Updating the Latest Buzz on Top Rookies at NFL Training Camps
The NFL draft has been made into an event with a cycle that stretches from February to May, consuming a large portion of the league's offseason. We build prospects up over those months, projecting them to be future stars and starters, but not everyone can be the cream of the crop, and that's what being an impact player in the NFL means.
Looking back at the 2015 rookie class, for example, you have first-round picks who struggled on the field, like Ereck Flowers and Melvin Gordon, players who were injured and missed time, like Dante Fowler and Kevin White, and some just couldn't get on the field due to talent, like D.J. Humphries. Not everyone can have a storybook career arc in this cutthroat league.
Now a half-month into training camp, most teams have a good feel for what they have in their pocket. Maybe positional battles haven't been sorted out, but ranges on the depth chart have been established.
A fourth-string quarterback isn't realistically going to jump to a Week 1 starter over the next month, so the real takeaway for fans at this point of the year is who is or isn't competing for impact roles for their respective franchises.
Sorting through news from every training camp, it's clear that eight highly drafted rookies—first-round picks—have looked better than the rest. We'll break down who those players are, what they've done to generate hype in training camp and what role they appear to be slated to start the season in heading into the final month of the summer.
Jared Goff, QB, Los Angeles Rams
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To no one's surprise, first overall pick Jared Goff is generating a lot of hype in Los Angeles Rams camp. After the team traded a plethora of top-100 picks to acquire the former California quarterback, Goff is going to be treated like a future franchise quarterback, and to this point, he seems to be filling that role.
NFL Network's Colleen Wolfe, reporting live from Rams camp, noted that Goff has already improved from his first practices in training camp and stated that general manager Les Snead was impressed with Goff's ability to pick up the playbook so quickly. Considering the fact that Goff was a starter with the Golden Bears as a true freshman—still a rarity, even in the current spread landscape of college football—it shouldn't be a surprise that he's pushing for a starting job as a rookie.
With only Case Keenum, who is the listed starter in Los Angeles, in true competition with Goff for the main gig, if he can keep this momentum going through the preseason, Goff could earn Week 1 snaps by the end of the third preseason game. As NFL.com's Gil Brandt has mentioned on Twitter, Goff's single interception a week into camp is impressive for a rookie passer.
Of the three first-round quarterbacks from the 2016 class, including Philadelphia's Carson Wentz and Denver's Paxton Lynch, Goff seems to have the easiest path to immediate reps. We'll watch this quarterback battle unravel on Hard Knocks this summer, but considering the good vibes around the first-year passer, Keenum's status as the starter seems more like a motivational ploy than a true reflection of how the team is going to approach the position heading into the regular season.
DeForest Buckner, DL, San Francisco 49ers
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In 2015, the San Francisco 49ers used a first-round pick on defensive lineman Arik Armstead of the University of Oregon. Armstead only started one game as a rookie, as he flashed up-and-down consistency in the team's 5-technique rotation last season.
In 2016, the same franchise hired Chip Kelly, Armstead's former college head coach, to take over the same role in San Francisco. Along with Kelly came Jerry Azzinaro, a defensive line coach who also followed Kelly from Oregon to the Philadelphia Eagles and now the 49ers.
Azzinaro-coached defensive lines are one of the few in the NFL which strive to play a true 3-4 defense up front when given the opportunity. This made San Francisco a perfect landing spot for DeForest Buckner, another former Duck lineman.
Buckner was arguably the best run defender in college football last season, but his need to play in the right scheme to thrive led to his drop to the seventh overall slot, where the 49ers snatched up the 6'7" freak. Unlike Armstead, Buckner looks to be an instant-impact player in his rookie season.
According to Rob Lowder of NinersWire.com, a USA Today affiliate, the 3-4 defensive end is already seeing reps with the first team. As a two-gap defender, he was NFL-ready out of the gate, which may help him in his apparent goal of winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.
