7 NFL Sophomores Who Need to Prove Themselves at 2023 Training Camp
The minute a player is selected in the NFL draft, the clock of expectation starts ticking.
Last year's draft darling can quickly become an afterthought if they don't start showing signs of life early in their career. The next batch of promising rookies always shows up one year later.
Those realities can be hard to reconcile with the fact that progress isn't always linear. A disappointing rookie season isn't a death knell for a player's career, but there is still a limited window for a player to live up to the hype.
For the draft class of 2022, that next opportunity starts in late July when teams start coming together for training camp. Minicamps and OTAs are nice, but training camp is when the pads come on and competition for playing time truly begins.
Whether they dealt with injuries, were buried on the depth chart or just had disappointing production, these seven second-year players need to hit the ground running at training camp.
WR Calvin Austin III, Pittsburgh Steelers
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Calvin Austin III was one of the most electric athletes in the 2022 draft class but he never got a chance to show what he can do in his rookie season.
The fourth-round pick suffered a season-ending foot injury before the season ever started.
The 5'9", 160 pounds, Austin is a size outlier, but his 4.32 speed has helped him make an impression with his teammates and stand out at OTAs. He even drew praise from Patrick Peterson for his speed, which is impressive given the veteran cornerback ran a 4.34 40-yard dash once upon a time.
While shining in OTAs is nice, training camp will tell the real story for Austin. With more full-contact work, he will prove he deserves a role in the offense. Offensive coordinator Matt Canada enters his third season in the position and has to show growth this season.
The Steelers have a good amount of depth and mouths to feed. Diontae Johnson is a proven target magnet, George Pickens showed a lot of potential last season, Pat Freiermuth is an emerging pass-catching tight end, and they added Allen Robinson II to the mix this offseason.
The reality is that fourth-round picks have to earn everything they get.
Austin, 24, is the kind of player who needs manufactured touches. He'll have to earn those in camp.
QB Sam Howell, Washington Commanders
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Sam Howell didn't really have a rookie season as much as a redshirt year. The fifth-round pick didn't make his debut until he got to start in Week 18.
There wasn't a whole lot to be gleaned from his performance. He was 11-of-19 for 169 yards and a touchdown with an interception in a Commanders win to close out the year. But the team feels good enough about what it's seen to go into camp with the 22-year-old penciled in as the starter.
That doesn't mean he isn't going to have to earn it, though.
"It's one of those things that just because I said (Howell) is going to start off as QB1 doesn't mean he's going to finish as QB1," head coach Ron Rivera told reporters when they kicked off their mandatory minicamp.
The Commanders also brought in Jacoby Brissett this offseason. The veteran signal-caller showed he can still be a respectable starter with the Browns last season. The 30-year-old finished eighth in QBR while starting 11 games.
Washington is heading into Year 4 with Rivera at the helm and has yet to finish with a winning record. The pressure is on to win, especially with an ownership change.
If Howell doesn't show he can win games early, he could feel the pressure from Brissett.
Edge Jermaine Johnson II, New York Jets
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The New York Jets had a potentially franchise-altering draft in 2022. They had four picks in the top 36, bringing in Sauce Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Jermaine Johnson III and Breece Hall.
Gardner and Wilson looked like stars in Year 1. Hall was on his way to having a similar impact but a torn ACL cut his season short. Their performances overshadowed a modest rookie campaign from Johnson, the No. 26 pick in the draft.
Johnson, 24, settled into a role as a rotational player. He played 34 percent of the defensive snaps while also contributing on special teams. He was somewhat productive with 2.5 sacks and six total pressures.
It wasn't the kind of rookie year that was a disaster, but it was one that should leave everyone wanting more.
If Johnson wants an expanded role, he's going to have to earn it. Carl Lawson and John Franklin-Myers played the most snaps on the edge last season, and they are back. Bryce Huff was one of the most efficient pass-rushers in the league, and the team drafted Will McDonald IV in the first round of this year's draft.
It's a good problem for the Jets to have. They are building an arsenal of young pass rushing talent. But they are also in a position where players aren't just going to get more run because of their draft position.
Johnson has to show that he's developed between the end of his rookie season and now once the Jets start camp.
