The NFL’s 5 Best Rookies Heading into Week 5

Four weeks of NFL football are in the books, with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings leading the way as the only teams with unblemished records.

The NFL’s 5 Best Rookies Heading into Week 5

Along the way, several rookies have performed marvelously, scattered throughout the business and regardless of draft round.

The following five players represent the league’s top five rookies through the end of Week 4,  ranked in ascending order, according to Pro Football Focus.

t4. Andru Phillips (CB)

Team: New York Giants
PFF Grade: 80.2

Phillips missed last Thursday’s game due to injury, but Giants fans will monitor the injury report this week to determine if he’ll play Sunday on the road at the Seattle Seahawks.

He’s logged a 79.6 passer-rating-against on 49 coverage snaps and a gaudy-good 83.9 PFF coverage grade. New York’s CB room could be set for years with Deonte Banks and Phillips.

t4. Ladd McConkey (WR)

Team: Los Angeles Chargers
PFF Grade: 80.2

McConkey has registered 15 receptions for 176 yards and 2 touchdowns in a very pronounced run-first offense with Jim Harbaugh in charge.

He’s on pace for 748 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns, a sweet trajectory for a team that vividly needed a wide receiver to stand out exiting the offseason and preseason.

McConkey can be the team’s WR1 henceforth, and if a teammate like Quentin Johnston blossomed, it’d feel like gravy.

3. Malik Nabers (WR)

Team: New York Giants
PFF Grade: 80.4

Nabers is in the concussion protocol entering Week 5, so his status is up in the air. He didn’t practice Wednesday.

But through four games, he serves as a lone bright spot in the Giants’ offense, even making onlookers wonder how much better he could be if his quarterback could throw a deep ball. That isn’t Daniel Jones’ jam.

He’s on pace for 1,640 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. If the next guy on the list didn’t exist, Nabers would be in the driver’s seat for OROY.

2. Jayden Daniels (QB)

Team: Washington Commanders
PFF Grade: 80.8

Jayden Daniels is the best quarterback in football — full stop. That’s what EPA+CPOE indicates, anyway, an efficiency metric measuring expected wins added. The rookie passer is the leaps-and-bounds frontrunner to win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award, but there’s no reason he shouldn’t be whispered as an MVP candidate. 

The guy is the real deal and might even end up producing a better season than C.J. Stroud in 2023, which felt inconquerable heading into this season.

Washington owns a 3-1 record — all thanks to Daniels because its defense is horrendous — and Daniels, like Stroud, will likely encounter the playoffs in his first season.

1. Braelon Allen (RB)

Team: New York Jets
PFF Grade: 87.5

Allen has banked 187 yards from scrimmage in 4 games with a pair of touchdowns, one rushing and the other receiving.

PFF is enamored with Allen, so much so that he’s classified as the business’ top rookie. His only problem? Breece Hall is a bellcow back, and that won’t change anytime soon. It almost feels like a shame that Allen can’t accrue 20+ touches per game. But such is life.

Still, Allen will continue to find ways to penetrate the Jets’ offense and will face the Vikings’ mighty defense in London on Sunday.

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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His NFL obsession dates back to 1989. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL. 

All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.