NFL Rookie Report Week 5

With every passing week more and more rookies start to see the field and begin to breath their first true professional air. Of course some rookies have already established themselves as top performers on their respective teams and even start to scratch at the bottom of the league's elite at their positions. Now let's take a look at the rookie performances from week 5 and who made an impact or his first big play in the pros.

Offense:
A number of receivers got their first career catches this weekend. The list includes former Michigan star Mario Manningham for the New York Giants (1 catch for 6 yards), Buffalo's 7th round draft choice Steve Johnson (1 catch for 8 yards) and Arizona's Early Doucet. The former LSU Tiger made the most of his chance, catching 6 passes for 42 yards. He might look at more playing time and plenty of opportunities from now on in Arizona's high octane offense. The Cardinals game against the Bills had another rookie receiver stepping up in the Bills' James Hardy. The tall wideout presented a nice big target, especially on third downs, and finished with 35 yards on 3 receptions. Another receiver who might have increased his playing time this weekend is Washington's Devin Thomas. He could be a valuable part in Jim Zorn's West Coast offense as he caught 2 balls for 28 yards at Philadelphia. He looked much more comfortable than he did in recent weeks, basically following the development of the entire Redskins' squad. Tight end Tom Santi had a nice showing for the Colts as he caught 4 passes for 27 yards, including a key touchdown in Indy's comeback victory at Houston.


Three rookie running backs particularly stood out in week 5: Houston's Steve Slaton, Arizona's Tim Hightower and the Cowboys' Felix Jones. All of them have more than cemented their roles as key parts in their teams' offense and continue to make big plays. Slaton rushed for 93 yards on 16 carries and two scores against the Indianapolis Colts. He also showed off his explosivness with an impressive 41 yard run. Hightower also scored two touchdowns, including one for 17 yards. He carried the ball only 7 times but made the most of it, collecting 37 yards on the ground. Felix Jones also didn't need the ball much to make his presence felt. He finished with 93 yards on just 9 carries, once again proving how much of an explosive runner he can be. His 33 yard touchdown run against the Bengals was easily the Cowboys' highlight of the game.


On such highlight runs the offensive linemen mainly have an assisting job but are just as important as the ball carrier. Numerous rookies look terrific in the trenches early in the season. Jeff Otah starts for the well playing Panthers and Atlanta's Sam Baker does his job for one of the most surprising offenses in the league. Gosder Cherilus made his second start for the Detroit Lions but as you can imagine, Detroit isn't the greatest place for a rookie to shine. Running back Kevin Smith had a nice outing though, finishing with 56 all purpose yards and a 12 yard touchdown run. A much more impressive performance took place in Miami with the Dolphins beating the San Diego Chargers, aided by top draft pick Jake Long. The big, mauling left tackle thrives in Miami's running attack and looks more and more comfortable in pass blocking. Carl Nicks made his second straight start at guard for New Orleans.

Defense:
Something is happening down there in Miami as Bill Parcells and company have quickly changed the culture of the franchise. Young defensive players Kendall Langford and Phillip Merling once again looked very good against the run. They along with their teammates allowed only 60 yards on the ground against San Diego. Another defensive lineman getting more and more reps is Eric Foster for the Indianapolis Colts as he had 5 solo tackles and batted a pass down against Houston. The smallish Foster (6-2, 265) fits right in with the rest of the Colts defense that builds on speed and quickness.

Plenty of quickness can also be seen among the defensive backs in this rookie class. Chris Horton led the Redskins in tackles, finishing with 8 stops in another impressive road victory in the NFC East. Fellow safety Kenny Phillips is looking very good for a strong New York Giants defense. He recorded 7 tackles in the Giants' blowout victory over the struggling Seattle Seahawks. Brandon Carr (Kansas City) is slowly getting used to blowouts, too, playing for the lowly Chiefs, yet he does a solid job in the secondary. Against Carolina he finished with 8 tackles, suffers though from the overall state of his entire team. It's hard to look good on a team as young and inexperienced as the Chiefs. Charles Godfrey finds himself in a better spot as the starting free safety for the Carolina Panthers. He recorded just 2 tackles but was part of an impressive Panthers' backfield that only allowed 92 yards in the air. Keith Rivers didn't have his usual high number of tackles but made plenty of other plays in his team's close loss to Dallas. He forced a fumble, defended a pass and intercepted a Tony Romo pass that he returned 39 yards. Rivers is proving to be a very versatile linebacker who is capable of making plays all over the field. Defensive end Jason Jones out of Eastern Michigan recorded 3 tackles for the Tennessee Titans and continues to earn his reps among one of the league's best defensive fronts. In Jacksonville Quentin Groves finished with half a sack and 2 tackles but couldn't prevent his team from losing to the Steelers. Defensive back Orlando Scandrick (Dallas Cowboys) had 4 solo tackles against Cincinnati, Leodis McKelvin had 5 stops against Arizona and his Buffalo teammate Reggie Corner finished with 2 tackles, the first two of his NFL career. Overall the Bills' secondary had a rough day though against the Cardinals as Kurt Warner and his receivers racked up 250 yards in the air. Just like Corner, two other defenders recorded the first stops of their pro careers: Cliff Avril (Detroit) and Ali Highsmith (Arizona) each had 2 solo tackles. Another very good rookie performance was turned in on Monday Night Football as Tyrell Johnson continues to play well at safety for the Minnesota Vikings. One of the stars at the Combine, Johnson had 3 tackles, a fumble recovery, defended a pass and got the first interception of his NFL career in the dying seconds of the Vikings' road victory at New Orleans.

Special teams:
Though he didn't have a very impressive day as a receiver (1 catch), DeSean Jackson still got Eagles' fans excited against Washington as he scored on a 68 yard punt return. Brett Kern was the most impressive rookie kicker of the week. Of his 5 punts 2 found their way inside the 20 yard line and overall he averaged 49.6 yards per kick. On Monday Night Reggie Bush shined with two punt returns for touchdowns and one of those was aided by a first year player. On Bush's first score, JoLonn Dunbar had an absolute monster block near the sidelines, paving the way to the promise land for his teammate.

Injuries:
Left tackle Branden Albert (Kansas City) didn't play due to a hyperextended elbow. The Saints suffered another serious injury, this time to rookie defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. The former USC Trojan had to get arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and could be out for a month. Carolina's defensive end Hilee Taylor had to leave his team's win against the Chiefs with a minor knee injury. Explosive wideout Eddie Royal suffered an ankle sprain in Denver's win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.