NFL Rookie of the Year Winners and Reaction
Justin Herbert and Chase Young
The votes are in and the 2020 Rookie of the Year Awards for both offense and defense are finalized. My predictions for the Rookie of the Year Awards can be found here. Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers wins the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award while Chase Young takes home Defensive Rookie of the Year Honors.
Chase Young ran away with the award on defense. Not only was he a complete menace that anchored the Washington Football Team defensive line, but he earned the title of Captain for his supreme leadership throughout his rookie season. You can’t say enough about Chase Young and the impact he made in his rookie season. The future is bright for him throughout the rest of his NFL career and he should be a staple in defensive player of the year talks for many seasons to come.
I don’t think other great defensive rookies were snubbed by any means with this award going to Chase Young. There are a few other players who you could argue should have won the award, but when it comes down to it, Chase Young’s impact was far beyond what any other defensive rookie brought to their respective franchise.
The Offensive Rookie of the Year was a lot more contentious in my eyes. Justin Herbert wound up taking home the honors amongst a few other impressive rookies on the offensive side of the ball. Herbert did step into his starting quarterback role a bit sooner than anticipated and played very well. While the Chargers record does not reflect it, Herbert led that team very well and they were in almost every game they played thanks to his impressive all around abilities.
However, I do think there were other rookies that outshined Herbert and could have been justified winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts, and one guy I failed to mention in my prediction of who would win this award. James Robinson of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I am sorry James. I, like many out there, forgot about the impressive rookie season you put up. It was so impressive that I forgot you were even a rookie. Not to mention, he and I are both Illinois State University alums… Legends in my case. James Robinson was undrafted and still put up amazing numbers as the lead running back for the Jaguars. He, like Herbert unexpectedly stepped into the spotlight due to injuries, but made the absolute most out of their opportunities.
Justin Jefferson was my pick to win the award. He absolutely dominated opposing defensive backs with his natural ability at the Wide Receiver position. Jefferson was not the most highly touted receiver out of the draft, but should have been after the numbers he put up. Especially in an offense that does not throw the ball as much as other teams do. Not only did he break records set by the great Randy Moss, but he did so in an offense that is not conducive to wide receivers being very successful. I think Jefferson definitely got snubbed for this award.
Jonathan Taylor did start the season slow, but much like James Robinson and Justin Herbert, he benefited from injury. After Marlon Mack went down, Taylor was the lead back… or so it seemed. In the beginning and middle of the season, the Colts relied on Taylor along with Hines and Wilkins. However, later in the season, Taylor started to show why he was so highly regarded out of Wisconsin. It was a definite case of ‘Too little too late for’ for Jonathan Taylor in terms of the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award.
Overall, all four of the aforementioned players have bright futures ahead. Each has a different story in terms of their journey to the NFL and to NFL stardom. The future of the league is in great hands with these young stars in the making getting ready to take over.
