Way To Early Rookie Of The Year Picks
We are 126 days away from kickoff but it's never too early to predict the Rookie of the Year winners.
My favorite weekend of the year is over and a whole new class of rookies are ready to be welcomed to the league. There is talent and depth at every position but, only one player on offense and one on defense can win Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year. Here are my picks.
On offense, I think that there is a player that should win it, but there is a player that will win the award.
In reality, a guy like Penei Sewell or Rashawn Slater, if they ball out and don’t allow any sacks, should be the recipient of the Offensive Rookie of the Year award but, linemen never win this award.
The people who vote on OROY need to normalize giving this award to linemen if they really play well enough but I’m just screaming into an abyss because this won’t happen.
With all of that being said, I think Trevor Lawrence is the favorite and is my pick to win OROY because of the young weapons around him. He has a great two back set in Robinson and Etienne, and explosive wideouts with Shenault Jr., Chark, and Dorsett. He has the keys to succeed.
A player I would be on the look out for to win OROY is Najee Harris. He is the clear cut RB1 in the Steel City and has a solid offensive line in front of him that is anchored by All Pro David DeCastro.
On defense, there are a lot of guys who will be in contention for this award. My personal favorite to win this award is Colts first rounder, Kwity Paye.
Paye is big, strong, and super quick when getting after the quarterback and the reason that I like him to win DROY is that the AFC South has weaker offensive linemen. He’ll face off against Jacksonville twice who is weak, Tytus Howard who is unreliable, and his toughest task will be if he lines up against Taylor Lewan.
Kwity Paye has an outstanding motor that is better than any other edge rusher from this years draft. Paye is my pick.
Two guys that I think could give Paye a run for his money are Jamin Davis and Azeez Ojulari.
While I’m not a fan of the Davis pick by Washington, there are factors on their team that will set him up to succeed. Washington has an amazing defensive line that consists of Allen, Payne, Ioannidis, Kerrigan, and Young who will eat up blocks on run plays and let Davis run wild.
If Davis can play to the level he is capable of then he could rack up 100 plus tackles and throw his name into the running for DROY.
The other player I named was Azeez Ojulari who was an absolute steal for the Giants in round two. Ojulari is in a similar situation to Paye where the tackles he is going to play against are not top tier.
Other than Dallas who has Tyron Smith and La’el Collins, the rest of the NFC East is not great in pass protection.
I also like the aspect of Ojulari working with the Giants defensive line coach, Sean Spencer, a.k.a “Coach Chaos”. Spencer has elevated Leonard Williams and Dalvin Tomlinson’s game to the next level and can do the same with Ojulari.
So, all in all, my pick for OROY is Jacksonvilles new QB1 Trevor Lawrence and for DROY, it’s the Colts new monster in the trenches, Kwity Paye.