5 best NFL rookie seasons of the last five years
By Dustin Baker
Which NFL players have had the best rookie seasons in the last five years?
Since 2015, roughly 1,300 players have entered the NFL via the draft.
Of these 1,300 draftees, just men 24 have been awarded Pro Bowl honors in their rookie campaigns. That’s just below two percent. The first-year players the received the nod in 2019 included: Josh Allen (the EDGE rusher, not the quarterback), Nick Bosa, Mecole Hardman, and Deonte Harris. To be sure, it was a smaller class of rookie Pro Bowlers than years prior.
Depending on maturity, skill-set, and team needs, some new draftees are asked to contribute immediately. This practice is not implemented across the board, but given the opportunity, certain players stand out instantly. This tends to be the case with offensive players more so than defensive players, at least as far as Pro Bowl accolades are concerned.
Of the aforementioned 24 rookie Pro Bowlers from the last five years, 15 of the stars played on the offensive side of the ball, or 63 percent.
These ranking mimic that trend as four of the listees are offensive players and one is a linebacker who wears blue and white clothes.
Honorably mentioned in this commentary: Jack Conklin (2016), Kareem Hunt (2017), Alvin Kamara (2017), and A.J. Brown (2019) in no particular order.
The rest represent the top five rookie seasons of the last five seasons, ranked from great-to-greatest.