NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 120. 2022 NFL Rookie Report

Episode Date: December 8, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you their 2022 rookie report on how players from the 2022 class are performing. They talk best overall rookie, best long-term player, who's out-playing their draft position and note some players who have been disappointing thus far

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode it's all about a rookie rapport we're taking a look at the film of a lot of the guys that were drafted from the past draft the 2022 NFL draft and seeing what they've been like so far in their rookie seasons we're putting them into these categories or awards if you want to look at it that way.

Guys who are overplaying in their draft position, some long-term guys that we like, favorite rookies overall, and maybe some disappointing players in year one that we're looking forward to a bounce back year, hopefully in the years that follow. And also we're going to crown the best rookie overall. We're going to dig into all of that within the details and into the film. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me as always is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers joining you guys on a Rookie Report Thursday episode of the show,

as we've been doing the last couple of months. Thursday is kind of a mixed bag. We kind of leave it to open topics, whatever we feel like talking about, whatever we think is hot in the news. We'll touch on it on a Thursday. So you guys have been asking our thoughts of a lot of rookies from this past 2022 NFL Draft class, what we think about them, how they're doing, how they've hit the ground running, if you will.

So today, Connor and I are bringing five guys each to the table that we want to talk about in mostly good, but there's a little bit of a, hey, we wish this guy was playing a little bit better way to structure things so we can talk about this rookie class. But Connor, how we doing, my friend? I'm good, man. This is a great show concept for us really mixing the draft that feels like it was yesterday. And it's unreal. These guys almost have a full year under their belt and it's a different way. Cause eventually Trevor, we will do our all rookie team when the

season ends, but this is different. We have the best rookie because there's no way to do it without that. A guy that is overplaying his draft position, a disappointing year one, a long-term guy we like, we like the big picture for, and then just a favorite. It could be a story. It could be something they're doing. It could be a play or two or something that they've done for their team. So it's a cool concept, and I think we have a lot of data as well

to kind of back up some of the special things these guys are putting together year one. Before we get into this, at the end of the podcast last episode, we were talking about college courses that we took that were basically just like mail it in college courses. And can I read a couple of them that I saw? I have one from Instagram, that i'll so you go first it's the responses have been unbelievable to who's who's yours from on instagram because somebody dm'd me on instagram too i just want to make lawrence no no no okay okay i'll go first this is this is from connor who listened to a ton of the podcast and we love him for listening he's like all, all right, dude, here's the thing. I took this class called quote disasters, Hollywood versus reality, where the entire class was watching movies about earthquakes and volcanoes, and then talking about

whether they were realistic. It was hella easy, but the professor missed about half the class of the semester anyways anyways and just gave everyone an a and then he said please let me know if anyone tells you something that's dumber than this that is that's up there how is it a college course i don't understand number one how that gets approved it's amazing truly amazing number two shout out to the professor for realizing how much of a fraudulent course it was and bailing like this isn't real let's not make it something it's not you're all through everybody shut up and just go with it awesome who's which one do you got all right so kit sent me one

he said he took a vampire studies class vampire studiesire studies. Vampire studies? I didn't really dive into what the curriculum was like for Kit, but he said, took a vampire studies class, dot, dot, dot. Now I'm a lawyer. Thanks, University of Victoria. I mean, can you imagine sitting in a lecture hall and the professor is legitimately breaking down the development of vamp the evolution of vampires do you think okay here's a question do you think the professor

dressed up one and then two do you think the professor dressed up every day or was it just a syllabus week thing like hey welcome to you like vampire class or whatever you know he's wearing like you know vampire outfit whatever he's got like the teeth and all that stuff do you think that they only did that for one week or do you think that they dressed up the whole semester on the bit i'm thinking semester i think semester and my bigger question for you trevor was the class only at night i had to be it had to be you can't have vampire studies at 12 o'clock in the afternoon when the sun is out. Yeah, in fact, if that class happened in the day, I'm not taking it. It's not.

I'm not taking it off principle. It's a fraud class. Not taking it off principle. Owen on Twitter said, I needed 18 credits one semester and took ultimate frisbee and soccer twice a week, one for 45 minutes for one credit each at FSU. That's unbelievable that is that's i mean great choice it's unbelievable that exists phenomenal choice aaron aaron said i took plants and sciences wrote one singular paper got a hundred and also took public speaking during covid so all the classes were online and i gave a presentation in my

basement instead of the 50 people in person that's actually really gaming the system literally system i love that you could log on the zoom really close it and just look at your camera right and you think you're just speaking in a room like you and i are doing right now but nothing to it it's absolutely brilliant did you ever take a class that and what we will get to the rookies but this has been it's been one of my favorite random topics we ran into that was supposed to be like a get you by elective you thought was easy and it turned into hell like literally living hell well i don't know if there was i was – I don't think there was one class that was like that. But so I graduated from the University of Florida, and I'll keep this quick. I graduated from UF, but I didn't start at UF.

