Under The Radar Breakout Years

[3rivers]

On 2018-11-27 at 6:32 PM, Shady Slim said:

yeah woods is a good answer, he’s turned in to a genuine number 1b receiver in a top offense 

for pittsburgh you’ve got javon hargrave who’s been good all year but has finally been seeing the statistical results - he does a lot that your average 3-4 nose tackle doesn’t do by way of getting after the passer, and he also opens up lanes for tuitt and heyward to attack

If Hargrave was in a scheme suited for him, he would be considered for pro bowl. When he is attacking he is downhill as they say.   He is not as effective in 2 gap assignments, but when he is allowed to pass rush, IMO he is better than Heyward or Tuitt. If/when he goes too another team that suits his skillset and he plays most of the snaps, he will be a major problem for opposing OL.  He is quick, and lets hope the Rams to get him because with Donald and Hargrave it would be unblockable DT tandem. 

[3rivers]

On 2018-11-29 at 1:10 PM, Blackstar12 said:

I know Steelers fans might laugh at this but Mike Mitchell has been a surprise veteran for the young Colts secondary.

Nice that he found a new home in Indy.  NKM lives on

[warfelg]

He's a RT so it's not a sexy pick, and he only got in because of injuries but:

Pittsburgh OT Matt Feiler 

He's come in and played at a really high level.  Since coming in he's had to deal with Suggs, Ngakoue, Garrett, and Bosa/Ingram. (He missed the Denver game)

Absolute murderers row of pass rushers? No.  But that's not exactly the easiest stretch of guys to face. And he's played it really well.  It's backed up my assertion that we can ditch the overpayed often injured Marcus Gilbert and be perfectly fine moving forward.

It's amazing to me that for a while the Steelers had a crappy line, invested 4 top 2 round picks in a 5 year span, and 3/5ths of the line is UDFA's in Villanueva, Foster, Feiler.  And they are still one of the best in the business.

[Broncofan]

9 minutes ago, warfelg said:

He's a RT so it's not a sexy pick, and he only got in because of injuries but:

Pittsburgh OT Matt Feiler 

He's come in and played at a really high level.  Since coming in he's had to deal with Suggs, Ngakoue, Garrett, and Bosa/Ingram. (He missed the Denver game)

Absolute murderers row of pass rushers? No.  But that's not exactly the easiest stretch of guys to face. And he's played it really well.  It's backed up my assertion that we can ditch the overpayed often injured Marcus Gilbert and be perfectly fine moving forward.

It's amazing to me that for a while the Steelers had a crappy line, invested 4 top 2 round picks in a 5 year span, and 3/5ths of the line is UDFA's in Villanueva, Foster, Feiler.  And they are still one of the best in the business.

Big credit has to go to your OL coach.   We're experiencing the same thing with our interior OL decimated by injury and 2 backup G's and G McGovern switching to C - and our interior OL's play actually improving since the switch happened.   

Feiler does get props though - same goes for Billy Turner on our end, which is kind of surprising, because unlike Feiler, Turner's played a fair bit before, and looked awful.   But that's a result of coaching IMO.

[warfelg]

5 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

Big credit has to go to your OL coach.   We're experiencing the same thing with our interior OL decimated by injury and 2 backup G's and G McGovern switching to C - and our interior OL's play actually improving since the switch happened.   

Feiler does get props though - same goes for Billy Turner on our end, which is kind of surprising, because unlike Feiler, Turner's played a fair bit before, and looked awful.   But that's a result of coaching IMO.

We had that same thing last year with Hubbard. Manchuk can definitely coach them up. But it does also take some of the player to do it. Feiler went to Div-II Bloomsburg before being picket up as a UDFA. That’s a really big jump to make even with great coaching. 

[minutemancl]

On 11/26/2018 at 7:08 PM, cddolphin said:

CB Xavien Howard.

He's having an All-Pro year, and he'll be lucky to get a Pro Bowl sniff because of his team and national perception usually coming a year late.

There's a couple of really good mentions in this thread, but I think Howard is the biggest breakout player of the year. I think he is the best corner in the NFL this year.

