NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year

The 2022 NFL season kicks off Thursday! Are you ready for some football? The New York Jets have never had an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, but second-round running back Breece Hall is the +850 favorite on the futures odds.

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year 2022

New York surprised many by selecting Hall out of Iowa State with the 36^th pick because Michael Carter had a good 2021 rookie season for New York. However, GM Joe Douglas deemed Hall dynamic enough to pursue him in an effort to give Zach Wilson a new playmaker to utilize. Hall’s cousin is three-time Super Bowl champion Roger Craig. The four-time Pro Bowler was the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards and register 1,000 receiving yards in the same season.

Hall totaled 3,941 rush yards on 718 carries (5.5 yards/carry) and 50 touchdowns in his three seasons, and really turned it on as a starter in ’20 (1,572 rush yards to lead FBS, 21 TDs) and ’21 (1,472 rush yards, topping the Big 12, 20 TDs), securing consensus first-team All-America and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors both seasons.

Additionally, he had 82 receptions for 734 yards (9.0 yards/catch) and six more TDs in his ISU career. Then at the NFL Combine, he put a 4.39-second time up on the board in the 40.

“The opportunity to add Breece is kind of a unique one in the sense that he is explosive,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said after the pick. “To add someone like Breece who is a home run hitter, who can take it .. part of the goal was to add some guys that when they touch the ball they can take it 80.”

Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett is the +900 second favorite but is not expected to open the year as the starter under center – Mitchell Trubisky will. Trubisky is listed as the first-string quarterback on the team’s first official depth chart, landing the job over first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett and longtime Steelers backup Mason Rudolph.

Rudolph is listed as the second-team quarterback, while Pickett is the third-team QB. Earlier Monday, Trubisky was named a team captain.

“All three quarterbacks have just been great, if I’m being honest, but Mitch is the guy we’re riding with,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said Monday.

A five-year veteran who has started 10 games over his first four seasons with the Steelers, Rudolph was getting second-team reps early on in training camp but over the past three weeks ceded most of that action to Pickett, even in the final two preseason games. Pickett and Rudolph both played well in preseason exhibitions. Both completed more than 70% of their passes, averaged more than seven yards per attempt, recorded a passer rating north of 115 and neither threw an interception.

The Steelers never dress three quarterbacks on gameday so fans of Pickett will have to be patient before they even see their guy in uniform on Sundays.

Another Steeler, rookie receiver George Pickens, is also +900 as is Houston running back Dameon Pierce. Pickett, a former Georgia standout, was viewed by many around the NFL as the top receiver prospect after the 2020 college season, and that things only changed after his ACL tear the following spring and the rise of character concerns. As a so-called ‘wild card’ prospect, he was ultimately the 11th WR to hear his name called in the 2021 draft, but he could have a productive rookie season alongside Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool, and has the upside to outperform most (if not all) of the pass-catchers chosen ahead of him.

Pierce was a fourth-round pick out of Florida by the Texans and has won the No. 1 tailback job. He was somewhat under the radar this offseason because of his light workload during his time at Florida. He never had more than 123 touches or 106 carries in a single season. Over the course of four years, he had just 329 rushing attempts and 45 receptions. However, he averaged six yards per touch and 5.5 yards per rush attempt while scoring 28 total touchdowns.

Saints wideout Chris Olave is +1000. Olave was the third receiver taken in the 2022 NFL draft, but Peter King of NBC Sports projects him to win OROY. Olave will compete with Michael Thomas and Jarvis Landry for playing time and targets, but both are major question marks heading into 2022. Thomas missed all of 2021 with ankle issues, while Landry set career lows in receptions (52), receiving yards (570) and touchdowns (two).