Stock Down
A.J. Brown
Ryan Tannehill and the Tennessee Titans defeated Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s a real sentence. Written in 2019. What’s even more astounding is that the upset happened with Mahomes easily eclipsing 400 yards passing and 3 touchdowns. You would think that Tannehill would have had to put up at least moderately impressive numbers to pull off the upset, right? And that if he did, the beneficiary would most likely be rookie WR AJ Brown, yes?
Well, you would be wrong. Tannehill led the Titans to an upset over the Chiefs with not even 200 yards passing and 2 TDs. Credit for this upset is squarely on the shoulders of running back Derrick Henry.
Brown, much like the next name on this list, has had an impressive season as an NFL rookie but was a complete non-factor on Sunday. Brown was targeted only four times on Sunday, turning only one target into a reception for 17 yards. This was Brown’s third game this season with 20 or fewer receiving yards. It’s been more good than bad with Brown, but he’s clearly still working out the kinks that virtually all NFL rookies struggle with.
Mecole Hardman
The Kansas City Chiefs were already stacked on offense coming into the 2019 NFL Draft. They had their franchise quarterback in place. They had a solid wide receiver group with the likes of Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins. Travis Kelce gave them arguably the top tight end in the league with Rob Gronkowski’s retirement. The offense was not a draft need. Then the rich got richer.
The Chiefs drafted Mecole Hardman in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and he’s quietly been one of the top NFL rookies this season. Hardman has caught five touchdown passes through his first 10 games, and has notched the top spot in our PFN OSM grades. It’s been an incredible season for Hardman. Sunday, however, was far from incredible.
Hardman was mostly a ghost on Sunday. His name was rarely called, as he was targeted only one time the entire game. To Hardman’s credit, he did the most he could with his one target, catching it and taking it to the house for a 63-yard touchdown. This comes on the heels of starting the game in Minnesota last week, yet not being targeted a single time. Hardman clearly has talent, but the dwindling opportunity is worrisome.
Ryan Finley
Coming into the season, no one expected the Cincinnati Bengals to be good. Not even their own fan base. They weren’t going to be the worst team in the league — that spot was seemingly reserved for the Miami Dolphins — but they were going to be a contender. Things went from bad to worse for the Bengals when star receiver A.J. Green was lost for the foreseeable future with an ankle injury. Cincinnati was behind the 8-ball from the very beginning.
Now, ten weeks into the season, the team has decided to embrace their fate and leave the team in the hands of their rookie QB. Ryan Finley was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and while I doubt the idea was for him to be Andy Dalton’s heir apparent, that’s the place he’s found himself in.
The Ryan Finley era did not get off to a great start. Starting as an NFL rookie can be hard on any quarterback, no matter when they make their debut. Finley was certainly no exception, completing just over 50% of his passes while throwing for fewer than 200 yards. Finley also added two turnovers — one interception and one fumble. That effort lands Finley with a 10.47 grade on the PFN OSM metric, 22nd out of 24 qualifying QBs. On the bright side, Finley did manage to notch his first touchdown in the league.
Chris Spooner is a writer for PFN covering the NFL & NFL Draft. He is also Content Manager for PFN’s NFL Draft coverage. You can follow him @CSpoonerPFN on Twitter.