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WR Skyy Moore, Kansas City Chiefs
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For the second offseason in a row, there's a lot of opportunity for Kansas City Chiefs receivers to carve out a role in one of the league's best offenses.
In the first year without Tyreek Hill, it was JuJu Smith-Schuster who took over as the most-targeted non-Travis Kelce receiver for the Chiefs. He garnered 101 targets last season before leaving for the New England Patriots in free agency.
Skyy Moore was expected to be one of the receivers who made an impact last season. The Chiefs used a second-round pick on the Western Michigan receiver, but he was mostly an afterthought in the passing attack.
The 22-year-old finished his rookie year with 22 receptions for 250 yards despite playing in 16 games.
Moving up the target list isn't going to be easier in 2023. Smith-Schuster is gone. But Justyn Ross has received rave reviews in OTAs, Kadarius Toney came in a midseason trade last year, and the team drafted Rashee Rice in the second round this season.
Moore put in good work at OTAs, and head coach Andy Reid was complimentary of what he's done so far.
"He looks like he's on the same page with Patrick. ...In these camps, he's been doing a real nice job. Let's keep on advancing as we go, and he'll do that because he's wired right," Reid said, per Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star.
Competition is going to be fierce, and Moore can't afford to fall behind.
OT Evan Neal, New York Giants
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It is not easy to transition from college football to the NFL on the offensive line, and Evan Neal learned that the hard way in 2022.
The tackle was taken with the seventh overall pick and started 13 games. There were a lot of growing pains.
Neal surrendered seven sacks and drew seven penalties while earning a 41.8 grade from PFF, ranking 80th among the 81 tackles they ranked last season.
Fortunately for Giants fans, they've seen how much a young tackle can develop in just a few seasons. Andrew Thomas had a rough go of it as a rookie. He ceded 10 sacks in his first season but finished this year ranked third among all tackles on PFF.
It's an encouraging sign that Neal went looking for help this offseason. He has been working with Willie Anderson, a Hall of Fame finalist tackle, who spent 13 seasons in the league as a right tackle this offseason.
There's still time for Neal to make a Thomas-like recovery after a rough rookie season. But training camp is going to offer the first real look at the improvements that he has made with Anderson this offseason.
OT Trevor Penning, New Orleans Saints
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The New Orleans Saints made a sizable wager on Trevor Penning being an immediate impact player on the offensive line last season. The return on investment in Year 1 was not good.
Granted, a lot of that wasn't Penning's fault. He was snakebitten on the health front, suffering a toe injury in a preseason game that required surgery and kept him off the field until Week 12. He made his first start in Week 18 but suffered a Lisfranc injury.
The 24-year-old was primarily used as a sixth lineman when he returned from injury, so it's hard to draw any conclusions from one start in the final week of the season.
Penning was unable to participate in OTAs as he recovered from the Lisfranc injury. However, Jonathan Hendrix of Saints New Network noted that the Northern Iowa alum is expected to participate in Training Camp.
The Saints acquired Penning with the 19th pick in the draft last year which also sent their 2023 first-rounder to the Eagles. That pick became No. 10 overall.
Penning will need to hit the ground running when the Saints report to camp. If he can stay healthy and command the starting left tackle job in camp, then this won't be a trade that continues to get revisited.
DL Devonte Wyatt, Green Bay Packers
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The Green Bay Packers selected a pair of Georgia defenders with their two first-round picks in 2022.
Quay Walker saw one of the highest snap counts of anyone on the Packers defense with 81.9 percent of the snaps, but Devonte Wyatt was much less busy, getting just 21.7 percent of the defensive snaps.
Wyatt profiled as a disruptive interior pass-rusher with a 9.6 relative athletic score and an explosive first step. He did have 1.5 sacks but no tackles for loss and only three total pressures all season.
They aren't great numbers, but it is a small sample size. Given the Packers movement at the position, Wyatt is going to be expected to take on a much bigger role in his sophomore campaign. Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed both left in free agency, leaving behind over 1,100 combined snaps.
The Packers didn't make any major moves to replace them with veterans, signaling a faith in Wyatt that he's going to be much improved in 2023.
It'll be up to Wyatt to reward that faith.
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