Five players who will make a run at NFL Rookie of the Year honors in 2021

Pro Football Focus recently wrote about the potential Rookie of the Year candidates for the 2021 NFL season. What rookies does PFF think will have a shot at winning the 2021 NFL Rookie of the Year?

Trevor Lawrence: QB Jacksonville Jaguars

PFF thinks the former Clemson Tiger is the favorite for Rookie of the Year and the media consensus agrees with them. Lawrence enters a situation with the Jacksonville Jaguars behind an underrated offensive line. The interior parts of their line were much better than the stats showed in 2020.

The Jaguars’ offensive line allowed 44 sacks in 2020, the seventh most in the NFL. The unit also cleared the road for rookie running back James Robinson, who rushed for 1,070 yards and three touchdowns in 2020.

Lawrence was one of the most decorated quarterbacks in America at both the high school and college levels. Coming out of high school he was rated as the number one overall prospect in America according to Rivals.com and 247sports.com. He lived up to the hype and then some at the college level.

As a true freshman, the Georgia native led Clemson to the 2018 National Championship over Alabama, 44-16. He became the first freshman starting quarterback to lead his team to a national championship since Oklahoma’s Jamelle Holieway in 1985. In the 2018 season, Lawrence completed 259 of his 397 passes for 3,280 yards, while tossing in 30 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

In his final season at Clemson, PFF graded Lawrence at 91.1. He completed 231 of his 340 attempts (67.9 percent) for 3,153 yards, while tossing 24 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Lawrence spins a beautifully accurate football when he lets it go down the field. His passes have an excellent combination of touch, accuracy, and rotation on the football.

Honorable Mentions

Trey Lance: QB San Francisco 49ers

PFF’s Sam Monson did a write-up on Lance recently that you can find here: Trey Lance could win Rookie of the Year. Trey Lance is 6’3, 221 pounds and is one of the most dynamic dual-threat quarterbacks of any prospect in the 2021 NFL Draft class.

In Monson’s write-up, he talks about Lance’s ability to run in the open field when he wrote, “Lance broke 50 tackles on a little over 150 carries, making a man miss an average of one in three times he carries the ball in his career. Almost 1,000 of his yards came after contact.”

The downside with Lance is that he’s only thrown 319 pass attempts at the FCS level. He’ll have room to grow as a passer but the 49ers believed in him so much, they selected him with the number two overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Lance also jumps into a situation where the 49ers return tons of talent on the offensive line and the skill positions. Tight end George Kittle is one of the league’s best at his position and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is poised for a breakout year.

There are plenty of questions coming into fall camp with the 49ers. Will San Francisco 49er head coach Kyle Shanahan hand Lance the keys to the offense? Could he win Rookie of the Year? Many people across the country certainly like Lance’s chances.

Zach Wilson: QB New York Jets

The former BYU product is one of the best-graded prospects to ever come out of Provo. He’s one of the best quarterbacks ever, period, according to PFF. Per Pro Football Focus, his 2020 season graded out at a 95.5, higher than Joe Burrow’s season from 2019-2020.

That’s the highest grade PFF has ever given to a QB for a single season. In 2020, he completed 247 of his 336 (73.5 percent) pass attempts for 3,692 yards for Brigham Young, while tossing in 33 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Wilson also spins one of the prettiest spirals of any quarterback prospect in the 2021 draft class. One of the bigger knocks on Wilson as a prospect coming into the NFL was that his competition was not very good at BYU. He had a lot of problems against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, a game in which the Cougars lost 22-17 in 2020.

One advantage that Wilson has on other quarterbacks in the 2021 draft class, is that he’s the guaranteed starting quarterback for the Jets on day one. He’s going to get more opportunities to pile up stats. Plus, the Jets have some exciting pass-catching weapons like rookie wide receiver Elijah Moore (Ole Miss) and rookie running back Michael Carter (UNC). The Jets’ rookie offensive nucleus could help propel Wilson to a successful rookie campaign.

Ja’Maar Chase: WR Cincinnati Bengals

The former LSU Tiger put together one of the best seasons by any receiver in college football history in 2019, when he was an integral piece to the Tigers’ 2020 National Championship.

When looking at Chase’s 2019-2020 campaign with LSU, it’s hard to find any blemishes. The tape is nearly spotless. Chase was the top receiver selected in the 2021 NFL Draft for a reason. He’s the very best at the position in the 2021 draft class and the stats and film back that up.

Let’s take a look at a few of the advanced stats from Chase’s 2019-2020 season with LSU. These stats are courtesy of Pro Football Focus in this write-up from Dan Schneier of CBS Sports.

The former four-star recruit hauled in 24 catches on passes that traveled 20 plus yards in the air, the most ever recorded in a single season, per PFF. The Louisiana native also snagged 16 contested catches in 14 games in 2019, per PFF. His 2019 season was the second-best age-adjusted season by total receiving yards since 2000, per Scott Barrett.

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow is reunited with his old LSU teammate (Chase) yet again on the Bengals. The duo have remarkable chemistry together as they demonstrated during their time at LSU. It’s a big reason why many are picking Chase to win Rookie of the Year in the 2021-2022 NFL season.

Kyle Pitts: TE Atlanta Falcons

PFF’s Sam Monson had high praise for Pitts in this article, calling the former Florida Gators standout “the best receiver at any position” in the 2021 NFL Draft. In his in-depth write-up on Pitts, Monson also wrote:

“Pitts’ earned a 96.2 PFF grade in 2020, the highest we have ever given to a pass-catcher over a single season. On a smaller sample size, his receiving grade was 90.1 when lined up as a receiver in the slot or out wide and 92.8 when that alignment matched him up against a cornerback.”

Think about that for a second. The highest grade PFF has EVER given to a pass-catcher over a single season. Pitts is a once-in-a-generation type of talent. He’s also got a freakish wingspan of 83 3/8 inches, the longest wingspan for any wide receiver or tight end in the NFL in the last 20 years. He made the honorable mention list for Rookie of the Year for a reason.

(Photo at top of page by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)