The landscape of the NFL is becoming more and more interesting as we enter the playoffs. In what has been a pretty balanced season, we have viewed a very competitive NFC, where a couple of divisions, West and North, showed how good their teams are. The Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers put together some really nice wins, while the Philadelphia Eagles had their way with their East opponents, who never put up much of a fight.
Concerning the Carolinas, it’s important to underline how the Panthers played quite well, in a season where they weren’t credited for being competitive. Dave Canales and his staff put together a good roster and finally saw Bryce Young playing at college level. The quarterback was thought to be a bust during his first two seasons, and is still a disappointing player, but is quickly improving.
New faces in the leagues: who will win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award?
As usual, the NFL will celebrate its best individuals during the NFL Honor night, a couple of days before the Superbowl. Among the awards given during that soirée is the OROY trophy, handed to the best offensive rookie in the league: the one who faced all the challenges the league put him through head-on and produced a good amount of highlights. There are three clear candidates competing for the title. One of them plays for the Panthers.
While South Carolina fans, and not only them, eagerly await to see the impact of newcomers on NFL teams through the years, the Offensive Rookie of the Year odds offer an intriguing glimpse into the most promising prospects for the seasons to come.
TreVeyon Henderson
Henderson plays as a running back for the New England Patriots and has been the right-arm of Pats’ quarterback, Drake Maye, in a possible MVP campaign. The Ohio State product found his footing in October, after a lukewarm month of September where he took some time to adapt to the playbook and the speed of the game at this level. His statistics show an amazing improvement during the course of the season.
Henderson is right now a building block for a young team that is already performing at a pretty high level and could very well reach powerhouse status next year. Playing as a runner is not optimal in terms of OROY exposition, but this is a year where there aren’t excellent rookie QBs to choose from, so Henderson stands a pretty good chance of winning.
Emeka Egbuka
The wide receiver Egbuka has been a surprise for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In a roster where Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are clearly choice no. 1 and no.2 for Baker Mayfield, the quarterback leading the Bucs, Egbuka exploited their injuries to ascend and become a solid target for his QB.
Egbuka played with Henderson in Ohio State and therefore is a NCAA national champion. He kept his desire for winning and his determination also at the next level, especially during the first half of the season, where Tampa Bay played with a different resolution. From November onwards, the Buccaneers became fatigued and played less brilliantly, but the WR never ceased to amaze. He already showed what he can do and will probably be a long-term asset for this franchise. Winning the award will only contribute in underlining this element.
Tetairoa McMillan
Big Mac is the wonderful Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver that contributed to make a solid QB out of a vastly disappointing Bryce Young. If this season was the best in Young’s career, McMillan has some credit. The Arizona product was born in Hawaii and has been a very good wide receiver throughout his whole career as a student-athlete.
He managed to translate that relevance between the pros, which is not easy at all, for a struggling franchise that desperately needed some offensive help. McMillan provided just that spark and the Panthers immediately became a contender in the NFC South. Obviously, there were some other factors in this outcome, such as the full-scale rebuilding of the New Orleans Saints or the head-scratching implosion of the Atlanta Falcons, but McMillan’s value can’t be denied. Seeing the ex-Wildcat lifting the OROY award in February won’t be a scandal.