Matty's Rookie of the Week

The 2009-2010 season has begun and my weekly rookie of the week is back. We had a lot of great performances this week, from quarterbacks and wide receivers especially. So, without further delay here is All Day Football's eighth Rookie of the Week of the season.

Matty's Rookie of the Week

Percy Harvin
5'11" 184 lbs.
Florida
1st round selection, 22nd overall
5 recs for 84 yards and TD, 5 returns for 175 yards

Percy Harvin was a one man wrecking crew against what was supposed to be a stout Green Bay defense. It seemed that every time a big play came around, young Harvin was making it. He hooked up with Brett Farve for a huge TD mid game and constantly had the Vikes in great field position. The contributions of this young receiver cannot be denied and I thought he was going to struggle a bit, I can honestly say that I would want him on my team, he plays tough, he plays smart and he plays with great speed and passion, he'll be a cornerstone for the Vikes for years to come and we haven't even begun to see the best that Harvin has to offer. So, congrats Percy on your first ROTW award, you earned it bud!

Runner Ups:

Offense

LeSean McCoy
5'10" 198 lbs.
Pittsburgh
2nd round pick, 53rd overall
11 rushes for 82 yards and TD, 2 recs for 10 yards

Defense

Brian Cushing
6'3" 262 lbs.
USC
1st round pick, 15th overall
10 tackles, 1 INT, 1 sack

Be sure to check back next week for the Week 9 ROTW!

Roids Rumour Refuted?

It was report earlier by NFL Draft Bible that USC linebackers Clay Matthews and Brian Cushing had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, specifically anabolic steroids.

Contrary to that rumour, the Clay Matthews camp has come out and said that this claim is false and that Clay Matthews has not tested positive for anabolic steroids. The letter from Clay Matthews' agent reads as follows:

"Our office represents Clay Matthews. Your website is reporting, via unnamed sources including one NFL team, that Clay tested positive for steroids at the NFL Combine. As I’m sure you know, the NFL Policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances clearly states that “any Club or Club employee that publicly divulges, directly or indirectly, information concerning positive tests or other violations of this Policy (including numerical summaries or specific names of persons) or otherwise breaches the confidentiality provisions of this Policy is subject to a fine of up to $500,000 by the Commissioner.

Further, neither Clay nor our office has received notification of any positive test, whether for steroids or any banned substance. I also have been informed by an attorney at the NFL League Office that they have not received notification from the Independent Administrator of any Draft-eligible players testing positive for steroids during the pre-employment drug testing conducted at this year’s Combine, and likewise, that they have not informed the member NFL clubs of any drug testing results. Govern yourself accordingly."

Whether this will hurt Brian Cushing or Clay Matthews draft stock remains to be seen. I think it is false information used as a smokescreen used to deter teams from drafting Cushing or Matthews. But considering the offices of Matthews are adamant about him not testing positive, I'm sure Cushing's representatives will be coming out of the wood works soon to refute this claim as well. Both USC linebackers are likely to be first round selections but this could be a detractor to some teams, it is very similar to the Luis Castillo story that occurred a few years back where he tested positive for steroids to recover from an injury but yet he still was a first round selection.

It should be interesting to see where this story goes and if there is any validity to accusations made by NFL Draft Bible.

-Matty