The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Over the next week, I will be posting a number of these "2009 NFL prediction" type threads. Some will have polls attached like this one, others will just call for you to climb out on a limb and predict the future. These prediction threads are all about the pigskin fun factor, so play nice.

Today's thread is about the 2009 NFL rookie class.

Every season, new football wunderkinds get drafted into the league, some signing for such ridiculous salaries that you have to wonder if they'll ever play well enough to deserve that kind of coin.

There are a lot of factors that go into the amount of impact that a rookie has on his NFL club. "Talent" is obviously a large part of it, but so is "opportunity." You can't shine if you aren't on the field to make the plays, right?

I have listed above just a few of the marquee rookies in this year's draft class. What I want from you guys is your pick for the NFL Rookie of the Year, as well as any other random thoughts, predictions, criticisms and hype in regards to the rookies this season. If your pick for ROY isn't listed, you can name him and support your pick within your response.

i'm going with Mark Sanchez

my reasoning is that there's a bias towards the offense in these types of awards and he's playing in a big market where he'll have more attention put on him .. also i doubt stafford is going to be starting from week 1 i still see them going with culpepper at least to star the season

I have to admit...your pick for ROY mirrored my own, Fau...and pretty much for the same reasons.

I do think that Stafford will be able to do something decent in Detroit, so he'll get talked about. I see Percy Harving becoming one of the Favre-led Vikes' better weapons. I really think Jason Smith is going to be a monster tackle for the Rams as well.

Rookies that I think are going to "underperform" based on their draft position and expectations... WRs Darrius Heyward-Bey, Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin. DE Larry English has me feeling like he won't match up with the pre-draft hype that launched him all the way up to #16. The top TE in the class, Brandon Pettigrew, is another that I expect to do "nearly nothing" his rookie season.

Patrick Chung

Sorry for not putting "Other" in there, Hoodie.

Any sort of support for the Patrick Chung pick? As a pac-10 lover, I dig your obscure ROY pick, but am interested in hearing what you think he'll do to land him the ROY.

If you think J-Mac is going to underperform why did you draft him ... right before I was going to draft him? : P

Lil_B actually drafted Maclin right "after" you selected Dom Hixon of the giants. I took Shonn Greene and Josh Morgan on the flip that round. I don't have Maclin on a single roster this season. If he makes it on to any, it will be a waiver thing, once he's shown me something on the field.

oops my bad    I was gonna take him on the turnaround.

I look at rookie WRs in FF with a pretty critical eye. If they aren't insanely talented (see Randy Moss) or go to a team with a critical need for a #1 targets kind of receiver (see DeSean Jackson last year), I usually just avoid them. Rookie WRs really get a little bit of a come-uppance when they get to the NFL, because suddenly every corner that covers them on every route is better than pretty much any corner who covered them in college. The challenges on both sides of the development scale are ridiculously tough:

The physical side - getting off the line against extremely big/strong CBs, separating from corners who can run as fast or faster than they can, and...

The mental side - Learning much more complicated passing schemes and assignments, dealing with the mental stress inherent in going from the dude who could do it all to the dude who can't do shit

...all while learning new route trees, assignments, etc... so they're not even playing instinctively yet.

You do get the occasional rookie WR that comes in, hits a nice jump in his development (term usually heard for this: "it just started clicking," and the opportunities are there for that receiver to make an impact, but I try not to go after them too often for my fantasy squads. Same goes for rookie QBs.

Rookie running backs, however, are an entiiiiiiirely different story. ;D I try to come out of most drafts with 2 or 3 of those rostered.

According to one newspaper clip I read he looked good in camp and is probably going to be the rookie with the biggest impact on the NEP.  Being the homer that I am I selected the best NEP rookie to win the ROY, as this is just a wild ass stab in the dark at this point in the season. 

I went with Percy Harvin....if he can stay healthy, Percy will have a big Rookie year for the Vikings both catching and running the ball.  Minnesota's offense has the potential to be very dangerous in 2009 and Harvin should be a big part of that attack!

I  have to agree with Rick.  I'm going with Harvin as well.  The Vikes will find all sorts of ways to use him.... and I can also see him fast becoming a favorite target of Brett Favre.

Does anyone but me realize that Mark Sanchez sucks? He's the next Kellen Clemens.

If you actually thought about things before ranting, I'd definitely be more interested in which players you think suck. Sanchez is as close to Kellen Clemens as you are to Chris Farley.

We have a similar pool going 'round my office and I picked Sanchez for O-ROY.  I got laughed at.  Seriously.  I will be laughing last.  Almost everyone else picked Percy Harvin (they're a buncha Gators' homers).

I couldn't vote, its locked for me.  Anyhow I picked Sanchez and I hope I am fucking wronger then I've ever been in my life. But the Kid looks good.