I transferred into UF. So I was going from one smaller school to the University of Florida, and in order to do so, there were these couple of electives that I needed in order to qualify to get right into the journalism school, the College of Journalism at UF. So I was like, oh, like, I'll just take these summer classes, because I could do that. They offer them at the local college where I was living. And I was like, oh, I'll just work full time. And then I'll do a little bit of work. Like it won't be a big deal. I'll just do it at night. it'll take me like 30 minutes a night or whatever i signed up for two full classes and it was absolute hell yeah i had to drop both of them oh wow i had to drop both of them and i had to end up calling my guidance counselor uf and i was like we've got to figure something out this isn't working because i couldn't stop working full time and she worked with me and we ended up figuring out obviously i got into uf

but i i just remember i was three days into this class contemplating my own existence and i was like this is not gonna work like i'm not gonna get into uf i'm not gonna be able to go to journalism school i'm not gonna be able to become a broadcast major like and it's all because of this summer class which is supposed to be easy and it was absolute hell so that's probably the closest thing i have to uh to that yeah what they don't tell you about the american college system or i don't know other you know college systems is that it's it's absolute hell uh i was a waiter one year while being a full-time student and i don't even know how how i made it through but it's uh we're here now so we made somehow brother. Now we get to do the rookie show because of all the great, our great accomplishments in our studies.

And now we, yes, because we were such incredible students. Now we get to talk about our favorite rookies from the 2023 NFL season. So let's talk about the one at the very top, which I'm, I'm not going to say there's any suspense. I'm not going to try to drum it up out of nowhere. We're talking about the best rookie from this draft class, and there's only one answer, Connor. And you can say this with a smile on your face

because he plays for the team that you know and love, but it's Sauce Garner, and it can only be Sauce Garner. It can, and people will try to argue a little bit here and there, and I respect it, especially if it's the team you root for. But when you just, the film, the the metrics everything he's done this year I think my point here Trevor that I came away with and you know we do the what matters most every Sunday so we have a pretty good grasp of what happens league-wide but I'm definitely in a Jets shell as well doing pre and post game and I've thought sauce has been the best rookie this year but i did stay away from is he one of the best corners and then when i went back and

did all this i'm like it's hard to dispute that he is he has been one of the best defensive backs in the entire league and i'll get right into it here sauce highest coverage grade out of every defender in the nfl with 100 or more snaps at a 90.2 that counts safeties dbs linebackers everyone the next closest corner is James Bradbury nearly a full six points behind sauce sauce is second in completion percentage allowed 43.9 percent completion percentage when targeted and second in forced incompletions. So making a play on the ball, just forcing an incompletion on your own. He's only allowed three total 15 plus yard receptions

on the year. He has a 48.6 passer rating when targeted. That is third among all corners in the NFL, only behind James Bradbury, who's having a great year for the Eagles and JC Horn, who has quietly developed into one of the best corners in the NFL. He also is allowing 0.57 yards allowed per coverage snap.

That is fourth among all corners in the NFL. He is so good. I wanted to, when we were talking in our pre-show and when we were talking earlier today, we our, you know, pre-show and, and when we were talking earlier today, we were kind of setting all these things up. I was like, I don't want to have repeat guys. Like I want to be able to give the nods and have conversation about a lot of these rookies. So I wanted to make sure that we didn't have the same one for these categories.

There's no other choice. You can't pick anybody else. There's, there's rookies who are playing well. Like, I think the receivers are playing really well. I went back and I watched all of those first-round wide receivers, and I like a lot of how they're playing. Garrett Wilson right now is also my favorite, which is amazing that the Jets got both of these guys.

But, you know, I'm watching these guys, and I'm like, man, they're having really great rookie years. They're really bursting on the scene. This is fantastic to see. Love that. Nobody's close to Sauce Garner, especially when you take into context that I feel as though the only position

that is more difficult to come in and start right away in the NFL is outside corner. The quarterback is the only position, I've kind of butchered this, quarterback, it's in the passer, is the only position i kind of butchered this core quarterback it's in the passer is the only position that is more difficult to come in and start right away than a corner who is an outside corner playing for a team because you got to think about it even for teams that are very zone heavy you still have to play man if you're an outside corner

you're still gonna have to go one-on-one against nfl wide receivers probably not rookies either probably guys that have been in the league multiple years honinging their craft. They're bigger, they're stronger, they're faster than what you've gone up against at whatever level you're at. For you to plop Sauce Garner down in the NFL on the outside and for him to be playing not just good for a rookie, but as one of the best and most consistent shutdown corners in the NFL right away, that's unbelievable. I don't think it can be understated just how incredible of a rookie year he is having. If anybody else was even close to this, I was going to argue for them just to say,

hey, I want to give a shout out to this guy who's playing really well. Nobody's close. And I think that just goes into more of an argument to how special this year is for Sauce, given all of the context to it, where he's coming from, the level of competition that he had at Cincinnati, coming to the NFL, playing right away from week one, just the expectations of a number four overall pick.

Like, there's just been, it's been incredible. I'm saying a lot of words just to say that it's incredible. No, you're right. I mean, all right, here's kind of where the conversation's gone a couple times. Sauce is the far and away betting favorite to win defensive rookie of the year. It's completely out of this universe at this point.

