5 NFL Players Who Will Become Household Names in 2022 Training Camps
There are a lot of hypotheticals involved in the NFL offseason. Training camp is where things get real.
There's a lot of talk throughout the offseason about player movement, updated depth charts and projected roles on teams. Once the pads come on, we really start to get a sense for how things will shake out.
OTAs and minicamps give us a sense of what a player can do, but running in shorts and a T-shirt is quite different than matching up with the physicality in the league.
Those who can make that transition and stand out are in line to have breakout seasons in 2022. These guys might not have been impact players to this point in their careers but will use training camps to announce their arrival.
RB Eno Benjamin, Arizona Cardinals
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There is definitely room for upward mobility in the Arizona Cardinals offense.
Christian Kirk and Chase Edmonds both left in free agency. The duo accounted for 156 targets last season. A.J. Green drew another 92, but given that he only turned that into 54 catches for 848 yards, it's safe to assume he may be in for a smaller role as he enters his age-34 season.
Add in DeAndre Hopkins' six-game suspension for violating the NFL's performance-enhancing drug policy, and the Cardinals are going to spend much of the preseason figuring out what their offense will look like.
Entering his third campaign, running back Eno Benjamin has an opportunity to take some of that passing work and become the second back behind James Conner.
Benjamin has already earned praise from head coach Kliff Kingsbury. The coach told reporters last month that he looked like a starting running back in OTAs and minicamp.
Offensive lineman Justin Pugh has been impressed as well.
"He had to learn how to pass protect," Pugh told the Dave Pasch Podcast (h/t Jess Root of Cards Wire). "And that was really the only thing. You can't trust a guy to be in the game if you can't trust him to pick up pass protection, and he's gone night and day from last year to this year, so I think he's going to have a big jump."
If Benjamin continues to show off his improvement, he'll be in line for a much bigger role in 2022.
WR Nico Collins, Houston Texans
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Nico Collins is relatively unknown. He was the 14th wide receiver taken in the 2021 NFL draft and registered 33 catches for 446 yards and a touchdown as a rookie for a four-win Houston Texans team.
But if there were a prop bet for "the most surprising receiver to post a 1,000-yard season," Collins would be worth a wager in 2022.
At 6'4", 215 pounds, he's a big target for Davis Mills and has shown the ability to win downfield. His average depth of target of 10.6 was just ahead of Brandin Cooks (10.5). And Mills seems to have developed chemistry with Collins in the spring.
Sarah Barshop of ESPN highlighted Collins as a surprise standout in Houston. She noted that Mills has been effusive in his praise for the second-year receiver, saying that he has a "good grasp of this offense" and needs more touches this season.
Collins is going to have every opportunity to continue making a name for himself in training camp this month.
He was second on the team in targets as a rookie, and the Texans haven't done much to the receiving corps. They drafted Alabama's John Metchie III in the second round, but he suffered a torn ACL during the SEC Championship Game against Georgia.
With Metchie continuing to work his way back from the injury, Collins should once again be the clear-cut No. 2 receiver.
LB Ernest Jones, Los Angeles Rams
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Bobby Wagner was one of the Los Angeles Rams' most notable additions this offseason, but it is fellow linebacker Ernest Jones who has serious breakout potential for the defending Super Bowl champions.
The 22-year-old made seven starts for the Rams last season and had one of his best performances in the championship game against the Cincinnati Bengals, with seven combined tackles, including two tackles for loss, a sack and three quarterback hits.
It was the culmination of a rookie campaign in which Jones showed he could be special. He went from being a third-round pick who saw limited action for the first half of the season to being a consistent contributor.
Rams scout Michael Pierce believed Jones could be a star after seeing him at South Carolina.
"This is an instinctive guy who is wired the right way," Pierce said, per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic. "He plays the game the right way. On top of that, he's mature on and off the field. In my opinion, I thought he was a perfect fit for us because this guy, he wants to own this. He wants to be the owner of the defense. He wants to know it all. He wants to be the guy."
Jones has shown flashes of being able to do a little bit of everything. Not only was he effective as a blitzer but he also allowed a passer rating of just 74.4.
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TE Albert Okwuegbunam, Denver Broncos
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Russell Wilson is the rising tide that should lift all boats in the Denver Broncos offense. Wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy are expected to each have great seasons now that the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback will play at Mile High.
But don't count out tight end Albert Okwuegbunam as a beneficiary of the Wilson trade.
The athletic tight end only saw 40 targets in his second season, but he made the most of them. He had 33 receptions for 330 yards and two touchdowns.
That was while playing second fiddle to Noah Fant at the position. Fant led all Broncos receivers with 68 receptions and drew 90 targets. With Fant off to Seattle in the deal that brought Wilson to Denver, the road is clear for Okwuegbunam to have a much larger role.
Offensive coordinator Justin Outten has liked what he's seen from him this offseason.
"This playbook is not easy and then with the position that he plays, you know he took a gigantic step during that second week of OTAs," Outten told the media. "I thought that he did a really good job of owning his job and not trying to do too much."
The Broncos did draft UCLA's Greg Dulcich in the third round. That doesn't necessarily mean that Okwuegbunam won't get the lion's share of the tight end targets, though. Dulcich could simply take over the role left behind by Okwuegbunam's ascent.
Edge Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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Joe Tryon-Shoyinka's rookie stat line does not jump off the page. The Bucs used the 32nd pick on him in the 2021 draft, and he posted 29 tackles, four sacks and 10 quarterback hits.
Counting stats can be deceiving, though. Tryon-Shoyinka showed signs of breakout potential. He played 49 percent of the defensive snaps on a veteran-laden team and had a pressure percentage of 13.2, per Sports Info Solutions.
That rate is comparable to Von Miller (13.1) and Khalil Mack (13.8).
Athletically, Tryon-Shoyinka has the tools to become an elite quarterback hunter. His 9.3 relative athletic score (RAS) was good enough to make him one of the top 100 most athletic defensive end prospects since 1987, per Kent Lee Platte of Pro Football Network.
The 23-year-old pass-rusher will have to prove that he can get after the quarterback more effectively in a larger sample size. But there's a clear path for him to do it in Tampa. The team has yet to re-sign Jason Pierre-Paul, clearing the way for Tryon-Shoyinka to take on a larger role.
With the opportunity to work against offensive linemen Tristan Wirfs and Donovan Smith in camp, he should start making waves before the preseason even starts.
Advanced stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference unless otherwise noted.
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