Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. leads all rookies this season with seven landing catches, and but there’s nonetheless a way that his first NFL season has been underwhelming.
Drafted fourth general out of Ohio State and the son of a Professional Soccer Corridor of Famer, Harrison went to Arizona with excessive expectations, however has but to discover a constant reference to quarterback Kyler Murray.
Three weeks in the past, the Cardinals have been 6-4 and shock leaders atop the NFC West standings, however they’ve dropped three straight, with interceptions on passes meant for Harrison in every of their previous two losses.
Harrison flashed big-play potential in Week 2 when he caught touchdowns of 60 and 23 yards within the first eight minutes of a 41-10 rout of the Rams, a part of a four-catch, 130-yard day. However he has topped 100 yards solely as soon as since then — he had eight 100-yard video games with the Buckeyes final season — and does not have a single catch of longer than 25 yards up to now 11 video games.
Harrison’s catch fee — the share of focused throws that end in receptions — is simply 52%, which ranks twenty third out of 27 rookies with 20-plus targets this season. He is caught greater than half the passes thrown his method simply thrice in 13 video games, so out of 96 NFL gamers with 50-plus targets, his catch fee ranks 91st.
This may communicate to the eye opposing defenses are already giving him. Arizona’s main receiver has really been tight finish Trey McBride, who’s on tempo for greater than 100 catches and 1,000 receiving yards. It is affordable to suppose that Harrison shall be nearer to these numbers in his second season, whereas persevering with to be the staff’s greatest landing risk within the passing sport.
Flags flying for Lions rookie nook
Detroit has matched Kansas Metropolis for the very best document within the NFL, and its protection, tied for second in factors allowed, is an enormous a part of that. However the Lions have finished that whereas first-round decide Terrion Arnold has struggled whereas enjoying the second-most defensive snaps on the staff.
Arnold has had a specific drawback with penalties — he is been flagged 11 occasions for an NFL-high 167 yards, placing him on tempo to be the primary participant at any place with 200 penalty yards for the reason that Saints’ Brandon Browner had 209 in 2015. Arnold does not have any interceptions as a rookie, and his general protection has been poor sufficient that Professional Soccer Focus ranks him 108th out of 118 NFL cornerbacks.
Because the Lions attempt to maintain on to the NFC’s prime seed and home-field benefit up till the Tremendous Bowl, they face a tough remaining month that features top-10 offenses within the Payments, 49ers and Vikings. That may put extra of a highlight on Arnold going into the playoffs, however Lions coach Dan Campbell provided help for him this week, saying he is seen progress at a time when many rookies tire and drop off.
“That is the place Arnold’s at. He is beginning to push by means of this,” Campbell mentioned. “He is gaining sufficient useful reps and expertise. He is not letting the grind of the season put on him down, and he is getting higher.”
In drafting Arnold and buying and selling for nook Carlton Davis, Detroit actively labored to improve its defensive secondary within the offseason. The staff’s protection has improved from nineteenth to tenth in whole protection, and from thirtieth to tenth in yards per cross allowed.
Pearsall forgotten by 49ers
5 weeks in the past, 49ers first-round decide Ricky Pearsall had a 46-yard landing and 73 receiving yards in a win in opposition to the Bucs, however in 4 video games since, he is almost disappeared in San Francisco’s passing sport. Pearsall has performed in 61% of the offensive snaps as a No. 3 receiver behind Deebo Samuel and Jauan Jennings, however in these 4 video games, he has simply 5 whole targets, with just one catch for five yards.
San Francisco ended a three-game shedding streak with a rout of the Bears on Sunday, however the 49ers are on the skin wanting in on the NFC playoff image. It might take a powerful end — in opposition to the Rams, Dolphins, Lions and Cardinals no much less — for them to have a shot on the postseason.
Rookie sacks laborious to search out
We have recognized for the reason that draft that there wasn’t a powerful class of defensive expertise, however with 4 weeks left within the common season, solely 12 rookies have a couple of sack, and the chief is the Rams’ Braden Fiske, who has six. That places him on tempo for the bottom whole to steer all rookies since Chase Younger had 7.5 in 2020.
Amongst these with disappointing totals is Minnesota edge rusher Dallas Turner, who went seventeenth general out of Alabama and has just one sack, with no sacks or tackles for loss since Week 1. The Vikings have an incredible defensive entrance and rank fourth within the NFL in whole sacks, so it is extra a operate of Turner not with the ability to get on the sphere. He hasn’t performed greater than 26 snaps in a sport for the reason that season opener. If the Vikings let free-agent-to-be Pat Jones II signal elsewhere — he has seven sacks in a breakout season — that might unencumber extra work for Turner subsequent 12 months.
Rookie QBs shut to three,000 passing yards
We have written rather a lot about this 12 months’s rookie quarterbacks, and the highest three are shut sufficient in passing yards to one another that each one of them — Washington’s Jayden Daniels, Denver’s Bo Nix and Chicago’s Caleb Williams — may cross 3,000 for the season this weekend. Nix wants 158 yards, Daniels wants 181 and Williams 254, and each time they get there, it is going to mark simply the third time in NFL historical past that three rookies cross for 3,000-plus yards in the identical season.
The earlier two occasions are a reminder of how hit-and-miss NFL careers may be even after a prolific rookie season. In 2019, three quarterbacks threw for 3,000 in Kyler Murray, Daniel Jones and Gardner Minshew, and in 2012, there have been 5, working the gamut from a number of Professional Bowl choices Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson to Ryan Tannehill, Robert Griffin III and Brandon Weeden.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand spent a decade overlaying the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Instances and The Athletic. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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