NFL 2023 Super Wild Card Weekend Ranking rookies by their importance to teams first round success

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Established stars are put on display and shine brightest in the NFL playoffs. Yet those experienced players aren't the only elements to the postseason. And sometimes, the key supporting actors who make the playoffs such a gripping drama every January are rookies.This postseason features plenty of first-year players who'll appear in the first round.Let's rank these rookies, not by their individual quality but by their importance to Super Wild Card Weekend.It felt wrong not including Woolen after the dazzling regular season the rookie had, but I was already at 10 names, so I created an honorable mention for the first-year pro from UTSA. Woolen Rod Langway Women Jersey led the league with six interceptions in 2022 and had 16 pa s breakups along with that high pick total. And he's basically a lab creation at over 6-foot-4 with 4.26 speed and a 42-inch vertical. The Seahawks are underdogs and they're facing the well-oiled machine. Why isn't he higher? Because Woolen has been a blanket down the field, and San Francisco's offense is centered around quick pa sing and YAC. Plus, Kyle Shanahan is obse sive about creative ways to run the football, and his team is darn good at it. Woolen's impact is reduced because of the specific matchup in this playoff contest. He's tremendous, though, and his development was fast-tracked this season.Is Cook going to be "the dude" in the Bills backfield for these playoffs? is so effective laterally but had a fumble when the Bills were deep in their own end against the in the regular-season finale. Likely due to that mishap, Singletary only played nine snaps the entire contest. Cook outpaced him with 13 snaps and took nine carries for 46 yards (5.1 yards per attempt).Since about the midway point of the season, Cook has appeared comfortable in Buffalo's offense, and it's shown in his effectivene s. Since Week 11, the rookie has toted the rock 47 times at a 6.23 yards-per-carry clip. Don't get me wrong, the Bills are a pa s-centric club. That's why he's at No. 10 on this list. But Cook's presence and big-play capabilities may be useful for Buffalo to keep defenses off balance and potentially close out games late. Thibodeaux providing the Giants with a monster effort would go a long way in the Giants escaping Minnesota with a victory on Sunday. Is it an absolute nece sity? Not really. Which is he's at No. 9 here as a former top 10 pick playing a premier position.In the Christmas Eve, last-second defeat at the hands of the , Thibodeaux had one pre sure on 46 pa s-rushing snaps. His edge-setting, run-stopping prowe s will matter in New York's attempt to slow . And without star right tackle , there's a little opening for Thibodeaux to make ' life uncomfortable in the pocket.Run the football and play defense. Ask your dad or grandpa their keys to winning in the playoffs, that's likely what they'll tell you. In today's NFL you're probably going to want to pa s well and stop the pa s, but I'll give the older generations their due respect for this matchup from a Seahawks perspective -- if Seattle can hum on the ground, it has a puncher's chance. (The elder statesmen in your family will get that reference). And I'm not expecting Seattle's offensive line to control the line of scrimmage in this one. The best remedy for the ground game when a blocking unit can't physically dominate is a hyper-elusive, contact-balance magician at running back. Walker demonstrated flashes of being that type of back as a rookie. He Matt Niskanen Men Jersey had a forced mi sed tackle rate of 21% during the regular season, not one of the highest in the NFL but the exact same figure as . He's a bowling ball thundering down the lane at 5-foot-9 and 211 pounds, too. A large game from Walker would significantly boost Seattle's chances of springing an upset in the Bay Area.Cro s isn't ahead of his fellow rookie offensive tackle for a specific reason. Head to the writeup on Lucas for that reason. But, of course, Cro s had to be included as the former No. 10 pick at left tackle protecting against a ferocious 49ers defensive front.Cro s didn't have an All-Pro, -type rookie campaign. He more than held his own, though. As a dancing bear with quality hand work, Cro s can stay in front of most outside speed rushers. The power element of his game is still not fully developed yet, as is the case with most young blockers. He'll have his work cut out for him against and Co. on Saturday afternoon. No one's giving the Ravens a chance against the . Frankly, the