The NFL’s 5 Best Rookies Heading into Week 10

The NFL regular season is half complete, and the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions are favored to meet in the Super Bowl.

The NFL’s 5 Best Rookies Heading into Week 10

Meanwhile, several rookies have performed splendidly, 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 9,  ranked in ascending order, according to Pro Football Focus.

5. Jared Verse (EDGE)

Team: Los Angeles Rams
PFF Grade: 83.0

The top contender for the league’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award, Verse is the best rookie EDGE in the sport.

Verse has 39 pressures in eight games and can stop the run, too, which is sometimes rare for rookie defensive linemen. If he improves his tackling form, the guy will become a Pro Bowler in no time. Thirty-nine pressures at the season’s midpoint are just remarkable — for anybody, not just a rookie.

4. Cooper DeJean (CB)

Team: Philadelphia Eagles
PFF Grade: 83.2

DeJean just makes the cut to qualify for award recognition and lists like these, playing about 40% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps. He’s accountable for an impressive 84.4 passer-rating-against, and Philadelphia’s secondary should be in fine shape for the next half-decade with DeJean and fellow rookie Quinyon Mitchell in the building.

Quietly, Philadelphia has reemerged as a contender in the NFC after systematically dying late last year.

3. Brock Bowers (TE)

Team: Las Vegas Raiders
PFF Grade: 86.7

Bowers is on pace for 108 receptions for 1,096 yards and 4 touchdowns. That would be a sweet pace for a veteran playing in the leagues for like five years. But Bowers is new to this.

What’s more, he’s compiling one of the best rookie TE seasons in NFL history, with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell throwing the rock. Hell, Desmond Ridder might take the baton in Week 11 after Las Vegas’ bye.

2. Evan Williams (S)

Team: Green Bay Packers
PFF Grade: 87.4

Williams is one of the NFL’s best-kept secrets. Folks don’t know much about him because he arrived to Green Bay from Round 4 of the draft. But he’s the real deal.

Quarterbacks have a 45.8 passer rating when targeting Williams, a safety, and he’s on his way to eventually starting.

Williams missed Week 9 with a hamstring injury but should return before too long.

1. Jayden Daniels (QB)

Team: Washington Commanders
PFF Grade: 88.6

Daniels is on pace for about 4,000 passing yards, 850 rushing yards, and 25 total touchdowns. His team is 7-2, and with the Dallas Cowboys imploding, Daniels and friends will handily reach the postseason.

He’s the frontrunner to win OROY and should be higher up the board on people’s MVP lists. Rookies like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, and J.J. McCarthy still have plenty of time to morph into stars, but Daniels has already achieved the title.

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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 Minnesota Vikings, 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.