Tag Archives: Aaron Hernandez

The Rookie Blitz – Week 8 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.

Quarterback

Although it wasn’t the biggest fantasy output of his young NFL career, Sam Bradford turned in arguably his best performance (+5.1) to date against the Panthers with a 112.4 QB Rating and a 78.1% completion percentage. Bradford’s low yardage totals the past 3 weeks (all below 200 yards passing) limit his fantasy value, but he has thrown 5 touchdowns and no interceptions over that time without Mark Clayton. Continue reading →

The Rookie Blitz – Week 7 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.

This week I am going to introduce Fantasy Points per Opportunity (Fantasy Points per Pass Route and Running Attempt – excludes snaps where blocking occurs). This new metric will work with percentage targeted on total snaps played to highlight rookies who are on the verge of a potential breakout. Read on for more.

Quarterback

Sam Bradford is clearly the top rookie quarterback. At this point it is more fair to compare Bradford against his fellow starting quarterbacks in the NFL than his rookie counterparts. Bradford, ranked 15th in fantasy points in most formats and is holding his own in many categories, but lacking in several others. He ranks near the top of the league in drop backs, attempts and completions. Bradford has room for improvement in his completion percentage, yards per attempt, interception rate and sacks taken. Continue reading →

The Rookie Blitz – Week 6 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.

Quarterback

Sam Bradford continues to improve every week and has the Rams thinking playoffs for the first time since the greatest show on turf days. As I have analyzed in prior articles, Bradford has favored the right side of the football field with his passing attempts until this past week. For the first time all season, 25.8% of Bradford’s attempts went to the left side of the football field and only 22.6% to the right. Displaying veteran-like ability to take what the defense was giving to him, Bradford targeted 9 different receivers and no one player had more than 5 targets (Alexander and Amendola, 5).  Look for Bradford to continue to utilize all of his weapons and solidify himself as a top-end backup QB for your fantasy team. Continue reading →

The Rookie Blitz – Week 5 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.

Quarterback

Sam Bradford lost his security blanket when Mark Clayton was injured for the season against Detroit. I posed the question last week whether Bradford was favoring throwing to his right because of Clayton or if the Rams were limiting his reads to the right side of the field. Once Clayton was out of the game after 3 snaps, 7 of Bradford’s 45 passing attempts (15.5%) went to the left side of the field, an increase over his season average of 12.7% before the game. Although it was considered a down-game by his standards (+0.5), Bradford continues to show he is the real deal. We are now left asking ourselves who is the next wide receiver Bradford can make fantasy relevant. Continue reading →

The Rookie Blitz – Week 4 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.

Quarterback

Sam Bradford continues to impress and it is looking more probable that he will be a top-10 dynasty QB. Bradford has even more room to grow and progress; he is currently only using about two-thirds of the field on his throws and only 12.7% of his passes by direction have gone outside the numbers to the left. The interesting thing to watch going forward is whether the Rams will limit his throws and reads to the right side of the field or if it is only a matter of where his favorite receivers are lining up. Mark Clayton (37 targets) has lined up primarily on the right at flanker, while Brandon Gibson and Laurent Robinson have lined up on the left at split end. Continue reading →

The Rookie Blitz – Week 3 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.
Quarterback

Sam Bradford continues to show he isn’t a typical rookie by helping the Rams end their 10 game losing streak. Bradford had the first negative rated performance of his career in the win over Washington (-0.3) largely due to his inability to handle pressure. Bradford currently ranks as the 20th QB by PFF (+3.5) with a top-10 ranking for attempts and completions of all quarterbacks. Because of the season-ending injury to speedster Donnie Avery, he has only thrown 5 passes over 20 yards so far. His 5.7 passing yards per attempt ranks 32nd in the league. Bradford is not going to turn the Rams into a downfield team this season, but he is consistent enough moving the football that you can roster him as a backup in deeper leagues. Continue reading →

The Rookie Blitz – Week 2 in Review

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The Rookie Blitz goes beyond the box score to examine the fantasy football impact of each NFL Draft class.

Quarterback

Sam Bradford continued his strong play in his first road start versus Oakland and his PFF rating of +3.8 is tied for 14th among QBs after two games. The Rams have done an excellent job in allowing him to make good decisions on the field. Like most rookie QBs, Bradford is not reading the entire field – only 13.8% of his 80 passing attempts have gone to the left side of the field. With all the injuries to starting quarterbacks and many teams making a switch to their backup QB, Bradford is a legitimate backup option for your fantasy team. Continue reading →