You shouldn't even be able to bet on this award. I agree. They should have shut betting down in week nine. But a lot of people will counter. It's free money. Yeah, you're right. A lot of people will counter. It's free money. Yeah, you're right. A lot of people will counter with Tariq Woolen, but Sauce's advanced metrics and coverage,

snap by snap, are unique as the most polished way. I can say it where, I mean, the trajectory he's on, you can argue he's a top five corner in the NFL today. I think he's definitely top 10 corner in the NFL today today i think he's definitely top 10 corner in the nfl today you can you can argue if you really need to that he's he's a top five-ish corner in the nfl that puts him on a trajectory that he's what i think 22 now um yeah sauce is 22 i don't know his birthday is off the top of my head i mean he could be yeah he turned 22 the last week at camp so he could be the best

corner in the nfl under and he could be under 25 years old doing it it's pretty crazy just silly just silly he has to be the number one guy i think everybody out there knew that he was going to be the number one guy but let's let's move on because there's going to be a little bit of a difference here as we go through these categories moving forward what about a player who you think is overplaying where they were drafted so essentially who you give in a salute a nod to as a gem from this past draft class tell us where they were drafted and who you got it's got to be Tariq Wollin right and and he's the runner-up gotta be or I would comfortably say Tariq Wollin, right? And he's the runner-up. It's got to be. It's got to be. Or I would comfortably say Tariq Wollin being a fifth-round pick, pick 153 overall, starter for the Seahawks.

He's got six picks already. All right, so here's the lowdown on Wollin. Six interceptions on the year. He's played 444 snaps in coverage as a fifth-round project guy, all-athlete, right? So he's stepped in and been a fifth round project guy, all athlete, right? So he stepped in and been a high-end starter for Seattle. Seven forced incompletions, a 65.6 passer rating when targeted. I brought up Sauce allowing 0.57 yards allowed per coverage snap.

Mullins allowing 0.86 yards per coverage snap. Mullins' length, size, ball skills. I mean, when you pull up how the corners went in this draft, I'm not saying that Woolen should have been taken, you know, over Derek Stingley or anything like that. I think there's a lot of football left. But the corner order went Stingley,rent mcduffie kyer elam roger mccreary kyler gordon andrew booth alante taylor cam taylor brit martin emerson cordell flott marcus jones kobe bryant his own teammate i i don't even have the time to keep going. Tariq Woolen waited a long time. He was the 33rd defensive back taken in last year's draft.

Cool. Man. He was taken after punters and kickers. We had two punters and a kicker taken before Tariq Woolen. That's all you need to know. No. I mean, I obviously was pushing back just for fun when you say, I think it's got to be Tariq Woolen. I you know there's other arguments though no no no and i'm gonna i'm

gonna highlight somebody else i'm gonna highlight somebody who's who's really overplaying the draft position but when you take a lot of what i said about sauce garner where it's like this is the toughest position outside of quarterback to come in and play and play right away sauce went fourth overall so like sauce had the easily recognizable talent in this draft Tariq Woolen went fifth round and this guy is having an incredible season as well not to the level that sauce garner is but certainly when you see that one was drafted fourth overall one was drafted in the fifth round uh you could still give a ton of respect to Tariq Woolen so i just yeah unbelievable year from him seattle's got a really good one in tariq woolen and anytime you can hit on a premium

position later in the draft that just does so much crazy for team building in the short term and then yeah hopefully in the long term as well actually hopefully this guy's gonna be around for a long time so uh really enjoyed the the woolen shout out there from you um not that he hasn't been noticed by people this year but it's just important to note where this guy was drafted and to remind people how incredible he is i gotta say damian pierce to be guys who are overplaying their draft position guys who started i don't want to say since day one because there was the first week of the season where he was getting out snapped by rex burkhead and then lovey smith was like yeah we actually need to get that damian pierce the ball a lot more pierce picked in the fourth round

this past year 107th overall he was rb7 in this draft so far this year he's got an 87.4 russian grade which is sixth in the nfl not amongst rookies these are all nfl numerical um great this is like numerical rankings here for all nfl running backs 60 forced missed tackles which is third in the league 658 yards after contact which is sixth in the league and then 21 explosive runs which is 11th you know i i think that we watched some of the highlights from damian pierce in weeks i'll say two three four of the season and then we just went man this guy is awesome and i think that people have kind of been coasting off of that early work and just been like oh yeah like damian pierce obviously he's just gonna be good i i went back for this exercise i went back and i watched the three most recent games he had he's still running like every carry is his last and it is

so funny identity that you can watch defenders the moment the light goes off in their head when they're making contact with him and they're like all right he's gonna go down now i've got him wrapped up you know this is the end of the run and pierce just keeps chugging and you can almost see it in their body they go wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait and then they have to give just like more effort or really clamp on the ankles to stop his feet from moving or whatever it is but you gotta bring your lunch pail you gotta bring your friends like got to bring everything that you can to possibly slow down Damian Pierce. And it's just such a fun and inspiring. I'll say that to an inspiring running style with what he is able to do for a Texans offense is completely devoid of talent in basically every area other than left tackle. Brandon cooks when he actually doesn't feel slighted by the team.

