Week 12 Rookie Report

Welcome to the Rookie Report series. This will be a recurring series that highlights fantasy-relevant rookies, how they performed in the prior weeks, and what that means for the future. Let’s dive in!

Rookie(s) of the Week: 

Jayden Reed (WR) - Green Bay Packers 

It would be great to gush over Tank Dell, Puka Nacua, or Jahmyr Gibbs every week. Other rookies need love too! Jayden Reed has been an unsung hero this season. While Romeo Doubs leads the team in targets and TDs, Reed is 2nd in both categories while also leading the Packers in receiving yards. Although his solid games haven’t translated into much fantasy success, he’s becoming a startable wide receiver in deeper leagues and can keep getting better. Reed didn’t stun the Chargers through the air. He caught four of six targets for 46 yards but also added 46 rushing yards and scored on one of his carries. Reed wasn’t used much as a rusher in college, nor has he seen a hybrid role in the NFL, but it could be in his future. Regardless, the rookie is becoming a startable fantasy piece on an offense that many are steering away from. Reed has been a half-PPR WR1 in his past two games thanks to his scores and there could be more in his future. His nine red zone targets trail Doubs by only five such opportunities this season. Luck could be on his side as the 2023 campaign comes to a close. 

Tommy DeVito (QB) - New York Giants 

I’m not going to pretend that the Commanders are trotting out an elite secondary, but it’s still impressive to see this success. Tommy DeVito is an undrafted rookie from the same state the Giants play in. Any story you read about the guy only makes you want to root even harder for him. He’s such a good fit for the Giants culture. DeVito has only made a few appearances but was mainly asked to hand the ball off to Saquon Barkley. In a lost season, it seems Daboll has gotten more comfortable with Devito throwing and he took full advantage of a weak secondary. His 246 yards and three touchdowns were good enough for a QB7 overall finish this week. Devito has now thrown six touchdowns with three interceptions on only 80 pass attempts. With a tempting draft class, he’s probably not going to get the chance to make a case for an incredible underdog story next year but he’s making the Giants look a little more bearable right now. There aren’t many great quarterback matchups for DeVito left on the schedule but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pop up on the top performers list again. 

Rookie Standouts:

C.J. Stroud (QB) & Tank Dell (WR) - Houston Texans

The pace that C.J. Stroud and Tank Dell have set during their rookie seasons is nothing short of historic. The duo of first-year players has taken the league by storm, leading the Texans to a potential playoff spot while dominating opposing matchups with their offensive rapport. Stroud was able to finish as the QB10 overall in Week 11 despite throwing three interceptions while Dell topped all rookies with 28.9 Points and a WR3 finish. Dell earned 10 targets (26.3% Target Share) – one shy of team-high – while leading the team with eight receptions for 149 yards (44.3% Receiving Yards Share) and one touchdown. 

Top Rookie Performances: 

WR Tank Dell: 28.9 Points - WR3

QB Tommy Devito: 28.5 Points - QB5 

QB C.J. Stroud: 22.3 Points - QB10

RB Jahmyr Gibbs: 21.5 Points - RB3

WR Jayden Reed: 19.2 Points - WR11 

WR Puka Nacua: 18.7 Points - WR12 

RB Zach Charbonnet: 12.9 Points - RB19

WR Dontayvion Wicks: 12.1 Points - WR25 

TE Dalton Kincaid: 10.6 Points - TE7

TE Luke Schoonmaker: 10.3 Points - TE8

Disappointment of the Week: 

Quentin Johnston (WR) - Los Angeles Chargers 

It’s unlikely that you’ve been rostering or starting Quentin Johnston at this juncture of his disappointing rookie year. Johnston will remain a perennial candidate in this article as the 1st-Round wide receiver on an explosive offense seemingly fails at every opportunity to produce despite all signs pointing toward positive production. It would make sense that he would get a lot of play with people desperately trying to make the playoffs. With Mike Williams and Josh Palmer hurt Johnston became a high-upside play simply because a lot of competition was gone. That’s not necessarily a smart way to choose players but he still had plenty of opportunity to show out. Instead, the kid has barely shown up in the box score. Despite six targets, Johnston only produced two catches for 21 yards. There were a few times when he was ready to make a big play only to drop the ball. The guy has received enough hate and while his profile coming out of college didn’t scream “elite fantasy player”, I still want to see him succeed. I still believe that a great rookie game is coming but things have gone from bad to worse. The team will turn to Jalen Guyton and their tight ends until Palmer returns. They’re also just force-feeding Keenan Allen to great success, limiting the need to entrust their ever-disappointing rookie. 

Remedial Rookie Performances: 

QB Will Levis: 15.5 Points - QB20 

QB Aiden O’Connell: 14.1 Points - QB21

WR Zay Flowers: 8.0 Points - WR45

QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson: 7.6 Points - QB27 

WR Jordan Addison: 7.4 Points - WR49

QB Bryce Young: 7.2 Points - QB28

WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 7.0 Points - WR51

TE Luke Musgrave: 6.8 Points - TE17

TE Sam Laporta: 6.8 Points - TE18

RB Keaton Mitchell: 5.1 Points - RB40

WR Quentin Johnston: 4.1 Points - WR71 

Heating Up: 

Zach Charbonnet (RB) - Seattle Seahawks

Charbonnet’s rookie year has been low-volume, high-efficiency. That should change, hopefully only in the volume department. Kenneth Walker III went down in Seattle’s loss to the Rams which led to a 15-carry game by Charbonnet. Previously, the most carries he ever got in a game was nine. He wasn’t particularly effective with his runs but it’s clear that he was always going to be the next man up. He also set a career-high in targets with six. At the time of writing this, HC Pete Carroll claims that Walker is not “an IR candidate” but we’ll have to see what his return timetable looks like. The Seahawks are still a playoff contender and could even claim the divisional crown so shutting him down completely may not be in their best interest unless Charbonnet looks great. No matter the case, the rookie is one of the best waiver candidates this week and should adopt a large workload for the foreseeable future.

Names to Watch:

Tre Tucker (WR) - Las Vegas Raiders

Tre Tucker is an unsuspecting name to watch as the rookie wide receiver is coming off a career-high seven targets in Week 11. Tucker levied his targets into a mere two receptions for 36 yards but could potentially propel himself into a more succinct role alongside Jakobi Meyers and Davante Adams. Hunter Renfrow has been nothing shy of a disappointment as the one-hit wonder fails to find his role within the offense. Tucker offers a field-stretching ability that Renfrow does not possess and could find himself more consistently in the mix as the team appears intent on developing young talent in a lost season.

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By Themi Michalakis and Matt Ward