It's rare for rookie defensive linemen to start 16 games in the NFL, but considering his developed frame, consistent talent and chemistry with the coaching staff in San Francisco, Buckner shouldn't have been counted out from the beginning. As of now, he's having the best camp of any highly drafted defender, as third overall pick Joey Bosa is still working on signing his contract in San Diego and Jalen Ramsey is struggling with zone looks in Jacksonville.
Jack Conklin, OT, Tennessee Titans
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Offensive tackles aren't sexy first-round selections, and in the recent past, they haven't been safe selections, either. Names like Luke Joeckel, Greg Robinson and Ereck Flowers linger whenever a bookend comes off the board in the top 10, but that didn't stop the Tennessee Titans from trading first-, second- and third-round picks to move up to eighth overall for Jack Conklin.
One reason for this may be due to their success in drafting Taylor Lewan from Michigan in 2014, one of the few offensive tackles who was ready to contribute in the league before turning 25 years old. Unfortunately, Lewan couldn't block both edges of the Titans line last season, as they had to move Jeremiah Poutasi, a rookie who was projected to play guard, to right tackle late in the preseason.
That experiment went poorly, and considering Marcus Mariota's sack-fumble problems, it was an issue which needed to be addressed early. By all accounts from camp, Tennessee has cemented their starting tackles for the next few seasons.
John Glennon of the Tennessean stated that Conklin won a motivational wrestling belt for the Titans' offensive line unit after snuffing seven-year veteran pass-rusher Derrick Morgan in one-on-one drills. Glennon also made it a point to include head coach Mike Mularkey's comments on Conklin's "steady" performance.
On the offensive line, there's no bigger compliment than consistency, and the former Michigan State walk-on appears to have an edge there over his fellow rookie offensive linemen leaguewide.
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Vernon Hargreaves, CB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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As a recruit, Vernon Hargreaves was the top cornerback and third overall player in the 2013 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. At the University of Florida, he was a three-time All-SEC defensive back before declaring early for the 2016 NFL draft.
Still, despite his pedigree, he slipped to the 11th overall slot, likely due to his sub-5'11" frame. Lucky for him, the in-state Tampa Bay Buccaneers don't seem to mind nabbing short cornerbacks as the rest of the league is chasing the ghost of Richard Sherman, a Day 3 selection whose speed and length made him a steal for Seattle's Cover 3 scheme.
Tampa's starting cornerbacks are Brent Grimes and Alterraun Verner, who were measured in at 5'10" at their respective combines. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Hargreaves is already the team's nickelback, a starting role in today's NFL. With nearly every team playing some form of a six-man box on the majority of their snaps, Hargreaves being "just" a third cornerback is more of an impact than the majority of first-round picks will have.
Going head-to-head in practice with stretch receivers like the 6'5" twins Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans should be good for developing his game. One of the bigger steals at the cornerback position in recent drafts has been Jason Verrett, who, like Hargreaves, was a multi-time first-team defender in a Power Five conference.
Because he measured in at 5'10" in Indianapolis, though, he fell to the 25th overall pick. With the San Diego Chargers in 2015, Verrett made his first Pro Bowl in just his second season in the NFL.
Height isn't the end-all and be-all at cornerback, and the Buccaneers must believe that they're tapping into a market inefficiency based on how they are building their team. Showing no hesitation to get Hargreaves on the field, he must be a force in practice to be handed a significant role this early in camp.
Laremy Tunsil, OT/IOL, Miami Dolphins
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Laremy Tunsil went from the potential third overall pick to falling out of the top 10 selections in the draft when someone hacked his Twitter account and posted a video of him smoking out of a gas mask bong just minutes before the draft began. Falling to the 13th overall slot, Tunsil was picked up by the Miami Dolphins, who already had Branden Albert and 2014 first-round pick Ja'Wuan James playing at offensive tackle.
Tunsil's long-term projection is still as a bookend, but right now, he's a guard. In Miami, he's a starting guard. NFL Network's Jeff Darlington (via NFL.com's Marc Sessler) claimed Tunsil held his own in practice.
