The Most Surprising NFL Rookies of 2014

Every year the NFL’s best and brightest seem to fail miserably on certain prospects who come out of nowhere to take the league by storm. These surprising rookies have been shunned by NFL teams round after round because they don’t fit into some standardized notion of what a professional football player should look like.

Predicting who will succeed and who will not is always going to be an imperfect science. This is what makes the entire draft process so enjoyable.

The players listed in this slideshow are all guys who have vastly exceeded the expectations of most experts and analysts. 

A former quarterback and running back at Georgia Southern, Jerick McKinnon was drafted relatively high for a prospect projected to transition from a quarterback to a running back, a position he had little experience at.

This rookie began to catch on among the draft community late. In the earlier stages of the draft process, McKinnon was so off the radar that I personally never got a chance to scout him before being taken by the Vikings.

As it turns out, he didn’t disappoint one bit— at least not before he suffered a season-ending lower back injury in early December.

While healthy, he was leading the Vikings in carries (113), rushing yards (538) and yards per carry (4.8). Among rookie backs, he currently ranks fifth in rushing yards (538) for first-year players but third in yards per game (48.9).

Though McKinnon was a surprise to most in the NFL, Bleacher Report’s Dan Hope tried to warn us about the rookie’s potential way back in July.

Allen Hurns is far from a complete receiver as a rookie, but for an undrafted player lost among one of the most talented receiver classes in NFL history, this former Miami Hurricane has certainly made his mark.

The Jacksonville Jaguars drafted two wide receivers (Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson) in the second round back in March, but few would have guessed that the guy nobody wanted would end up leading the team in receiving yards with 662 and six TDs.

Hurns still has to expand his receiver route tree and consistency when catching, but his strength as a deep threat is what really makes this rookie a surprise in the NFL.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Hurns is third among rookies behind Mike Evans and Jordan Matthews in his deep-ball catch rate percentage (43.8 percent), which is the percentage of receptions vs. targets on balls traveling more than 20 yards downfield.

In 2014 there has been perhaps no defensive rookie more surprisingly impressive as the 77th pick overall by the San Francisco 49ers. Sure, the 49ers have had a shamefully disappointing season. Big changes loom on the horizon for this franchise. But the future still appears to be a bright, thanks in large part to draft gems like LB Chris Borland.  

But before Borland was an ascending star in San Francisco, he established himself as one of the most productive college linebackers in the nation.

While at the University of Wisconsin, Borland made 420 tackles, 50 of those were for a loss. His 15 forced fumbles rank as the second-most in NCAA history.

But even with his impressive resume, most NFL teams overlooked the standout playmaker, citing that he was too small, too short and too slow to be an impact player in the pros.

Personally I was never a big fan of Borland because his tape showed a guy who made plays but also missed a lot of tackles as well. His short arms (29.25”) did seem to factor in his style of play and I must admit, I never thought he would have this type of success in the NFL.

So just how successful has his rookie year been? Well, he is third among inside linebackers in stops (54), per Pro Football Focus, despite only having about half the snaps as anyone else in the top 10.  

How does he do it?

Borland is proving to be one of the most instinctive players in the league; when he sees something, there’s zero hesitation.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver John Brown was the 91st player and the 16th wide receiver taken in the 2014 NFL draft. When he was selected in the third round, they knew they were getting a receiver who ran the 40-yard dash in under 4.4 seconds. What they didn't know at the time was how polished Brown is as a route-runner. In truth, few people, if any, had any idea of the things to come from this undersized rookie.

Brown measures 5’10” and weighs 179 pounds. Players that small are extremely rare in the NFL. Out of 256 players taken in the draft in May, only seven of them weighed less than 180 pounds.

At Pittsburg State, a Division II program in Kansas, he broke all of the school's major receiving records, which landed him an invite to the NFL combine. It’s there where he ran a 4.34-second 40-yard-dash.

Signs of Brown’s uncanny ability began to shine through all the way back in August. In an article by Robert Mays of Grantland.com, Cardinals GM Steve Keim sung the rookies’ praises:

“I haven’t seen a rookie come in and do what he’s done—and it’s early still—since Anquan Boldin. This guy came through the first day, and being from Pittsburg State, has uncanny instincts, unbelievable understanding of route concepts, leverage, being in the right spot at the right time.”

Back in November, Peter King of MMQB.com heralded Brown as the best rookie in football. After 15 weeks of NFL action, Brown has amassed 591 receiving yards and five TDs despite the shaky quarterback situation going on in Arizona. 

On a team already loaded with talented wideouts, Brown has forced his way into the Cardinals’ offensive game plans and there appears to be no turning back. 

Smith was an undersized LB coming off a national championship season at Florida State. His physical style of play and relentless mentality served him well at the college ranks. He was drafted in the fifth round partly because of his size but also because he reportedly tested positive for marijuana at the NFL Scouting Combine, per CBS Sports' Derek Harper.