overarching thought has credence. Baltimore's probably not going to have its former MVP quarterback, and the offense has unsurprisingly been flailing without him. The Ravens have yet to score 20 points without Lamar Jackson as the starter, and Cincinnati manhandled Baltimore in Week 18.I can bet the Ravens' offensive line doesn't care about any of that. This is a rugged group of ground-game plows carefully curated by GM Eric DeCosta for Greg Roman's diverse run scheme, and Linderbaum was born to play center for this Ravens club after his time at Iowa. And he'll have a challenge against the wide and athletic at nose tackle for the Bengals. The Ravens can stay in this game if they control the clock to keep the ball out of Joe Burrow's hands. They can do that by grinding the football into a pulp via the run. In the midst of all the injury news coming out of Baltimore this week, there's a glimmer of light -- and his 5.7 yards-per-attempt average is likely to return. How the center of the Ravens' blocking unit plays will matter a great deal on Sunday night.Nick Bosa played 743 snaps during the 2022 regular season, and just under 60% of those snaps came on the left side of the 49ers' defensive line. That indicates Lucas is probably going have the most one-on-one meet-and-greets with Bosa in this game. And Bosa registered 90 pre sures this season. Bananas. He's as slippery as they come around the corner and deceptively powerful when he decides to bull rush. Lucas doesn't back down from any challenges. Remember early in the season when there was a viral pancake block from Lucas like every week? If he can even slightly limit the havoc that Bosa creates in this game, it'll drastically improve the Seahawks' chances at victory.Hamilton's quietly hummed along this season after going a bit later than most expected in last April's draft. He had some coverage mistakes early but has really hit his stride and made plenty Dale Hunter Men Jersey of noise lately for the Ravens defense. He has three pa s breakups and two interceptions since Week 15 and has seemed to get it in terms of the vast responsibilities he has in Baltimore's defense.Of course, a key to a Ravens upset this weekend is a stellar defensive effort from Mike Macdonald's crew against and the deep, high-powered Bengals. And Hamilton's constantly in a different pre-snap alignment. He Evgeny Kuznetsov Men Jersey often rotates late to a different zone, with a different a signment. His impact can't be overstated in this clash between heated AFC North rivals. In the blink of an eye, Purdy's gone from Mr. Irrelevant to the most relevant guy on the 49ers roster. Sure, he's operating a brilliantly designed scheme with a sturdy offensive line and an embarra sment of YAC riches. He still needs to make the right reads, react properly to pre sure and throw with good timing and ball placement.Now, he's not facing the Seahawks' Legion of Boom defense. But this game marks the beginning of the pre sure on Purdy being cranked up as the rookie who was the last pick in the draft holding the offensive reins for the No. 2 seed in the NFC.Coming straight out with it -- Neal did not have a good rookie season. He wasn't 100% healthy early yet even when he returned, Neal was nowhere close to the bull-dozing behemoth he was at Alabama. Lots of woeful pa s-blocking reps, too. Altogether, 39 allowed pre sures on 453 pa s-pro snaps. That's a pre sure on every 11.6 drop backs. Yikes. In the first matchup between the Giants and Vikings, Neal surrendered a whopping seven pre sures. And mostly aligns on the left side of the line for Minnesota, so Neal will see plenty of the long-time Vikings outside rusher, whose physique resembles a statue in the middle of city square in Europe. How Neal plays will have ma sive implications on the outcome of this likely tight Giants-Vikings game.How can Thompson not be at No. 1? Has to be. He's a seventh-round rookie starting on the road against the No. 2 seed in the conference. Sure, he has , and an imaginative scheme set forth by Mike McDaniel. But the environment is a hostile one for the former Kansas State star.Entering this contest, his stats don't look good -- 57.1% completion rate, 5.1 yards per attempt, one touchdown, three interceptions. However, there is some athleticism to his game, and Thompson's shown a willingne s to at least attempt difficult throws beyond 10 yards. How Thompson handles the atmosphere in Orchard Park and executes in many moments will have an enormous impact on this game. No rookie can move the needle acro s a wider spectrum on Super Wild Card Weekend.
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