That's it. It's those three guys with Damian Harris in there. That is it. And for you in 2022 to truly be relying on the run game as much as the Texans are, and not just the run game, one guy. It's not like this is massive committee, right? You watch the Atlanta Falcons and you go, oh, okay. You know, they've got Cordell Patterson.

They've got Tyler Algier. They've got, oh, man, who was that late-drafted running back who they've been cordial patterson they've got tyler algira they've got um oh man who is that late late drafted running back who they've been given the ball to as well huntley is that his name huntley the yep the the halfback there plus you got marcus mariotta right that's like a four-man running committee you go to the chicago bears you got justin fields you got david montgomery you got um they had herbert for a while before he got hurt you got khalil herbert right that's a full committee the texans it's one guy it is it is one guy and he continues to deliver for them all the time like 1999 when you watch Damian Pierce throwback workhorse so I had to give him a shout out as a player who is

overplaying their draft position for sure I mean you nailed it he's been awesome he's been such a good find you know this show really liked Damian Pierce as a prospect. Obviously, you watched a ton of them at Florida. He had such a good senior bowl. Not enough of them, one would say, at Florida. Not enough, which was a big question of his process. And maybe that shows that sometimes the NFL trusts bad decisions by college coaches too much. This has now happened off the top of my head way too many times,

but I think of Alvin Kamara not really playing as much as he should have in college. I think of Damian Pierce running back is one of those things where you can uncover gems in the NFL level of a guy not being used or not in the right system or not around a lot of talent, Pierce has been excellent, man. I think there's another example of that later on your list, which we're going to get to. There is.

I actually was like, let me not say it because we're going to get there. What about some guys that have been a little disappointing early on, which is okay. We're not calling them busts or anything, but I think that it is fair, especially to look at the first round guys guys who were drafted early looking at their current impact and saying i was hoping for a little bit more here who fits that bill for you so i i will be very honest i did my homework here i didn't just default to this my choice i really backed it up i thought for a little bit you know quay walker had a really tough start to the year as you and i talked about before the pod he's been better lately

definitely and his expectations were different than this player logan hall the first pick of the second round not been a very impactful year but the expectations have been different i don't know how to answer this question without saying trayvon walker right now and i know it's chalk and i know people would like and we will discuss other guys but when i look at walker these are things he can't control right he went number one overall you you're set up to be chosen for this category you went number one overall if you're not really good right away you're set up to be chosen for this category. You went number one overall. If you're not really good right away, you're a disappointment.

Sorry. That's how it goes. So Trayvon Walker, 333 pass rush snaps. And that's where I want to cue in on is the pass rush. He's done some good things even in coverage. I think he's been fine as a run defender. Fine, not game changing. 333 pass rush snaps.

That is the second most for the entire rookie class, only behind Aiden Hutchinson. His win percentage is 9.6. His win percentage not being above 10% is a massive red flag. He only has two and a half sacks. He only has four quarterback hits. I mean, he's really not getting there at all no at all do you say the win rate do you say the win rate yeah 9.6 yeah no batted passes at the line of scrimmage

in rookie pass rush productivity of guys with 100 plus snaps trevor he is behind sam williams arnold debakady k von tibideau Kingsley Enigbare, Aiden Hutchinson, George Karloftis, and Drake Jackson. He has not come close to living up to a number one overall pick when everybody for three months screamed he is not the guy

that should be taking number one overall. I still had Trayvon Walker in my top 25 players. I still think long term he will be a good NFL player with a long career. I don't think he will ever be a special or elite or even above average pass rusher in this league. And I've seen nothing to show me that that will change. Yeah, he was still a top 20 player for me as well. But I mean, he wasn't a number one overall pick kind of a guy.

And I don't know. I wonder how many teams would have't a number one overall pick kind of a guy. And I don't know. I wonder how many teams would have taken him number one overall. And I don't just say that as immediate, like, I'm trying to dunk on Trent Baalke or whatever, because he does this with athletes all the time. And, again, I'm not trying to, like, dunk on the Jags or Jags fans or anything. That's not really a dig.

No. You kind of said it right there coming into the nfl he wasn't known as a pass rusher like he was this uber athletic truly uniquely gifted individual who was a project he really was and so i i want to at least say that to expect him to go up a level in competition and all of a sudden get better at pass rushing that really wasn't going to happen so in that aspect i do think that him struggling in year one isn't exactly something that we didn't all see coming but it is disappointing like it is just disappointing i you know jacks fans are like where is our number one overall pick and is trayvon

walker going to hit it big before year three or four or whenever it is at the back end of his rookie deal the way that you would want him to to feel secure about signing to a to a second year contract and for him to be a real big time impact player for you he's a uniquely gifted player there's no doubt about it but he it's not like he has his pass rush profile to him and i think that that's what people are really struggling with right now especially jags fans when you look at the pass rush win rate and it's under 10 just like this guy can't can't get home he just doesn't understand the art of pass rushing and not something that gets fixed if fixed in a single uh off season like it's not like he got drafted by the jags and all of a sudden he got NFL coaching

and he was going to be totally fine this year. I would have liked for him to have shown more his rookie year. Of course, I think everyone would have. But I will say the next two seasons were always going to be the most important for Trayvon Walker. Would you agree? Okay. I would, and it doesn't change that he's been the most important for Trayvon Walker. Would you agree? Okay. I would, and it doesn't change that he's been the most disappointing guy.

