For the second straight week the rookie wide receivers seem to be hitting a mid-season slump. How they bounce back will be pivotal in determining the kind of impact they will truly have on their teams.

Dropped Out

Ja’Tavion Sanders – Ja’Tavion Sanders found himself wide open for a touchdown pass in the Carolina Panthers win against the New York Giants, but he only had two receptions for eight yards all game. Not being the clear tight end option for Carolina shows with the inconsistency to is stats.

Brian Thomas Jr. – The Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver falls out of the rankings after being shut down against the Minnesota Vikings. Brian Thomas Jr. had three targets, two receptions, and 12 yards in what has been his lowest performing game all season.

Just Missed the Cut

Bo Nix – For the second time the Denver Broncos quarterback finds himself just outside the rankings. He put up 215 yards and two touchdowns on 22 or 30 against the Kansas City Chiefs. If Bo Nix was able to lead his team for a game winning touchdown drive, then he would have solidified his spot in the top-10. 

10. Bucky Irving – RB

Bucky Irving rushed for 73 yards, the second most this year, and averaged 5.6 yards per carry, the most since week six. He has also become a dependable receiver for Baker Mayfield.

Irving has gone six straight games with out an incompletion on attempts he was targeted. He had three explosive runs against the San Francisco 49ers, and when he does not rush for 10 or more he has gotten increasingly better at rushing for five or more yards.

After crashing out of last week’s rankings, Marvin Harrison Jr. finds himself in the same spot he left it. In the Arizona Cardinals win against the New York Jets, Harrison had a perfect receiving game catching all five targets for 54 yards and a touchdown.

With a below average outing last week, Harrison needs to find consistency to climb these rankings. He has already had two 100 yard receiving games and when he gets hot, Arizona gets hot.

The biggest shock to this weeks rankings is the decline of Malik Nabers. When drafted, he was the most anticipated to make an impact this season and he did, but only for a few weeks. His three best performances came in weeks two, three, and four, a stretch where he had 320 yards and three touchdowns.

In the past two games, he has totaled 109 yards and zero touchdowns, earning 50 yards on six receptions from 10 targets last week against the Panthers. This is partially due to Daniel Jones and his recent conservative play style, but if Nabers makes plays like he did earlier this season he will quickly climb back up the rankings. 

7. Tyler Nubin – S

Tyler Nubin has some up and down games, but he is still the Giants second leading tackler behind line backer Bobby Okereke. He lead the team in Munich last week with 12 tackles, including a stuff.

This is the fifth time Nubin has been the team’s leading tackler in a game, the other four were done consecutively from weeks four through seven. Although cleaning up the problems New York has defending the run starts with the at the line of scrimmage, five of the Giants eight defeats have been decided by one possession.

6. Edgerrin Cooper – LB

The Green Bay Packers biggest issue has been their defensive consistency. They have 17 takeaways this season, but if they can not clean up the amount of big and explosive plays they allow, the team is only going to get so far. So, the bye week comes at a good time for the Packers and Edgerrin Cooper. 

5. Joe Alt – OT

Some of the Los Angeles Chargers success with their improved offensive line can be due to Joe Alt. He has increasingly protected his quarterback, Justin Herbert, as the team did not allow a sack for the first time this season.

His improved pass protections coupled with his run blocking makes hime the best rookie lineman in the league. After a poor performance last week matching up against last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, Alt’s blocking could help solidify a Wild Card position for the Chargers. 

Bye weeks are the time to regroup and after a couple weeks of underwhelming performances for Brock Bowers. This was a much needed time for the Las Vegas Raiders to reset.

The Philadelphia Eagles struck gold with Cooper DeJean and with his rookie teammate Quinyon Mitchell has been the second best team with first year defensive players, the top spot goes to the Rams. In the first half, while being blocked by CeeDee Lamb, DeJean slowed down and saved what would have been a certain Rico Dowdle touchdown.  

He has earned his right to line up against Lamb and his opponents WR1’s. He topped off his performance with a 31 yard punt return making him a defensive and special teams player to watch. 

The Washington Commanders star quarterback takes a hit in the rankings after two uncharacteristic showings. Out against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, Jayden Daniels had a season low 50% completion, going 17/34 and only threw for 202 yards.

His season completion percentage has dropped under 70% and sits 11th for total yards in the league, but the best attribute to his game is his veteran mindset, despite this being his first year in the league. Only two players that have thrown for over 1,000 yards have been intercepted less than he has.

Jared Verse is the first defensive player to earn the top spot on these rookie rankings and has been consistently ranked better or the same since the beginning of the rankings in week six. Despite the loss to the Dolphins, Verse has gone three straight games with recording a sack, bringing his total to 4.5 on the year.

In addition to the one sack he had four tackles (three solo), two tackles for loss, and a forced fumble coupled with a fumble recovery. He has become the Rams most difficult pass rusher for the league to contain.