Rookie Watch Thread (`12-`13 Season)

[Don Vito]

Hightower and Tavon Wilson were on the field a lot, each looked good and made a big play.

Chandler Jones is an absolute monster. He is exactly what we have needed for like 6 or 7 games. yes it is early but he was a force today. The fact that a lot of people still see him as raw with the ability to get much better gives me a tingly sensation. He was lining up in different spots and abused a very good tackle (Roos) on several occasions. Yes it is early but there is a lot to be excited about.

[SeanTaylorRIP]

That Griffin guy was ok today. Alfred Morris though was really impressive and showed that he's legit, he's an old school banger. He's short, pretty slow, and has little shake, but he hits the hole hard and with attitude. Got met by David Hawthorne in the hole and willed his way to a TD. He did get lost though in pass protection which makes keeping Royster over Hightower puzzling.

[FUNBUNCHER]

Stephen Hill looks poised to have an impressive year for the Jets. He was the biggest surprise of the day IMO out of all the rookies who played Sunday.

His physical tools are Megatron-esque, just needs more experience and refinement as a route runner and learn to become more consistent catching the football.

[Hurricanes25]

Stephen Hill had a nice game. He dropped the first ball thrown to him but settled in after that. He ended up with 5 receptions, 89 yards, 2 td's. Good debut. He's still very raw so I'll keep my expectations reasonable but I'm very excited.

[Caddy]

Mark Barron was pretty beastly breaking plays up, laying the wood in defense and just being awesome. It's also very, very nice to have a LB in Lavonte David who can penetrate and wrap up the ball carrier. Doug Martin obviously played well. Got 20+ carries for just under 100 yards. I expect big things from him this season based on todays game.

Najee Goode was inactive, Keith Tandy and Leonard Johnson played special teams, and Michael Smith returned a few kicks.

[bored of education]

Dontari Poe did not get blown off the ball once in a one on one situation. He looked very stout in doubles. Kept his head up. Had a TFL as well. Very good game.

[derza222]

Originally Posted by Hurricanes25

Stephen Hill had a nice game. He dropped the first ball thrown to him but settled in after that. He ended up with 5 receptions, 89 yards, 2 td's. Good debut. He's still very raw so I'll keep my expectations reasonable but I'm very excited.

Coming into the season I was hoping Hill could do something like what Torrey Smith did last year, and after the game he just had I think he certainly still has a chance to do that. Obviously has great tools, showed questionable hands in the preseason but tightened it up today after that first drop. We'll see how things go, but he's obviously going to require attention after this game which should help out Holmes and Keller.

Coples was quieter than in the preseason and had a silly penalty, but also had a decent TFL IIRC. Pass rush wasn't huge, no sacks in the game, but it'll be interesting to watch what he does over the course of the season.

[SuperMcGee]

TJ Graham was inactive today, puzzling many. I'm sure he'll get his chances moving forward, as David Nelson appears to have a pretty serious knee injury.

Stephon Gilmore... let's not.

[keylime_5]

Richardson had no where to run. Got hit at the LOS almost every carry. Had a couple nice plays including the one where he trucked a defenseless Kurt Coleman and knocked his helmet off!

Josh Gordon had a nice catch or two. WRs weren't really thrown more than ~15 catchable passes sadly, so not much to evaluate.

Travis Benjamin had a 35 yard run on a reverse that was nearly a touchdown.

Mitchell Schwartz started at RT. I think he gave up a sack, I don't think he played bad, but the OLine in general didn't look that great today as a unit.

Billy Winn started at DT. John Hughes played in rotation at DT. Both these guys looked pretty good as the Browns defensive line had a dominant performance against Michael Vick and the Eagles' pass protection.

LJ Fort started at SAM linebacker, had a pick and dropped a would-be game-sealing INT at the end of the game in the endzone. Looked great. Undrafted rookie LB from Northern Iowa I think it was. Craig Stevens, not a rookie but a 2nd year player who didn't play anywhere last year, played almost the entire game as well at WILL and looked great too. Two great finds at LB for the Browns.

Brandon Weeden should be in the "Rookie Don't Watch Thread" instead of this one.

