Elite Rookie Rankings Week 5

As the season progresses it starts to become more and more evident that this was a pretty poor 1st round draft class overall. There is some talent but way too much inconsistent play. The top performer this week was a nice surprise in Bengals' tight end Tyler Eifert, who helped his team upset the Patriots with a nice game. Shelden Richardson has taken a monstrous lead in the overall standings and will be tough to catch unless something crazy happens. Below are the updated standings after week 5:

1. Sheldon Richardson, DE/DT for the Jets, originally drafted 13th: Another very solid week from Richardson who is establishing himself by far and away as the gem of this 1st round draft class. 5 more tackles this week, two for a loss, a sack and a tipped ball. He is just all over the place and a menace for offensive lines.

2. Ziggy Ansah, DE/LB of Lions, originally drafted 5th: He holds at 2 despite what I would characterize as just an "ok" week. He did have a sack, but was otherwise quiet.

3. Eric Reid, S of 49ers, originally drafted 18th: Up three spots from #6, Reid is quickly developing into a star in this league. Losing Dashon Goldson is turning out to be a non event thanks to this draft pick. He had 8 tackles this week and a pass breakup. Solid performance and some huge hits.

4.Star Lotulelei, DT of Panthers, originally drafted 14th: He drops a week after a horrific Panther performance all around by the entire team. He had just two tackles and was quiet.

5. Alec Ogletree, LB of Rams, originally drafted 30th: He drops a spot after struggling a bit this week. He was good statistically with 5 tackles and one for a loss. He did have issues in this game and wasn't as dominant as he's been in some weeks.

6. DeAndre Hopkins, WR of Texans, originally drafted 27th: He also drops a spot after one of his worst performances in weeks. He had just 2 catches for 23 yards as Matt Schaub sinks further into the abyss.

7. Desmond Trufant, CB of Falcons, originally drafted 22nd: He stays at 7 after another solid week. The Jets did take the Falcons out, but it wasn't Trufant's fault who was respectable in coverage. He had 3 tackles and a defended pass.

8. Tyler Eifert, TE of Bengals, originally drafted 21st: He's up two spots after being the highest graded 1st round pick by me this week. He's starting to make a major difference in the Bengals' passing game. He had 5 catches for 53 yards, a major contribution moving the chains.

9. Kenny Vaccaro, S of Saints, originally drafted 15th: He drops a spot but stays firmly entrenched in the top 10 with another good showing. He had an impact blitzing, with a sack, he had 6 tackles but was up and down in coverage and got victimized deep late in the game.

10. Travis Frederick, C of Cowboys, originally drafted 31st: He remains in the top 10 after playing pretty well again this week against the Broncos. 

11. Kyle Long, G of Bears, originally drafted 20th: He's up a spot and his performances are starting to stabilize after being up and down quite a bit earlier in the season. He's knocking on the top 10 door. As bad as the Bears' offensive line has been the last few years this was a critical addition.

12. Barkevious Mingo, LB of Browns, originally drafted 6th: He is just extremely tough to block due to his freak speed. He continues to skyrocket up the rankings, up for the fourth straight time, four spots to #12 this week. He should be in the top 10 by next week at this rate. He had 4 tackles and hit the quarterback 4 times.

13. Jarvis Jones, LB of the Steelers, originally drafted 17th: Dropped two spots for being on a bye this week. Brutal, but other guys ahead of him are playing well.

14. Xavier Rhodes, CB of the Vikings, originally drafted 25th: Also on a bye this week, he dropped 1 spot.

15. Tavon Austin, WR of Rams, originally drafted 8th: He's not catching much luck as he had another big return called back due to a penalty. He's had a few of those now. He did have 3 catches for 32 yards, so more than 10 yards per catch for the first time this season. There's that.

16. D. J. Fluker, T of Chargers, originally drafted 11th: Bad loss to the Raiders but don't blame Fluker. He had one of his best games and played extremely well this week. He moves up 3 spots thanks to this performance.

17. Cordarelle Patterson, WR of Vikings, originally drafted 29th: The bye week doesn't get averaged in to the standings, so it shouldn't affect a player's standing, but it hurt Patterson a good bit too. He's down two spots. 

18. Dion Jordan, DE of Dolphins, originally drafted 3rd: Still not quite making the impact the Dolphins had hoped. He tipped two balls and had a tackle.

19. E. J. Manuel, QB of Bills, originally drafted 16th: The good news is he played ok and moved up a spot. The bad news is he got hurt, his team lost, and he's out 4-6 weeks now with an LCL sprain. He was 11/20 for 129 yards and had a rush for 14 yards. 

20. Matt Elam, S of Ravens, originally drafted 32nd: A very quiet game with just 2 tackles. He's down two spots.

21. D. J. Hayden, CB of the Raiders, originally drafted 12th: He had 5 tackles a defended pass and had by far the best game of his career. He's up four spots and it's nice to see him playing better.

22. Chance Warmack, G of the Titans, originally drafted 10th: He did fine this week, and he's treading water a bit, which is better than going backwards. 

23. Sharrif Floyd, DT of Vikings, originally drafted 23rd: The bye week curse strikes again, he's down two spots.

24. Luke Joeckel, T of the Jaguars, originally drafted 2nd: He had his first start at left tackle this week, moving to the blindside and he played horribly before breaking his ankle. He's not out for the year. A bad rookie season for Joeckel who will hopefully bounce back next season.

25. Lane Johnson, RT of Eagles, originally drafted 4th: Up two spots after a decent game that wasn't as disastrous as some he's had. He was penalized once.

26. Justin Pugh, G/T of Giants, originally drafted 19th: Stays at 26. Pro Football Focus has him down as giving up six (!) hurries. He's playing as badly as his team is.

27. Eric Fisher, T of Chiefs, originally drafted 1st: He drops 3 spots, did not play this week after being held out due to a concussion.

28. Bjoern Werner, DE/LB of Colts, originally drafted 24th: Did not play due to a foot injury. He's out 4-6 weeks.

29. Sylvester Williams, DT of Broncos, originally drafted 28th: He actually somehow moved up a spot in the rankings by barely playing and looking bad when he was in.

30. Dee Milliner, CB of Jets, CB of Jets, originally drafted 8th: He was out again this week due to a hamstring injury and the team played better without him.

31. Datone Jones, DE of Packers, originally drafted 26th: Despite an increase in snaps, he did absolutely nothing. 

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:

Barkevious Mingo up 4 spots

D. J. Hayden up 4 spots

D. J. Fluker up 3 spots

Eric Reid up 3 spots

 

Who's Not:

Jarvis Jones down 2 spots

Cordarelle Patterson down 2 spots

Matt Elam down 2 spots

Shariff Floyd down 2 spots

Eric Fisher down 2 spots

Luke Joeckel down 2 spots

About Andrew Juge

I like the Saints. A lot.

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