When it comes to the size aspect of his game, Smith proves that it’s difficult to fully quantify a player’s functional strength in a football setting, or their tenacity and grit. In these categories, Smith lights up on film and stood out in several critical aspects of the game.

I had him pegged as one of the best coverage linebackers in this draft class, in addition to his aggressive nature. However, few coaches or draft analysts seemed able to really see the extent of his potential.

So far he’s still figuring out how to position himself for big plays in the passing game, but he has certainly flashed those dynamic coverage abilities. With that said, Smith currently ranks fifth among NFL rookies in tackles (88) and has developed into a cornerstone of the Jaguars defense.

Martavis Bryant burst onto the scene midway through the season and quickly became the dynamic downfield weapon the Steelers have been looking for ever since they let Plaxico Burress go.

The difference between Bryant and Burress is that Bryant is a tad shorter than Burress, but he's also much faster. His speed (4.42 40-yard dash) and height (6’4”) combo helps to make him one of the most promising deep threats in the NFL.

How explosive is Bryant? He is amazingly second in the NFL in yards gained per route run (2.95) behind only the Bengals superstar A.J. Green, per Pro Football Focus. He is also way ahead of Odell Beckham Jr. in that category.

Bryant makes this list because he was drafted in the fourth round of the NFL draft. Somehow 117 players were drafted ahead of this rising star. Playing second fiddle to Sammy Watkins and some off-the-field concerns contributed to his devalued draft stock.

The Packers may have gotten one of the biggest steals of the 2014 draft when they selected center Corey Linsley in the fifth round with the 161st pick overall.

Coming out of Ohio State, Linsley built a reputation with his ability to bench 500 pounds. At his pro day, he ran the 40-yard dash in less than five seconds. Those measurables make it difficult to imagine that this kid could ever last to the fifth round. But heading into the draft Linsley was considered too small (296 lbs) to be taken any earlier.

Corey Linsley wasn’t supposed to do much more than sit and learn his rookie year. The Packers entered the season with the plan to start second-year player J.C. Tretter. But when he went down with a knee injury in the third preseason game, Green Bay was forced to turn to the unproven late-rounder who was undersized.

Pro Football Focus currently has Linsley rated as the third-best center in football, behind only Nick Mangold of the New York Jets and the Cowboys’ Travis Frederick.

Rookie linebacker Preston Brown was merely an afterthought when they drafted him with the 73rd overall pick in the third round out of Louisville. After all, this was a team that had an impressive group of linebackers heading into the 2014 season.

We’re talking about guys like Kiko Alonso—who came out of nowhere as a rookie in 2013 to win Defensive Rookie of the Year by Pro Football Writers of America—Nigel Bradham and high-profile free-agent acquisition Brandon Spikes. But when Alonso tore his ACL in a fluke accident during an offseason workout and Bradham missed the opening game due to suspension, the rookie who nobody thought was going to be a pivotal part of one of the league’s most dominant defenses suddenly was thrust into a starting role.

Brown embraced that role and never looked back. According to PFF, Brown is third among rookies at any position in defensive stops (35)—which is defined as a tackle that is generated by an offensive failure. In other words, in order to achieve a stop, someone on offense needs to be beaten.

In addition to his impressive ability to make impact tackles, Brown also graded out as the third-best 4-3 outside LB in coverage at PFF. That really illustrates this kid’s versatility.

E.J. Gaines is a guy who most figured would just fade away once he arrived in the NFL. He received the kiss of death by most NFL teams because of the typical failures. He was too short (5’9”), not fast enough (4.51 40-yard dash) and just not explosive enough to play cornerback against some of the best in the league. But Gaines has always found a way to thrive above the competition, even with his below-average measurables.

While at Missouri, Gaines established himself as one of the more physical cornerbacks in college football, while also displaying critical instincts that made him the third-most productive CB of his draft class, according to a formula at Draftmetric.com.

His production in college was not enough to keep Gaines from slipping all the way into the sixth round of the draft, where he was picked by the St. Louis Rams. There were more than 25 cornerbacks selected ahead of him in May’s draft.

Since being drafted, Gaines quickly established himself as a starter and never looked back. His physicality against the run continues to be a strength of his, as he is third among all CBs in defensive stops, per PFF. In addition, Gaines also has the second-best opponent passer rating (79.7) among rookie CBs and has two interceptions to go with nine pass deflections.

If that isn’t enough, he is the only rookie to start every game at the CB position.

Even top-drafted cornerbacks require a few years to become a true asset at their position, so for Gaines to be playing this well this early in his career, he is not only one of the biggest surprises among this rookie class, but he can also end up being one of the better corners in the NFL, even with his physical limitations.

Ryan Riddle is a former NFL player and currently writes for Bleacher Report.

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