[Rob S]

Originally Posted by SuperMcgee

TJ Graham was inactive today, puzzling many. I'm sure he'll get his chances moving forward, as David Nelson appears to have a pretty serious knee injury.

Stephon Gilmore... let's not.

****. ****. ****.

[Thecollegedropout]

Originally Posted by derza222

Coming into the season I was hoping Hill could do something like what Torrey Smith did last year, and after the game he just had I think he certainly still has a chance to do that. Obviously has great tools, showed questionable hands in the preseason but tightened it up today after that first drop. We'll see how things go, but he's obviously going to require attention after this game which should help out Holmes and Keller.

Coples was quieter than in the preseason and had a silly penalty, but also had a decent TFL IIRC. Pass rush wasn't huge, no sacks in the game, but it'll be interesting to watch what he does over the course of the season.

Pretty much wraps up my feelings on our rookies.

Don't think D. Davis got many snaps at all if he did.

[Da-Phins]

Dolphins rookies in game 1.....LOL......

[Legacy]

Originally Posted by V.I.P

Doug Martin - had 116 yards of total offense 95 came on the ground at 4 yards a carry.

Oh and Mark Barron did this...




Lavonte David looked solid he made a couple key tackles, but one play he bit hard on a play action fake and Cam made him look like a rookie

Here's another view of that hit:



He also made an amazing PD that very well could have been the game-saving play:

[descendency]

Why must idiots keep dropping their heads. Do they want to be like Stephen Hawking (minus the physics genius) when they are 40? I like the play as a fan, but ... talking with a keyboard and robot voice is only cool for a few minutes. After that, you're just a bed+chair ridden former player that no one cares about.

And to re-iterate what was already said... the Patriots found 3 immediate big time contributors (and 2 obvious impact players) in their first 3 picks.

Regarding both first rounders, Chandler Jones was giving Michael Roos some fits and Dont'a Hightower was a nightmare all over the field.

Nate Ebner (7th round) made some nice plays on STs.

Tavon Wilson (2nd) had a nice pick in the end zone on a tip drill play (on a deep heave). He also had some other nice plays.

Brandon Bolden (UDFA) looked pretty bad though.

Alfonzo Dennard (7th round) and Jake Bequette (3rd round) were inactive.

[Don Vito]

I wouldn't go that far with Bolden, he had one nice run and the rest of the series they had like 9 in the box since they knew we were running it since it was garbage time. He had nowhere to go, it was time to just hold on to the ball.

[saintsfan912]

Originally Posted by Legacy

Here's another view of that hit:



He also made an amazing PD that very well could have been the game-saving play:

Love seeing Steve Smith get blown up.

[themaninblack]

Thought Zeitler played damn good tonight. Had one bad play where he was beat by Ngata but other than that he and Andre teamed up to provide a great push on the right side of our line. It's just a shame we were playing from behind because I would've loved to see us pound the rock more. I like what I saw from Zeit though, he even did some great things when he was going one on one with Ngata. Seems as advertised thus far.

Devon Still was pretty much a non factor though I wouldn't say he played bad. They kept taking out Geno to bring him in which I didn't really like but he did ok in run support though I didn't really see anything of note from him as far as pressures go. Was on the ground a few times but seemed to hold his own for the most part.

Brandon Thompson and Orson Charles played a bit but they didn't really seem to have done much.

[Bengals78]

Originally Posted by themaninblack

Thought Zeitler played damn good tonight. Had one bad play where he was beat by Ngata but other than that he and Andre teamed up to provide a great push on the right side of our line. It's just a shame we were playing from behind because I would've loved to see us pound the rock more. I like what I saw from Zeit though, he even did some great things when he was going one on one with Ngata. Seems as advertised thus far.

Devon Still was pretty much a non factor though I wouldn't say he played bad. They kept taking out Geno to bring him in which I didn't really like but he did ok in run support though I didn't really see anything of note from him as far as pressures go. Was on the ground a few times but seemed to hold his own for the most part.

Brandon Thompson and Orson Charles played a bit but they didn't really seem to have done much.

Thompson looked pretty solid.
Still was bad at times. He got OWNED on a trap. Needs to tone back his aggressiveness.