He has flirted with playing tackle, though, as Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald stated that Tunsil got work at left tackle when Albert had the day off. Common sense would lead you to believe that he's the team's third offensive tackle, an important role considering the battle of attrition that NFL offensive lines have to face during a 16-game season.
Left tackle was also the spot where Tunsil was at when he was involved in a scuffle with his fellow teammates. Tunsil, a former Freshman All-American and two-time All-SEC first-team lineman, doesn't seem to be backing down from a single obstacle, even veterans on his own squad. The NFL isn't too big for him, which is impressive for someone who just turned 22 years old this past week.
Corey Coleman, WR, Cleveland Browns
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If you opened this article in hopes of finding sleeper fantasy football selections, you have a right to be disappointed. After running back Ezekiel Elliott, who was drafted fourth overall and is battling a hamstring issue in Dallas, the next true skill player to get drafted didn't come until the mid first-round, when Corey Coleman of Baylor was taken by the Cleveland Browns with the 15th overall pick.
While there wasn't a significant quantity of skill players taken early in the draft, that doesn't reflect on the quality of those players, and Coleman is proving that in Browns camp. The Fred Biletnikoff Award winner, who caught 20 touchdown passes in a less-than-healthy season last year, is likely to be Cleveland's No. 1 target in 2016, and his highlights from this summer have raised expectations.
It seems like there's a new Robert Griffin deep ball sent Coleman's way every day at camp. If the narrative isn't the Griffin-Coleman Baylor connection, it's Coleman exorcising demons of drafts past by burning former first-round cornerback Justin Gilbert.
Coleman is quickly becoming a fan favorite, and it's only a matter of time before he breaks out on a national stage. Cleveland won't be playing in a nationally televised game until Week 10 against Baltimore, and by then the Browns' playoff hopes may have left the building. But if you want to get an early look at a potential superstar, you'd be wise to start keeping an eye on Coleman starting this preseason.
Keanu Neal, S, Atlanta Falcons
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Like DeForest Buckner, Keanu Neal is a first-round pick who is also reunited with a former coach. Neal played safety at the University of Florida, where Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn was a defensive coordinator before leaving for the same role with the Seattle Seahawks in 2013.
While Neal never played under Quinn, he was recruited to play for Quinn's defense. Heading into his second year as a head coach with the Falcons, Quinn needed an upgrade at the safety position to play quality Cover 3 looks and get his team over .500 in 2016. While the selection of Neal with the 17th overall pick was shocking to some, the writing was on the wall.
Neal just turned 21 years old this summer, and he's one of the more aggressive safeties we have seen come out of college football in years. With his ability to break on the ball, he could either play single-high or as an underneath safety, a hybrid hammer.
He's likely to see plenty of strong safety looks, as many have posted videos of him bringing the heat in practice, including the Falcons' official Twitter account. Atlanta's transitioning defense might have found a decadelong enforcer in the first round.
If it's not his hits, it's his coverage or his footwork that have people excited in Georgia on a given day.
Kenny Clark, DL, Green Bay Packers
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The Green Bay Packers, a true draft-and-develop franchise, rarely play rookies, but Kenny Clark has found himself in an interesting circumstance. With the retirement of B.J. Raji, the suspension of Mike Pennel and Datone Jones' move to outside linebacker, the Packers need early contributors from their rookie defensive lineman.
Still only a 20-year-old, Clark is getting baptized by fire, facing veteran offensive linemen like All-Pro Josh Sitton, Bryan Bulaga and T.J. Lang in practice, with the expectation that he will be a starter. According to Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, though, Clark was able to win the first nine one-on-one matchups he saw in camp, and Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted that Clark was a starting nose tackle at times this August.
Clark had one of the best bull-rush moves in college football last season with the UCLA Bruins, but getting starting-caliber snaps in that front seven, where former first-round picks Nick Perry and Jones are still trying to figure out how to see the field, his rise is reasonably surprising. For reference, Raji, who was the ninth overall pick in 2009 when the team was in its first year of the 3-4 defense, only started one game as a rookie nose tackle.
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