[minutemancl]

Some other breakout players I've noticed that I haven't seen mentioned here:

Connor Mcgovern, C/G Broncos

Jaylon Smith, LB Cowboys

Aldrick Rosas, K Giants

[3rivers]

51 minutes ago, minutemancl said:

Some other breakout players I've noticed that I haven't seen mentioned here:

Connor Mcgovern, C/G Broncos

Jaylon Smith, LB Cowboys

Aldrick Rosas, K Giants

agree about Howard too because I have only watched a bit of the dolphins and he was a standout. Smith also is a player that stands out. The cowboys have youth and talent on defence and smith never lets up, same applies to LVDE

[jaa1025]

Chris Jones 3-4 DE for the Chiefs.

Quietly one of the best 3-4 DE's in the league that most people outside of KC haven't heard of. He's had at least one sack in 8 straight games. He had lost quite a bit of weight coming into the season. 

[Blackstar12]

 Denico Autry former Raiders DL is quietly having a good year. Has 6 sacks on the year. He just needs to stay healthy missed five games with an ankle injury.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/colts-denico-autry-three-sacks-in-sundays-loss/amp/

[DoleINGout]

Defensively Trey Flowers has broken out. Offensively Chris Godwin has been super consistent but his breakout has been overshadowed by the other storylines in Tampa Bay.

[AlNFL19]

Not sure if he's under the radar anymore, but James White is on pace for 99 receptions, 879 yards receiving, 8 TDs. He's the guy the passing game really runs through in New England now.

[Calvert28]

9 hours ago, minutemancl said:

Some other breakout players I've noticed that I haven't seen mentioned here:

Connor Mcgovern, C/G Broncos

Jaylon Smith, LB Cowboys

Aldrick Rosas, K Giants

Not in this thread. But I have mentioned before that Smith is playing at an all-pro level. I think both he and LVE deserve to get in.

[TedLavie]

On 26/11/2018 at 4:43 PM, ET80 said:

Kareem Jackson has been a monster - moving from CB to S fits his skillset perfectly, and he's got career numbers pretty much across the board. Even beyond the numbers, his presence operating in space and closing to the ball has been phenomenal - he's become an enforcer in the back end, with violent hits and pass breakups out in the flats and over the middle. 

He's making CB money, so that's the only downside to his campaign so far - but getting anything from him outside of his sub-standard CB play is a major bonus. 

Hasn't he moved back to CB with Justin Reid settling in as safety there?

On 29/11/2018 at 7:10 PM, Blackstar12 said:

I know Steelers fans might laugh at this but Mike Mitchell has been a surprise veteran for the young Colts secondary.

I feel like every Colts defense is having an under the radar breakout year. Autry, Sheard, Moore, Desir, Mitchell... Bunch of no names defense playing very well.

7 hours ago, jaa1025 said:

Chris Jones 3-4 DE for the Chiefs.

Quietly one of the best 3-4 DE's in the league that most people outside of KC haven't heard of. He's had at least one sack in 8 straight games. He had lost quite a bit of weight coming into the season. 

Chris Jones is one of the most overrated player in the NFL. I know that's not popular among Chiefs' fans, but he's weak against the run and has always been, and he he's super inconsistent, in game and between games. He will look like a dominant pass rusher here and there and will be an absolute non-factor every other time.

Under the radar breakout year for the Chiefs? Nelson and Fuller have had good years considering they have had no pass rush aside from Dee Ford and Chris Jones/Allen Bailey occasionally showing up. Fuller is a better known commodity at this point but Nelson has settled in nicely. The OL as a whole has been very good as well. Eric Fisher is having the best year of his career, and Cam Erving has turned some heads (still not match against Aaron Donald let's be real here). Andrew Whylie and Austin Reiter are also playing very well and I didn't know who they where 10 weeks ago

[ET80]

40 minutes ago, TedLavie said:

Hasn't he moved back to CB with Justin Reid settling in as safety there?

Jackson and Reid play the S and Tyrann Mathieu drops to nickel CB in most nickel looks. Sharice Wright, Jonathan Joseph and Aaron Colvin rotate at the boundary CBs.