It’s anyone’s guess who the Rookie of the Year will be in the NFL this year. This year more than any I can really remember, there have been major impacting rookies at position playing roles.
If you could subdivide it into Running Back Rookie of the Year, you’d have Reggie Bush, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Laurence Maroney all vying for the award. Some think Joseph Addai would be able to get some attention there, but he’s too inconsistent to be a real contender.
Along that same vein, if you had a Quarterback Rookie of the Year, you’d have Vince Young at the top, with Matt Leinart lagging behind. Jay Cutler wouldn’t even be mentioned, as going 0-2 just won’t even have your name on voters’ lips.
It would be the same with Wide Receivers, with Marques Colston outshining the field, and probably the closest to even getting any sort of votes might be Santonio Holmes.
But that isn’t how the voting works. They don’t even break it up into Offensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year. If that were the case, it would be dogfight between DeMeco Ryans and Devin Hester, even though Hester only has 5 solo tackles on the season. Ryans is leading the league in tackles and causes huge mismatches, while Hester has returned an NFL record 6 kickoffs for touchdowns. He single footedly beat St. Louis, Arizona, and the Giants. He has exceptional speed and has to always be accounted for in gameplans.
Has anyone noticed who isn’t on anyone’s ROTY list? How about #1 draft pick Mario Williams? Could it be because he isn’t what people thought he would be? Could it be because he’ll need a few years to develop? Or could it be for the same reasons I cited after the draft HERE? Simply because he came from a system where 3 out of the 4 defensive lineman were all drafted in the 1st round. Or because many of his sacks were because his teammates were taking double teams on the other side of the line? I think he’ll be good, but he won’t be Jason Taylor good or even Julius Peppers good, in my opinion. Not on the Texans at least.
In the end, it comes down to what players have impacted their team more. Vince Young is almost a sure lock, simply because in his last 8 games, he is 6-2, and has beaten the likes of Indy, Philly, and Jacksonville. Just last week he ran for a 39 yard touchdown in overtime to deflate Texans.
Reggie Bush has had a few outstanding games, and has been consistent, but Drew Brees is the difference maker there. The same goes for Colston, and even though eh came out of the blue, I think you could have slid David Terrell in that slot and Brees would have had success with him. Colston has also been hurt a bit and that loses him votes for sure. Coupled with the fact that Bush will steal some votes from him as well, it looks like Young has it in the bag.
All the naysayers said Vince Young’s game wouldn’t translate over to the NFL, that he had to change his mechanics and how he throws the ball, that he couldn’t be a pocket passer, that he couldn’t win you games. All of them have been wrong. In fact, if I was a GM that had to choose between rookie Vince Young and veteran Michael Vick, I’d grab Young 9 out of 10 times without batting an eye. Maybe even 10 out of 10.
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