You go number one overall, it's really hard in this league to draft a guy number one overall and ask fans to be patient for literally anything. I'm not even talking about superstardom. I'm talking about literally any production at all because he just doesn't have any this year. So it was always going to be a tough ask. Year two, year three, I think that's, you know,

those are the years that you want to look out for. But you are right to point him out. You are right to have him in this category. I think you're totally right. I just don't even think it's fair to him in a sense that I just don't understand why he was valued that way. But, you know, if I'm wrong in two or three years, I will gladly say I was wrong. You mentioned trending that way.

You mentioned the guy who I'm a little disappointed by. And I will say that by saying a little. It's not like I'm totally disappointed. You know, the ship has sailed anything. But I am a little disappointed in this player and what they've been doing year one and it's George Karloftis and maybe it's because I had such high hopes for George Karloftis the Chiefs edge rusher I felt like he was a top 20 player in this class he ends up going number 30 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs he was edge 5 when it was all said and done Connor what I really liked Karloff, this is I felt like he had a high floor to his game.

And a big reason why is because of the strength that he played with. I felt like he was strong as an ox. So I felt like, hey, even though this isn't the bendiest edge rusher in the NFL, as he is getting stronger, getting quicker, understanding how to pass pressure with a plan a little bit more. He still got those violent hands. He's still got that fantastic strength to him. And I felt like he'd be a really nice run defender right out of the gate as a five technique edge player for the Chiefs. And I felt as though we were going to start to see levels of pass rushing

improve as the year went on. He hadn't even been a good run defender this year. You know, let alone the pass rush profile people were talking about oh you know he could be a guy who you know might even get somewhere near eight nine maybe double digit sacks this season and he's got two and a half so far this year but even outside of the lack of pass rush productivity which i figured might be a little bit of time for him he's not even been a good run defender 46.7 run defense grade that's not great this year that's disappointing for him 11 and a half percent negatively graded run defense plays that's one of

the highest marks of regularly starting rookies along the defensive line and i just i didn't think that was going to be the case with carloftis. He's got 32 pressures, so obviously he's been affecting the pocket. So again, I'm not trying to crush him too hard, but just the overall presence of George Karloftis has not been as elevating as I thought, or at least impactful as I thought that it was going to be for the Kansas City Chiefs. So I got to put him on a disappointed list, maybe just because of how high of hopes I had for him

going into his rookie season. I think they would tell you the same thing, you know, behind closed doors. I don't think he's been, you know, what any team looking to take him in the first round would hope for. And somebody that, you know, this comes with a caveat. We can't say it enough.

Plenty of time to improve. Doesn't mean they're a bust. It's just disappointing relative to where they were taken to where they are at with their rookie season almost coming to an end so i think i think you're on it i mean he's somebody to me that he's just kind of a guy out there right i think the run defense you highlighted is the most important part thought he'd be more than just a guy his rookie year. I really did.

I really thought that he was going to be able to drop onto the scene and play really well. I mean, I've felt for a while the Chiefs should be the favorite to win the Super Bowl this year, and they are going to need him down the stretch in big games. Totally. And he's going to play. He plays a lot.

He's out there. So, I mean, maybe his best ball is ahead of him still this season. We will see, but would love to see a little bit more from George Karloftis as his rookie season comes to an end. What about a – I think this is an interesting category because it can go a lot of different ways. A long-term guy that you like. So it could be a player that's really flashing already

who you think is going to be around for a while. Or it could be somebody who maybe they haven't broken out yet, but you watch them on film and you go, I like the little things that they're doing. I think they're going to get a lot better that year two, year three, year four, whatever. They're going to make a big impact and their name is going to be a lot bigger than it is now. Who's a long term player that you like from this class? So I promise I put bias aside because this was my number one overall player. But I have a reason of why I'm painting this picture. It's Iki I put bias aside because this was my number one overall player, but I have a reason of why I'm painting this picture. It's Icky Iquanu. Okay. Now, why I wanted him for the long

term was when you look at Icky, he's given up three sacks this year, right? And you go, okay, he's been okay in pass pro. He gave up two sacks to Miles Garrett in week one. His third sack he allowed was in week two against the stand-up blitzer against the giants that he really didn't see which is on him he was late so icky has not given up a sack since week three of the nfl season pretty good no sacks allowed since since week four he has pass blocking grades of one in the 90s, three times in the 80s. That is very high metrics for pass blocking in PFF system.

