Several scouts warned he would be a top-five back by the end of his sophomore year. Jacobs is a fine back, but Taylor's upside was massive coming into the year.
Jacobs won the tiebreaker, leaving Taylor out of the top 10. We knew Taylor was poised to explode but stayed true to the voting, which left Taylor tied for 10th with Josh Jacobs. Running back Who's rising now Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts Leonard Fournette, Tampa Bay Buccaneers When asked about Herbert's recent 65-yard deep-ball TD after rolling to his right while a New York Giants defender clamped down, someone with the Chargers laughed and said, "You'll be less and less surprised as he goes." Save a few curious games (hello, Houston), Herbert puts on a show whenever he is under center. Herbert, meanwhile, has only built on his stellar rookie year, ranking third in Total QBR at 65.3 behind Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady and posting 4,394 yards, 33 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. For the season, Burrow has a stout 4,165 passing yards with 30 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. He's a killer."īurrow has Cincinnati poised for the playoffs after setting a franchise record with 525 passing yards on Sunday against Baltimore, showcasing clinical work with a variety of throws both from the pocket and on the move. "They are talented, but Burrow knows how defenses are trying to play him at any moment. " a big reason the Bengals are turning it around," an NFC evaluator said. Now Herbert and Burrow are both healthy and have plenty of weapons on the outside, and these two should trade blows for years to come as top-10 passers. Evaluators were majorly impressed with Burrow's command of the offense as a rookie, but the sample size wasn't big enough to get him into the top 10.
Burrow finished in the honorable mention category, somewhere in that Nos. 9 QB ranking on our list, but Burrow tore his ACL in Week 11, which probably hurt him in the voting. Herbert burst onto the scene with 4,336 yards, 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions through 15 games last season, earning him the No. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals Justin Herbert, Los Angeles ChargersĪt the time of voting, Herbert garnered more buzz than Burrow but also had a larger body of work. So we went back to execs, scouts and coaches all over the NFL to determine the biggest risers for each of the 2021 top 10 lists - players who were either ranked too low or not ranked at all, including two potential record-breakers at the skill positions. That happened last year with Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and it's happening again this year at almost every position. And of course, sometimes it's as simple as a player having one special, unexpected year that will catapult the rest of his career. Some veterans get pigeonholed, some young players are undervalued because of a lack of tenure in the league, and too many deserving players are left as honorable mentions.
He wasn't a marquee name among casual fans but played at a Pro Bowl-level this season.īut the omissions are glaring, revealing more about leaguewide groupthink than some would like to admit. For instance, Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was the No. Revisiting those results nearly six months later, after 16 weeks of NFL football, is telling. The goal: Find out exactly how the league feels about your favorite stars. The project is extensive, culling league-personnel-driven scouting reports on nearly 200 players. Over the summer, we produced an 11-day project ranking the top 10 NFL players at each position, compiling votes from 50-plus executives, scouts, coaches and players. NFL big risers at every position 2021: Execs help pick players moving up our top-10 rankings, including Joe Burrow, Cooper Kupp
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