Week 6 was relatively average for rookies. No rookie had any interceptions at all on the week, for starters. Still, one rookie’s performance was anything but average. The top rookie performer was also the 2nd best overall IDP fantasy player for the week, and the top rookie performance of the season.
Who was it? Did the picture give it away? Which other rookies stepped up in week 6? Well, you’ll just have to read to find out.
| Team | Player | Snaps | PFF Rating | Tackles | Assists | Rush-PR-Hit | Other |
| Baltimore Ravens | DT Pernell McPhee | 31/70 | -0.3 | 11-0-0 | 1 Sack, FF | ||
| Baltimore Ravens | CB Chykie Brown | 1/70 | 0 | ||||
| Buffalo Bills | DT Marcell Dareus | 67/71 | 5.1 | 3 | 33-4-0 | ||
| Buffalo Bills | LB Kelvin Sheppard | 39/71 | -0.4 | 3 | |||
| Buffalo Bills | CB Justin Rogers | 1/71 | 0.5 | ||||
| Carolina Panthers | DT Sione Fua | 35/62 | -2.7 | 11-0-0 | |||
| Carolina Panthers | DT Terrell McClain | 42/62 | -1.2 | 22-0-1 | |||
| Carolina Panthers | S Jermale Hines | 11/62 | 0.1 | 1 | |||
| Chicago Bears | DT Stephen Paea | 37/67 | 3.4 | 1 | 30-3-0 | 1 Sack | |
| Chicago Bears | FS Chris Conte | 67/67 | -1.3 | 3 | 3 | ||
| Chicago Bears | DE Mario Addison | 17/67 | -0.5 | ||||
| Cleveland Browns | DE Jabaal Sheard | 61/70 | 0.7 | 4 | 28-0-0 | 1 Sack, FF | |
| Cleveland Browns | DT Phil Taylor | 45/70 | 0.5 | 2 | 18-0-0 | 1 Sack | |
| Cleveland Browns | CB James Dockery | 4/70 | 0 | ||||
| Detroit Lions | DT Nick Fairley | 23/70 | 0.5 | 1 | 9-0-0 | ||
| Houston Texans | DE J.J. Watt | 42/69 | 0.1 | 2 | 2 | 19-0-0 | |
| Houston Texans | OLB Brooks Reed | 69/69 | 1.9 | 5 | 1 | 35-1-1 | 1 PD |
| Indianapolis Colts | FS Joe Lefeged | 28/69 | -1.2 | 3 | |||
| Indianapolis Colts | CB Chris Rucker | 10/69 | -0.4 | 1 | |||
| Jacksonville Jaguars | FS Chris Prosinski | 18/63 | 0.2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Miami Dolphins | CB Jimmy Wilson | 4/60 | -1.5 | 2 | FF | ||
| Minnesota Vikings | DT Christian Ballard | 9/63 | -0.2 | 1 | 2-1-0 | ||
| Minnesota Vikings | WLB Larry Dean | 6/63 | 0.1 | ||||
| New Orleans Saints | DE Cam Jordan | 47/71 | 2.2 | 1 | 2 | 25-3-0 | |
| New Orleans Saints | Isa Abdul-Quddus | 2/71 | 0 | ||||
| New York Giants | SLB Jacquian Williams | 45/59 | -2.1 | 2 | 1 | 2-1-0 | |
| New York Giants | MLB Greg Jones | 4/59 | 0.6 | 1 | |||
| New York Jets | DE Mo Wilkerson | 44/65 | -0.9 | 1 | 27-0-1 | ||
| Oakland Raiders | CB DeMarcus Van Dyke | 68/71 | 0.2 | 2 | 2 PD | ||
| Philadelphia Eagles | WLB Brian Rolle | 57/60 | 0.8 | 2 | 3-1-1 | ||
| Pittsburgh Steelers | DE Cameron Heyward | 8/65 | -0.6 | 1 | 2-0-0 | ||
| St. Louis Rams | DE Robert Quinn | 21/63 | -0.7 | 1 | 16-0-0 | ||
| San Francisco 49ers | OLB Aldon Smith | 63/83 | 0.2 | 2 | 35-3-1 | see below | |
| San Francisco 49ers | CB Chris Culliver | 69/83 | 1.2 | 3 | |||
| Tampa Bay Bucs | DE Adrian Clayborn | 61/70 | 3.3 | 1 | 1 | 45-5-1 | |
| Tampa Bay Bucs | LB Mason Foster | 24/70 | -0.2 | 1 | 2 | 4-0-0 | |
| Tampa Bay Bucs | DT Da'Quan Bowers | 20/70 | 1.7 | 16-1-0 | |||
| Washington Redskins | OLB Ryan Kerrigan | 78/78 | 0.4 | 4 | 30-3-1 | ||
| Washington Redskins | NT Chris Neild | 7/78 | -0.2 | 1 | 4-0-0 |
Fab Five (Top 5 IDP Rookie Performances of the Week)
1. San Francisco 49ers OLB Aldon Smith: 4 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 safety, 1 forced fumble, 1 pass deflection (now do you see why I said “see below”?); You can probably thank Aldon Smith for handshake-gate, because without him the 49ers probably do not win. Getting by far his highest snap percentage of the season, Smith had a week to remember. Only Kurt Coleman and his 5 tackle, 2 assist, 3 int, and 3 PD game held back Smith’s performance from being the best of the week. If Smith can improve in the run game he might become unstoppable. A must-own at this point.
2. Cleveland Browns DE Jabaal Sheard: 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble; Sheard didn’t really have one of his better games of the season in week 6, generating no QB disruptions on 27 of his 28 pass rushes. Still, on one of them he was able to get in for the strip-sack, racking up most of his points on one play. Ever since his moving from RDE to LDE starting week 2, Sheard has graded positively in every game.
3. Baltimore Ravens DT Pernell McPhee: 1 tackle, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble; the bizarre thing about McPhee’s performance is that he didn’t even play 50% of the team’s snaps. Still, when he got in he made a big play so way to take advantage of limited opportunities. Nothing to get too excited about fantasy wise, though.
4. Houston Texans OLB Brooks Reed: 3 tackles, 3 assists, 1 pass deflected; Lost in the 2 game losing streak for the Houston Texans is how well Brooks Reed is playing in Mario William’s place with a +4.0 overall rating in the two games where he has gotten the bulk of the snaps. In week 6, Reed didn’t head to the sideline for a single snap. Though he hasn’t gotten to the QB to rack up a sack in those 2 games, the 7 disruptions is promising. Reed might be a sleeper to pick up if you’re in need of a linebacker.
5. Miami Dolphins CB Jimmy Wilson: 2 tackles, forced fumble; In possibly the flukiest appearance into the Fab Five of the season, Jimmy Wilson is in at 5 this week. That’s no slight against Wilson, just a reference to the total of 4 defensive snaps that he saw. Wilson was able to rack up a tackle/forced fumble against Joe McKnight on special teams last Monday. While Wilson has probably been the best 7th rounder of the draft so far this year, his limited snaps leaves much to be desired in fantasy.
To discuss more IDP, hit me up on Twitter @PFF_MikeD.
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