It's really great. Three more above 78. So technically six of the nine weeks, he's been 78 plus. It's great. And then the two other are mid to high 60s, which is just baseline. That's fine yeah uh my last note i wrote was when this offense actually has some form of consistency back there they're not playing quarterback carousel uh and just they'll match this whole thing together

his run blocking will take off when they play as a unit together he will be a difference maker as a run blocker so i look at icky andy and go, man, I love his outlook. I just think he is. When you evaluate Icky, the big knock on him was in college before his last year, he was really struggling as a pass protector, especially a tackle. And then he really improved as a pass protector his last year, but not enough where you said, okay, he's going to be an elite pass protector right away in the NFL.

It's still something you had to work on. and he really got punched in the mouth in September and he's been great since so that's just it to me he's just always improving and I think he you know really has potential all pro tackle if the Panthers ever get the rest of their you know what together yeah I'm glad that you highlighted how quarterback play also goes into this because these are good pass blocking grades while you are playing quarterbacks that let's face it don't have the best pocket presence it's baker mayfield it's sam darnold it's pj walker like these aren't guys who are making things easy on you you know sometimes offensive linemen could have really nice grades because you know if you're playing in a like for example if you're blocking tom brady he's getting the ball out of his hands

so quickly it's so true maybe you're not going to have a chance to have like oh look at that incredible pass blocking rep but you're also not going to have any negative plays because nobody's going to beat you because the ball gets out so quickly so that just goes into it with icky that's some really good context that yeah he's given up the three sacks but they were very early on in his career he's been able to steady the waters steady the ship I guess if you will that's probably the better saying and I love I love the call I won't say that it's biased from you I won't say there's a little there I mean I'm watching him closely but I would just say that this is a talented player who is playing up to that talent as he is maturing in his rookie year,

which is just what you love to see. I will say I almost made it Charles Cross, but since I did Tariq Woolen already, I kind of wanted to spread the wealth a little bit here. Look, Panthers fans need something to be excited about, so you're giving them Mickey Aquino. I like it. Mine's Martin Emerson, the cornerback for the Cleveland Browns.

He is the long-term guy that I like here. Third-round pick, 68th overall. He was CB10 in this class. If you remember going into the draft class, because he's about 6'1", 200 pounds, almost 6'2", actually. 96 percentile, 97 percentile, and 97 percentile in wingspan, arm length, hand size. And he is in a great system for that he plays on the outside opposite denzel ward he's played 539 snaps this season 468 have come as an out wide corner

they're actually pretty split evenly between left corner and right corner so he showed a lot of versatility and how you can deploy him he plays up in press man quite a bit 79.0 as a coverage defender this season which is fifth among rookie cornerbacks he's got 11 forced incompletions which is tied with sauce garner for the most for all rookies and you mentioned second in the nfl who has more is james bradbury and then it's these two who are tied there i just love that mentality and style that he plays with. It feels perfect for that Cleveland Browns defense. And you don't often get corners of that kind of size,

athleticism, and ability, especially with those ball skills in the third round. You don't. You just don't get those kinds of players in the third round very often. I think that guys like Sauce Garner are picked at the top where they are because they have that unique size, speed, strength, and mentality build.

And it just seems like Martin Emerson has that as well. He's really been standing out. There have been a couple of weeks where, shoot, he's looked even better than Denzel Ward. And I think Denzel Ward's an incredibly talented corner, one of the most talented corners in the NFL. So you get those two guys on the outside, man. That's why I like this as a long-term outlook it's because with that kind of a cornerback duo that gives you so much flexibility about how you want to deploy your safeties whether you want to put two back there whether you want it to be a single high whether you need help in the box right all kinds of stuff and I think there's just so much that you could do so much flexibility when you've got guys who have that kind of ability so wanted to shout out Martin Emerson who's having a

fantastic season for the Browns man it's i love that one i had to go back and look where i had him i had a fourth round grade on him they took him in the third he's absolutely outplayed a fourth round grade so um he's just he's been really good he's been very impactful for them i think i know the brown season hasn't gone the way they had hoped but you almost wonder where that secondary would be without him. I mean, he's overachieved. If you shore up that run defense, which I don't know how it got so bad in Cleveland.

The interior is brutal. They cannot stop the run. But if you shore up that interior and you get better at run defense, you have a lot of things there. Of course, Mylesrett on the outside is an unbelievable pass for sure you got some speed of linebacker and now you have these two guys on the outside who give you that man coverage ability that's a damn near complete defense that's something you should be able to turn around pretty quickly so um cleveland fans i think you got a

good defense coming especially when you can put those two cornerbacks out there before we get to our last one do you want to shout out our friends over at bro throw have you ever bet on sports with your friends well bro throw is the only sports betting platform that allows you to bet directly with friends in all 50 states no fees no juice no middleman bro throw is not a sports book and not paying juice saves you a ton of money over time bro throw is a social platform right you can take control of who you bet with, know who's on the other side of every bet you create or accept. Easily create or accept a bet,

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shouting out it's just the favorite rookie that we watch doesn't have to be the best guy doesn't have to you can't say we're wrong on this you can't because it's totally up to us there's no counter that wasn't really your favorite yeah it's like asking someone's favorite color. You cannot tell them they're an idiot. You could, actually. What's the Monty Python quote where he's like, what is your favorite color? Blue. No, green.