[robert pancake gallery]

Originally Posted by keylime_5

Richardson had no where to run. Got hit at the LOS almost every carry. Had a couple nice plays including the one where he trucked a defenseless Kurt Coleman and knocked his helmet off!

Josh Gordon had a nice catch or two. WRs weren't really thrown more than ~15 catchable passes sadly, so not much to evaluate.

Travis Benjamin had a 35 yard run on a reverse that was nearly a touchdown.

Mitchell Schwartz started at RT. I think he gave up a sack, I don't think he played bad, but the OLine in general didn't look that great today as a unit.

Billy Winn started at DT. John Hughes played in rotation at DT. Both these guys looked pretty good as the Browns defensive line had a dominant performance against Michael Vick and the Eagles' pass protection.

LJ Fort started at SAM linebacker, had a pick and dropped a would-be game-sealing INT at the end of the game in the endzone. Looked great. Undrafted rookie LB from Northern Iowa I think it was. Craig Stevens, not a rookie but a 2nd year player who didn't play anywhere last year, played almost the entire game as well at WILL and looked great too. Two great finds at LB for the Browns.

Brandon Weeden should be in the "Rookie Don't Watch Thread" instead of this one.

mitchell schwartz played like dog **** along with everyone else on the offensive line

[phlysac]

Safety Trenton Robinson was the only rookie to play for the 49ers. He logged 15 snaps on Special Teams.

[soybean]

Maybe the best rookie wr this year

[Saints-Tigers]

Robert Griffin was really good, but I'm really afraid that Sunday was more of an indication of how bad the Saints were defensively(Didn't help that the offense left them on the field so much).

He still looked like a rookie when we got legitimate pressure, but he really is special! Congrats Washington.

[Brown Leader]

Browns rookies vs Philadelphia.

Weeden
Inaccurate, didn't handle pressure, lost confidence as things wore on. Looked "not ready for primetime" and that's squarely on the coaching.

Richardson
Imo looked pretty much like expected. He's a slow starter once he gets the handoff. His forte is once he gets into the 2nd level. I think his unfamiliarity with the lineman also contributed. For instance, he now won't count on Schwartz being able to make any blocks.

Mitchell Schwartz
Very soft. Especially in the run game. He was manhandled by Babin, who's not exactly known for his run stopping prowess. Average as a pass protector.

Josh Gordon
Not terrible but I don't see him as this team's future #1. He doesn't flash any explosiveness to his game. He's big, strong and smooth. Looks like a guy that can stay in league a long while but not a quite a difference maker. I'd say his ceiling is Marques Colston but the Browns would need a Brees caliber QB getting the ball to him.

Travis Benjamin
More impactful than I thought when he was drafted. Fits as a field stretcher;just don't ask him to win any jump balls.

Billy Winn
Very solid. I'm anxious to see him keep it up though because his rep was inconsistency.

John Hughes
Not bad. I think he does what is expected of him and he'll improve once he learns the nuances.

L.J. Fort
Nothing special but made plays when they came to him, except the big one.

[holt_bruce81]

Rams:

Michael Brockers DT
- Did not Play (ankle injury)

Brian Quick WR
- Did not play. Was activated but I dont think he was ever on the field.

Janoris Jenkins CB
- looked really good, was talking smack from the very first play of the hame (which I absolutely loved) Also had a interception off Stafford

Isaiah Pead RB
-Had a few Kick Returns, looked ok. Nothing great.

Trumaine Johnson
- Looked decent from the few snaps he got, didn't make much of an impact.

Chris Givens WR
- bEAT THE entire Lions defense that would of been 6-points. But Bradford saw him late, and just underthrew him. Only play I can remember him being in.

Rok Watkins OG
- sTARTED at LG when Scott Wells went down. Looked really good out there.

Greg Zuerlein K
- Monster Leg. That is all.

Daryl Richardson
- Had 2 carries on the day for 20 yards. Runs hard.

John Hekker P
- Had some nice punts. Averaged 48.2 Yards per. with a 57 yarder being his longest.

[Bucs147]

Originally Posted by Legacy

He also made an amazing PD that very well could have been the game-saving play:

Here's the video of the deflection: