"Five Bold Predictions for the 2020 Season"

[CJD]

(08-09-2020, 10:51 PM)Synric Wrote: Contrary to popular belief their are other positions in the race for OROY. Quarterbacks get the attention and Burrow, Tua, and Herbert will top the lists but there was ALOT of talented offensive players at then top of the draft.

The 2020 draft had 6 Wide Receivers and a Running Back in the first round and 7 Wide Receivers and 5 Running Backs in the second round. 

I agree.

Over the last 20 years, 8 QBs, 9 RBs and 3 WRs have won the award.

In the 10 years before that, it was 8 RBs, 2 WRs and 0 QBs (granted, I doubt rookie QBs really played that much in the 90s). That trend continued in the 80s, for likely the same reason.

I think QBs are the flashy names to win, but history shows RBs win more often. The NFL is changing and the new CBA has thrust QBs into the starting line up faster than in previous generations, but I still think RB is the safer bet in today's NFL, simply because it's the easiest transition from college to the NFL. WR and QB, on the other hand, both have HUGE learning curves. 

The interesting thing about RBs is a lot of their success is based on their offensive line (I mean, every player on offense is affected by the play of the offensive line, but RBs are exponentially more impacted by a good Oline vs a bad Oline). So it's hard to give a prediction of exactly who will win OROY as a RB. But if I had to guess, I'd say Johnathan Taylor or CEH. Both going into insanely talented offensive lines and both have opportunities to be the feature back (Marlon Mack is currently listed as  Indy's starter, but I could see Taylor taking over that spot). I think D'Andre Swift also has a chance, but his Oline isn't as good as the other two.