Spot on. Literally spot on. Who's your favorite rookie? Favorite rookie is Bryan Robinson Jr. Nice. I mean, what a story. What a year. I know he's not eligible as comeback player of the year because you have to come back from an nfl season previously as far as i know there's

actually no fun fact for you trevor and for those listening i think that the qualifications for comeback player of the year are not known to the public did you know that it's not yeah i think i think we went over this on an earlier podcast because we were trying to figure we were trying to figure it out no we were trying to figure it out because i think we were doing our we still don't know mid-year we were doing like our mid-year uh awards and i think we were going like oh who's comeback player of the year and i think i was like is it injury or like can you just come back from anything? Yeah, come back from being shot, Brian Robinson Jr. Unbelievable.

Returned to the field after being shot. Insane. I love the big hat. The big hat. I mean, he's just awesome. And he's forced 14 total missed tackles in his last three games. So he just, he looks so good now. He's healthy. he's right he's comfortable he's a big part of an offense that this team has been scorching hot and they're

trying to make the playoffs with uh no ads taylor heineke premium subscription the 98th overall pick he's outplayed expectations brian robinson's awesome no ads no ads taylor Heineke? No ads. You pay a little more, but he's played like now. You like that? I mean, shout out to Brian Robinson. He's been my favorite. Premium subscription, Taylor Heineke. When Taylor Heineke throws for 275, that's the no ads version. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think he did that last week. When he throws for 175, one touchdown and two interceptions. That's a free, like. But they still win the game. When they still win the game. You can still have a free subscription, you know, and, like, you get some value and entertainment out of it. But, you know, the premium stuff, that's when you start getting the real uncut.

Yeah. Football wins. Who are you going with? I love the big hat shout-out, too. My favorite rookie that I have watched this year, Cater Kohu, the cornerback from the Miami Dolphins. I don't know how many people outside of the Miami Dolphins fan base have been paying attention to what Kohu's been doing,

probably because he wasn't high on your draft radar going into the 2022 NFL draft. He was undrafted out of Texas A&M Commerce, all right? Makes the final 53-man roster for the Miami Dolphins. They play him a little bit in week one and week two, and then they go, okay, we're playing this guy basically the rest of the year. Now he is their slot corner. He's played 289 snaps in the slot, 174 on the outside.

So he does dabble a little bit on the outside when they need to be to be flexible but 76.8 overall coverage grade that is fourth among rookie corners we're talking about an undrafted free agent who has the fourth highest coverage grade with over 500 snaps played he is such an instinctual and smart football player man i watch him operate from the slot and when you're in the slot and you have to deal with so much space, the offense is always trying to manipulate you, whether it's a wide receiver doing a two-way go or pick plays one way or the other or just like slant flats,

these different combinations where they're trying- Tackling in the box? That's hell. Sure, of course, right. They're trying to put corners, slot corners corners in conflict because a lot of times these slot corners in order to be athletic enough, agile enough to handle two way goes from wide receivers. You normally have to be a smaller and let's face it, most of the time, a weaker corner just because you were a smaller bodied player they ask cater kohu to come up and tackle wide receivers running backs getting on blocks defeat blocks do the dirty work he does all of that and yet he also is a fantastic cover man deep down

the field in man coverage or in zone coverage i love his instincts in zone as well he keeps his eyes exactly where they need to he's got a great feel for where the ball is going to go i think that he is a he has been a screen destroyer at times so far this season so whether it is that skill set of his short area explosiveness really showing out in coverage or his fearlessness to stick his nose in wherever it needs to go to do what he needs to do for that defense cater co who deserves a shout out i've enjoyed watching him more and more uh he came on my radar like four or five weeks ago when somebody was talking to him and i was talking about him i was like i don't even remember who that was now i had to remind myself about him being in the draft class got to see him in some nfl action going

back and watching his tape and it's been a lot of fun man so miami dolphins you're having a fantastic season in a lot of ways nailing on cater co who is one of those ways number one incredible work by you and find on you um because i have not heard somebody mention cater co who this nfl season he's sorry i don't listen to dolphins pods i know the dolphins fans are probably well aware and you know man this dude's got a crazy background he was born in the Ivory Coast like to make it from the Ivory Coast all the way to Texas all the way to the NFL I mean what a background Trevor I ranked 309 players in last year's draft I did not have Cater Kohu uh as a part of my evaluation process and I I bet a lot of NFL teams, you know, that watch Miami doing their advanced scouting each week is like, man, our area guys missed that one.

So a lot of people did. It just means you got to rank 310 this year. I was one short. The next guy was Kato Kou on the list. And you were like, no, I don't need it. I missed it. I mean, what a wild what a wild

career. He was first team all-conference 2019, I'm seeing, but he was there for a while. I think he was a five-year player. Probably got hit impacted by the COVID season. The COVID season. Yeah. Pretty badly. Just a player who

you give him an opportunity and he just takes as far as he can go and that's why it's that that goes into him being um a favorite rookie there so there we go best rookie of the nfl season for both of us it was sauce garner guy who was overplaying their draft position i went with damian pierce connor went with uh tarik woolen disappointing year one a little bit disappointing connor went with trayvon walker i went with geariq Woolen. Disappointing year one, a little bit disappointing. Conor went with Trayvon Walker. I went with George Karloftis. Long-term guys that we like. I went with Martin Emerson.

