Elite Rookie Rankings Week 10

This week we had what I consider, by far, the most impressive one game performance of the season by a 1st round draft pick in the 2013 class. That player would be Tavon Austin who finally broke free and went nuts for the Rams, giving them what they were hoping they'd see when they drafted him. Without question he is the top graded 1st round draft pick of week 10 as he helped the Rams upset a very good Colts team by scoring three touchdowns. The standard of quality for play from these 1st rounders has been going up each week and on the whole this was another step in the right direction for the class. Below are the updated rankings:

1. Sheldon Richardson, DE for the Jets, originally drafted 13th: He remains in the top spot during his bye week.

2. Eric Reid, S of 49ers, originally drafted 18th: Despite not having his best game where he was poor in coverage, Reid holds on to the second spot. He had a tackle and a fumble recovery. He also had a concussion, his second of the season, which has to be a concern moving forward.

3. Alec Ogletree, LB of Rams, originally drafted 30th: He vaults back up from 5 to 3 after a good game in which the Rams blasted the Colts. He helped the defense hold the Colts' potent offense to just 8 points and had 5 tackles to go with a defended pass.

4. Desmond Trufant, CB of Falcons, originally drafted 22nd: He's also up 2 spots this week. Despite his backfield getting torched by Russell Wilson he largely wasn't to blame. He had 6 tackles and 2 pass breakups, but man the Falcons are starting to really fall apart.

5. Star Lotulelei, DT of Panthers, originally drafted 14th: You would assume that when the Panthers beat the 49ers 10-9 on the road that Lotulelei probably had a monster game… but you'd be wrong. The 49ers actually did well on the ground and Lotulelei had one of his worst games against the run. He also didn't provide any pressure. He had one tackle and was very quiet, dropping him 2 spots in the rankings.

6. Kenny Vaccaro, S of Saints, originally drafted 15th: Also down two spots, Vaccaro had 3 tackles and a nice his on Jason Witten that jarred a ball loose for the incompletion. Otherwise he had a really stupid penalty in a long distance situation that gave the Cowboys an automatic first down, and he left the game with a concussion. Word is he won't play this week, and like Reid that's his second this season. Not a good way to start their young career for those two. They have played well and they're very physical, but they'll now need to be monitored closely.

7. DeAndre Hopkins, WR of Texans, originally drafted 27th: He seems to be developing chemistry with Case Keenum as he had 6 catches for 69 yards this week. His season has been a bit up and down but this was a good contribution from Hopkins this week. He's up a spot.

8. Travis Frederick, C of Cowboys, originally drafted 31st: Also up a spot, Frederick did a fine job against the Saints. The Cowboys had a lot of success on the ground, they just couldn't stick with it because the Saints were scoring at will. Frederick also did well in pass protection.

9. Cordarrelle Patterson, WR of Vikings, originally drafted 29th: He enters the top 10 for the first time this season, up 3 spots. He had 2 catches for 22 yards and a very valuable touchdown. He did fumble, too, but fortunately that wasn't lost. He's still not a consistent guy in the offense that the Vikings rely on but he's finding a way to make a play each week. 

10. Barkevious Mingo, LB of Browns, originally drafted 6th: He's back in the top 10 despite not playing, thanks to guys around him struggling. He's up one spot.

11. Ziggy Ansah, DE/LB of Lions, originally drafted 5th:  He's down 4 spots in the rankings as he didn't play this week with a sprained ankle. Hopefully he can return soon.

12. Tyler Eifert, TE of Bengals, originally drafted 21st: He's down a couple spots. You'd look at his 3 catch 55 yard performance and think he wasn't that bad, but that was on 10 targets. He did help on the hail mary play to make that catch possible by competing for the ball before the tip, but his blocking was once again very poor. 

13. Tavon Austin, WR of Rams, originally drafted 8th: Austin is the top rated player of the week and that rockets him up 4 spots in the rankings. He had a punt return touchdown of 98 yards and touchdown receptions of 81 and 57. This was the explosive player the Rams hoped they would get. Austin put the entire league on notice with his 3 touchdown performance that he is a true game breaker that must be accounted for at all times. He single handedly helped the Rams upset the Colts.

14. Matt Elam, S of Ravens, originally drafted 32nd: He played pretty well in the overtime win, the hail mary notwithstanding. He had 3 tackles, including one for a loss, and a defended pass. He's up a spot.

15. Kyle Long, G of Bears, originally drafted 20th: A quiet game for Long, who continues to do his job pretty well. 

16. D. J. Fluker, T of Chargers, originally drafted 11th: Down two spots, he was credited with 5 QB pressures and had a really bad day in pass protection for Philip Rivers. He's down 2 spots.

17. Xavier Rhodes, CB of the Vikings, originally drafted 25th: RGIII torched the Vikings early in this game and Rhodes' coverage was poor. As the game went on he improved a tad. He had 5 tackles and was penalized once.

18. Jarvis Jones, LB of the Steelers, originally drafted 17th: He was great rushing the passer and had a sack. He helped the Steelers completely shut down the Bills offense. He's up 4 spots.

19. Lane Johnson, T of the Eagles, originally drafted 4th: He's up again another two spots this week. How much is he loving Nick Foles as the quarterback? Probably more than anyone. He did have one penalty but was otherwise very solid.

20. Sharrif Floyd, DT of Vikings, originally drafted 23rd: He's down a spot, but quietly contributed 2 tackles this week.

21. Dion Jordan, DE of Dolphins, originally drafted 3rd: He rushed the passer well in spot duty but barely played and had one tackle. He's down 3 spots and seems to be an afterthought in the Dolphins' plans right now.

22. Justin Pugh, G/T of the Giants, originally drafted 19th: He's up a spot and continues to improve. He did give up a sack but played pretty well otherwise.

23.  Datone Jones, DE of Packers, originally drafted 26th: He's been at the bottom of the standings all year but he moves up another two spots and deserves this ascension! This week despite limited snaps he had 3 tackles and 2 sacks. He's started to look more like a 1st round pick after all.

24. Chance Warmack, G of the Titans, originally drafted 10th: His pass protection was poor and he was penalized once. Most embarrassing, though, was his team's loss to the previously winless Jaguars.

25. D. J. Hayden, CB of the Raiders, originally drafted 12th: He drops five spots and was inactive due to a groin injury.

26. Eric Fisher, T of Chiefs, originally drafted 1st: He stays in the same spot while on his bye week.

27. Dee Milliner, CB of Jets, CB of Jets, originally drafted 8th: He also stays put on his bye week.

28. E. J. Manuel, QB of Bills, originally drafted 16th: His first start back from injury was a disaster as the Bills only put up 10 points in a bad loss. He was a woeful 22 of 39 for 155 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 INT. He also added 17 yards rushing.

29. Sylvester Williams, DT of Broncos, originally drafted: He has been out with a neck problem and was inactive.

30. Bjoern Werner, DE/LB of Colts, originally drafted 24th: He's up a spot, finally, and played ok despite his team getting roasted by the Rams. He had 3 tackles, including one for a loss.

31. Luke Joeckel, T of the Jaguars, originally drafted 2nd: Out for the year with an injury. 

32. Jonathan Cooper, T of Cardinals, originally drafted 7th: Due to a season long injury, he will occupy this spot all season.

 

Who's Hot:

Tavon Austin up 4 spots

Jarvis Jones up 4 spots

Cordarrelle Patterson up 3 spots

 

Who's Not:

D. J. Hayden down 5 spots

Ziggy Ansah down 4 spots

D. J. Fluker down 3 spots

Dion Jordan down 3 spots

About Andrew Juge

I like the Saints. A lot.

Quantcast