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 ninth Rookie of the Week of the season.

Matty's Rookie of the Week

Josh Freeman
6'6" 248 lbs.
Kansas State
1st round selection, 17th overall
14/31 for 205 yards and 3 TDs, INT

Josh Freeman was efficient in his first start and lead the 0-7 Tampa Bay Buccaneers to their first win of the season. Freeman did everything you expect from a cagey veteran QB, but what is most impressive is that it was his first start. Some might say that Green Bay was sorely unprepared for the Freeman onslaught, but I like to think that the Bucs have found their QB of the future. Freeman has the biggest amount of potential in the draft as he has great size and athletic ability and showcased his cannon and accuracy against a stout Green Bay pass defense featuring Charles Woodson, Al Harris and Nick Collins. So, congratulations go out to Freeman for his great performance and making sure the 2009-2010 campaign has no team go 0-16. Congrats Josh, you earned it! Also, NFL.com fans are ridiculous for not giving the Pepsi ROTW honours to Josh and instead giving it to Mike Wallace.

Runner Ups:

Offense

Mike Wallace
6'0" 180 lbs.
Ole Miss
3rd round pick, 84th overall
4 recs for 69 yards and TD

Defense

Jerraud Powers
5'10" 192 lbs.
Auburn
3rd round pick, 92nd overall
10 tackles, 1 INT

Be sure to check back next week for the Week 10 ROTW!

Broadway Josh?

Per NJ.com:

As first reported in The Star-Ledger last month, the Jets are very interested in Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman. How interested? They've scheduled a private workout with him this week, according to NFL.com.

On Monday, Freeman will have a chalk talk with Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and on Tuesday, he'll work out for coach Rex Ryan, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and Schottenheimer. It's unknown where the interview/workout will take place.

Freeman, a 6-foot-6, 250-pound junior, is shooting up the charts after an impressive showing at the NFL Combine and at Kansas State Pro Day. He has a big arm and is mobile.

As I've said, I think the Jets are fully prepared to go with either Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff at quarterback, but if Freeman falls to them at 17th overall it's unlikely they'll pass him up.

Kansas State Pro Day

Per NFL Prospect analyst Gil Brandt:

A number of teams are showing significant interest in Kansas State’s Josh Freeman. He is the biggest quarterback in this year’s draft class at 6-foot-5 3/4, 252 pounds and he came out after his junior season.

At Kansas State’s pro day on March 12, he did not do workout drills, but looked sharp throwing the ball in position drills. He also had his hand measured at 9 3/4-inches and his arm measured at 32 3/8-inch.

Quarterback coaches from Tampa Bay (Greg Olson), Detroit (Jeff Horton), Minnesota (Kevin Rogers), Seattle (Bill Lazor) and St. Louis (Dick Curl) were on hand to watch Freeman at Kansas State’s pro day and Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer will bring a board to diagram plays with Freeman on Monday. Jets coach Rex Ryan and Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum will join Schottenheimer on Tuesday to work out Freeman.

Jaguars quarterbacks coach Mike Shula will run a personal workout with Freeman the following Monday, March 23.

Here are some other notable prospects from Kansas State’s pro day, which was conducted indoors on FieldTurf:

DE Ian Campbell (6-3 7/8, 263 pounds) ran a 5.07 and 4.99 in the 40, had a 21-inch vertical jump and stood on the rest of his combine numbers.

WR Deon Murphy was a no-show, because he is trying to get an extra year of college eligibility.

WR Willie Edwards (6-1 3/8, 203 pounds), a notable player from Bethany College ran a 4.71 and 4.74 in the 40, had a 36-inch vertical jump, a 9-foot, 11-inch broad jump, a 4.41 short shuttle, a 7.19 three-cone drill and 14 bench press reps.

Aside from Josh Freeman no other player from Kansas State is draftable. Really Ian? 21 inch vert? I think I had a better vertical jump then he did and I outweigh him by almost 90 pounds when I was playing. Terrible for a pass rusher who is trying to show explosion.

As for Freeman, it looks like he is drawing some serious interest and has probably moved himself into first round consideration. I think the Bucs, Vikings and Lions will be the heavily favored teams for Freeman's services and it should be interesting to see if he even jumps one of the QBs like Sanchez and Stafford as he might have the highest ceiling of the three despite being the least NFL ready.

-Matty

Prospect Update: Josh Freeman

Per ProFootballTalk.com:

In a Friday morning appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, NFL Network draft guru Mike Mayock said that Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman has moved into round-one territory after putting in a “tremendous” Pro Day workout on Thursday.

The top two quarterback prospects in the draft are Georgia’s Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez of USC.

But some league insiders wonder whether Stafford and Sanchez are regarded as first-round talent because they genuinely merit such consideration in relation to players at other positions, or simply because they’re the best two quarterbacks in a class that isn’t all that impressive.

One scout recently opined that neither Stafford nor Sanchez would be regarded as possible first-round picks in any other year.

Mayock isn’t a fan of Stafford as the potential No. 1 overall pick, to the Lions. Mayock explained that Stafford’s performances in college were too inconsistent, despite being surrounded by elite talent. Mayock compared (and not favorably) Stafford to Matt Ryan and Jay Cutler, both of whom in Mayock’s opinion would try to will otherwise mediocre teams to win.