Five NFL rookies who exceeded expectations during 2023 season: Packers WR, Bears CB among players undervalued

With the Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl getting underway — and with it, the unofficial start of the NFL Draft season — it’s instructive to look back at the 2023 rookie class to see which players outperformed their draft expectations. 

It’s helpful to see what we missed and why, and to try to avoid those mistakes in the evaluation process going forward. If nothing else, however, it just reinforces that no matter how much information you have — whether you’re in the media or work for an NFL team — this is an inexact science. More than that, there’s so much that goes into why a player fails or succeeds, and many of the variables — like team stability, scheme, supporting case — are out of their control. 

By the way, we talked about this topic last week on “With the First Pick,” the podcast we co-host with former Vikings GM Rick Spielman.

Here are five rookies from the 2023 class who impressed us and outperformed expectations. (To be clear, this list is in no way exhaustive; it’s more an opportunity to point out some of the players we really enjoyed watching during the season, especially when considering where they were drafted.)

1. CJ Stroud, QB, Texans (Round 1, No. 2 overall)

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Author : Ryan Wilson

Publish date : 2024-01-26 13:26:51

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