Conor went with Iki Okwano. And then the favorite rookie that we've watched, Conor shouted out, Brian Robinson Jr. is an incredible comeback story. I'll say it. I'll say it. Maybe the NFL won't recognize it, but I will. I'll be brave enough to do it. We still don't know.

And then maybe he is. Hey, maybe. Who knows? Who knows? And then I gave a shout out to Kater enough to do it. We still don't know. And then maybe he is. Hey, maybe. Who knows? Who knows? And then I gave a shout out to Kato Kohu as well. You guys let us know if you've got a player that you really, that came to mind immediately when we named off one of these categories. Or shoot, maybe we'd love to hear you name out all categories.

Hit us up on Twitter at Tampa Bay Trey at Connor J. Rogers. Let us know in the YouTube comments section as well. You guys have been, I've been reading so many different comments about, you know, either things that we're talking about within the podcast. Sometimes you guys start talking about things that we weren't even talking about in the podcast, whether it's football related, not football related. I absolutely love that. Let the YouTube comments be a sounding board. This is an app. This is a community podcast. We don't have a Discord. Maybe we should get a Discord. Yet. Yet.

It could happen someday. Let me leave it very discreet. We're scheming. We're scheming. Here's the problem. One, Trevor and I in general are not Discord users. We used it once when we went on somebody's show, and we were like two 80-year-old men trying to figure out an iPhone.

Number two. What is this? Yeah. on somebody's show and we were like two 80 year old men trying to figure out an iphone uh number two what is this yeah why can't you hear me hello is my camera not on you have a good old man voice wow that's like full simpsons thank you really that's really really good um that's so good it's funny because if i shaved my beard i'd look like i 12. So maybe we need to do that one day. I need to just clean shave and then just talk at this voice, the whole podcast, you know, mind blowing circumstance. It's like a, it's like a Snapchat filter in real life. That's me.

I was also trying to figure out like when you started discord, do you need a moderator for the discord or you just throw it like a stick of dynamite and see what happens i don't know so maybe we'll get there one day because i'll do the conversations that the addicts have whether it's on twitter whether it's in our replies dms the youtube comments i've noticed lately are absolutely popping off with different conversations love it love it uh we need to find a way to melting pot that together and just have everybody, you know. I would love to. I would love to.

I would love to combine the fam. You know, I'd love to combine the fam. But, you know, until we get a Discord running or until we find a more better way to organize it, you know, just keep hitting us up on the YouTube comments. It's been a great place to read you guys' opinions on all sorts of stuff, even when we're not doing SpeakPipe stuff. Which, by the way, we didn't do SpeakPipe voicemails, but if you have a burning take, something that you want to get to us, those don't expire.

So speakpipe.com backslash NFLSE. It's a really easy thing where when you go to that URL, you'll get a prompt and you can record your voice. You don't even have to type it out. You know, if you got some long-winded thing, we're like, all right, I got a theory. I want you guys to comment on it or hear it out or whatever. You can hit us up on SpeakPipe, speakpipe.com backslash NFLSE.

If it's something that we really love, we'll get it in on the show. We try to do that as often as we can. But, yeah, let us know. Some rookies that you've really had your eye on this year, whether it was just a favorite, a guy who's playing really well, a guy who's overplaying his draft position, somebody you wish was playing a little bit better, or somebody you like long-term. We would love to hear from you, love to hear what your opinions are.

This is the last podcast for us this week, but of course you guys know the drill. We will be back with you on Monday morning to talk about everything that we're going to see in the NFL for week 14, right? Insane, insane. Very strange bye week schedule for week 14. Yeah, the Falcons have a bye week.

So do the Saints. There's quite a few. Like there is quite a few byes for how late it is in the year. Saints went into their bye week one quarter early, I will say that, from Monday night. They packed it in. I was just going to say, when your season's over, you have no playoff chance, and your bye week hits in week 14.

I mean, do you really, like, pump up the bye week plans? No, you're kicking back. You're getting hammered. Yeah, I think you're going somewhere for the entire week, and no diet, your drinking's on, if that's your thing. You're going to a Brazilian steakhouse, and you're putting that place's on if that's your thing you're going to a brazilian steakhouse and you're you're you're you're you're putting that green card yeah baby yeah green card on all right my goodness that's what that's what that's what we're doing if we're if we're on a

bi-week um with such stipulations all right people you guys have a wonderful weekend we will be back with you on monday morning i'm trevor sikama that is connor rogers thank you guys so much for listening to the nfl stock exchange podcast see you guys have a wonderful weekend we will be back with you on Monday morning I'm Trevor Sikama that is Connor Rogers thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast see you guys on Monday Thank you.