NFL: Grading Young Stars

The National Football League is made up of players with potential. Some live up to it right away while others search for their breakout. Whether it be shoddy offensive lines or bad coaching pairings, sometimes it’s not the player’s fault. Let’s take a look at some young players who have either hit the ground running, found their footing after some time in the league, or are still struggling to find their place.

CJ Stroud

Him. CJ Stroud continues to impress week after week. The early favorite for Offensive Rookie of the Year and potentially even league MVP, Stroud looks like the best quarterback of last year’s draft. Now it’s still year one, but Stroud has been balling and looking comfortable while doing it. He has already broken multiple rookie records including Justin Herbet’s record for most passing yards through the first eleven games and is the first rookie to throw for 300 yards in four consecutive games. His veteran teammates have also noticed just how talented the rookie quarterback is. His left tackle Laremy Tunsil stated he was “thankful” for Stroud, a guy who can make plays when his team needs them.

There was a lot of change this offseason in Houston with new head coach DeMeco Ryans taking over and the team drafting two of the top three picks in last year’s draft. I don’t think anyone expected to see quite the jump in year one of the Ryans and Stroud regime, but no one can deny there’s something special going on in Houston.

Mac Jones

It looks like Mac Jones and the Patriots have come to the end of the road. Things looked promising when the team made the playoffs in Jones’ first season. It hasn’t helped that the Patriots have not put much effort into putting together an above-average receiving corps for the young QB, compared to the stars he was throwing to while under center at Alabama. On the season he has ten touchdowns to twelve interceptions with a career-low QBR of 77.0.

It was never going to be easy to be “the guy” after Tom Brady in New England, but recently it’s been hard to watch with Mac Jones under center. Even head coach Bill Belichick agreed and pulled Jones out of the team’s loss against the New York Giants.  It is the fourth time Jones has been pulled and let’s be real Bailey Zappe isn’t the second coming of Brady either. Currently, the team has the third overall pick in the draft which will likely be used to draft Jones’ replacement just two years after he was drafted fifteenth overall.

Kayvon Thibodeaux

Overall it’s been a season to forget for the New York Giants, but if there is one bright spot it is Kayvon Thibodeaux living up to the hype in his second season. Thibodeaux is the first player drafted by the Joe Shoen and Brian Daboll regime. The Giants have always had a dominant pass rush when they won Super Bowls so they have to see this as a hopeful sign for the future.  Pairing a dominant Thibodeaux with All-Pro Dexter Lawrence could be a spark the team needs to correct the team’s direction.

He is currently just one of six players with double-digit sacks on the year with Browns pass rusher Myles Garrett holding the crown. The emergence comes after the team traded away veteran pass rusher Leonard Williams in a win-win situation. The Giants get draft picks for a player who was not in their future plans and Williams gets to play for a winning team with a chance to make the playoffs.  It comes after many fans and critics were ready to call Thibodeaux a bust after his lackluster rookie season in which he only had four sacks.  The former fifth-overall draft pick said looking at his film from last season “disgusts” him.

De’Von Achane

There are certain players that just make you go wow and De’Von Achane is absolutely one of them.  His speed makes it seem like everyone else on the field is playing in slow motion.  In the team’s historic 70-20 victory over Denver, Achance had over two hundred yards with two scores.

The biggest concern with Achane is his ability to stay healthy. He has already been on injured reserve and was held out of the team’s Black Friday game against the Jets. It was a smart move by McDaniels.  It’s not like Miami really needs to risk further injury to Achane against Tim Boyle and the New York Jets especially after he was pulled early from the previous week’s game against Las Vegas. However, the injury was to the same knee that landed him on injured reserve.  Before the injury, Achance was second in the league in rushing yards. It’s definitely something to watch, but the track star’s speed takes this already electric offense out of this world.

Bryce Young

The first overall pick from last year’s draft was never set up to flourish so some of the team’s failures cannot be placed on his shoulders. The team started the season without two starting offensive linemen. The absences are very visible with Young being sacked forty times, fifth most all-time for a rookie through their first ten games. The running game has also disappeared for the Panthers. After acquiring Eagles running back Miles Sanders who flourished behind one of the best offensive lines in the game, has failed to come close to that production this season. This is another testament to how badly this offensive line has performed. To make matters even worse,  in order to acquire Young, Carolina chose to trade away their best offensive weapon, DJ Moore.

It’s hard to be patient when the guy drafted right after him continues to ball out every week. If we’re being honest even if Young was playing as well as Stroud is this season this team probably still wouldn’t be very good. Sitting at a pitiful 1-10, the team decided to move on from head coach Frank Reich. Reich was also fired midseason last year by the Indianapolis Colts. The team also decided to move on from quarterbacks coach Josh McCown. Not exactly the setup for a successful rookie season for a quarterback, first pick or not.