a draft pedigree to fall back on. Two bad weeks won’t send Barkley to the bench, like it may for Nyheim Hines.
There are a few rookies who seem to be balancing early success with the opportunity to stay in the lineup. Baltimore’s Orlando Brown is the perfect example. He plummeted on draft day thanks to one of the worst Combine performances of the year. But this offseason, he has muscled up and is excelling in the preseason. He also has a clear shot at earning the starting right tackle job for the Ravens, or being, at the very least, the first substitute lineman off the bench.
A pair of defensive, fifth-round rookies are also eyeing good starts and lots of snaps. Oakland’s Maurice Hurst and Seattle’s Shaquem Griffin were selected back-to-back in the fifth round. Many thought Hurst should have gone much earlier, including himself. And Griffin was a big news-maker thanks to his physical shortcoming that seems to do nothing but inspire.
Hurst is one of three defensive rookies on the Oakland defensive line, but he may be the first to find starting snaps. Griffin will find it much tougher to crack his team’s starting lineup, mostly because the linebacker corps has melded into the strength of the Seahawks roster. The Legion of Boom is no more, but Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright are holding down the fort. Griffin will find playing time though. Players of his effort level and sense always force their way into the lineup.
The list of 2018 NFL rookies with the potential to have an immediate impact is extensive. These are just three mid-round picks that have caught my eye.
Dan Salem:
First-round picks in general will get an opportunity to make an impact on the field early on during the NFL 2018 season. It’s those second- to seventh-round selections that offer a ton of ambiguity. Let me begin with one player who I’m personally rooting for.
One rookie who I’m following closely, because he plays for my favorite team, is tight end Chris Herndon of the New York Jets. He was a fourth -ound pick and is already solidifying his role in New York’s offense, making positive waves in both practice and preseason games thus far. The Jets began the offseason with zero tight ends on their roster. They brought in two veterans, but only Jordan Leggett is showing significant promise. Nothing is keeping Herndon out of the lineup and he could see significant snaps as the season progresses.
Circling back around to the first round, I’m very high on Atlanta Falcons’ rookie wide receiver Calvin Ridley. This is not a unique view by any means, but since we are debating what rookies will have immediate impact, my money is on Ridley. Much like Sterling Shepard in his rookie season with the Giants, Ridley benefits from having a Pro Bowl receiver across the field from him. Julio Jones will steal all of a defense’s attention. Atlanta loves to pass and trot out multi-receiver sets. Jones, Mohamed Sanu, and Ridley make for a dynamic trifecta.
Since it would be foolish to completely ignore quarterbacks in this debate, let me predict the players who will NOT see the field before the final game of the 2018 season. Of our five first-round quarterbacks, two will not see the field before week 17. They are Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Josh Rosen of the Arizona Cardinals. Allen is too raw and Buffalo is going to add another veteran before tossing him to opposing defenses. Rosen might be ready my mid-season, but the Cardinals will be patient with Sam Bradford currently under center.