• The Chiefs and Bills should look to get their rookie wideouts more involved: Xavier Worthy's speed and Keon Coleman's game-breaking ability could propel the Chiefs and Bills, respectively.
• Mike Sainristil could help the Commanders upset the Lions: He has shown that he has lockdown potential, and if he can bring that out against the Lions, it could go a long way toward Washington achieving the win.
• 2025 NFL Draft season is here: Try PFF's best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2025's top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
With the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs in the books, the margin for error becomes even slimmer as we inch ever closer to crowning a Super Bowl champion for the 2024 season. This is a time when unsung players make a name for themselves, and here we’re going to highlight a rookie on each remaining team who could do just that.
Kansas City Chiefs: WR Xavier Worthy
This selection comes almost as a default because the Chiefs have hardly relied on any rookies during the 2024 season. However, Worthy’s resume is not without merit. The 28th overall pick from this year’s draft caught 59 passes for 638 yards and six scores, all of which were tops among Chiefs wide receivers.
While the receiving room is getting healthier, as they’re expected to get Marquise Brown back fully healthy, Worthy and his elite speed should still be a threat that opposing defenses need to take seriously.
Buffalo Bills: WR Keon Coleman
As the Bills’ top draft pick this season, Coleman hasn’t seen a lot of volume. Despite playing in 14 games this season (including playoffs), he has caught one or no passes in half of them. However, when Coleman has been featured, he’s put up huge numbers, as his average reception goes for almost 19 yards and he has had five games of averaging more than 20 yards per reception.
While Coleman’s production is unpredictable, his knack for big plays when he is targeted could be the difference between the Bills hoisting their first-ever Lombardi Trophy and another disappointing playoff exit.
Baltimore Ravens: T Roger Rosengarten
A late second-round pick out of Washington, Rosengarten took over as the Ravens' starting right tackle in Week 4 and has held onto the role ever since, with mixed results. As a run blocker, Rosengarten owns a 62.2 PFF grade, featuring four games with a 70.0-plus mark in that regard. However, he also has the same number of games with a sub-50.0 grade.
His pass blocking has been a little better, evidenced by a season-long 68.5 PFF pass-blocking grade while surrendering 34 pressures on 515 pass-blocking snaps. Four of those were sacks, but none have come in his past five games, including playoffs. While Rosengarten does have four pass-blocking grades under 50.0 this season, he’s had far more games over 70.0, surpassing that number eight times — including a stretch of five straight such games between Weeks 10 and 15.
Houston Texans: CB Kamari Lassiter
Lassiter has gone under the radar this season among rookies, but that will be to the rest of the league’s detriment, as he has firmly solidified his role as CB2 across from Derek Stingley Jr. Lassiter currently boasts a 74.3 PFF overall grade with a 77.6 PFF coverage grade, the latter of which ranks first among all rookie cornerbacks.
Arguably Lassiter’s best performance came in the wild-card round against the Chargers, where he put up an 89.5 PFF overall grade and a 90.5 PFF coverage grade while allowing zero receptions into his coverage and recording an interception and a pass breakup. Lassiter keeping up this performance will be crucial if the Texans hope to continue their unlikely run and make further noise in the playoffs.
Detroit Lions: CB Terrion Arnold
With all the injuries the Lions have dealt with on defense, Terrion Arnold was thrown into the fire a little sooner than the team may have hoped. While he has endured his struggles this season, as opponents have completed more than 60% of their passes into his coverage for 728 yards and four touchdowns, Arnold had by far his best performance of the season with the division and a first-round bye on the line. He put up a 74.1 PFF overall grade with a 71.8 PFF coverage grade in Week 18 against the Vikings, all while not allowing a reception into his coverage on four targets.
He was also stout against the run, as his 74.4 PFF run-defense grade can attest to, leading the Lions’ defense in keeping the Vikings out of the end zone as they secured the NFC North and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The Lions will need to see more of that version of Arnold if they hope to reach the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl.
Philadelphia Eagles: CB Quinyon Mitchell
Perhaps no rookie cornerback has been more consistently reliable than Quinyon Mitchell, an impressive feat considering he had to transition to the NFL after primarily facing MAC receivers throughout his college career. Mitchell didn’t allow a touchdown into his coverage until Week 16 and has yet to earn a PFF coverage grade below 50.0 this season while boasting seven games above 70.0, including the Eagles’ wild-card round win over the Packers. In that game, Mitchell allowed just two catches for 10 yards and a 2.8 passer rating (for reference, if the quarterback threw the ball into the dirt on every play, they would have a 39.6 passer rating).
Despite it being his rookie season, Mitchell already looks like a seasoned veteran. He has been a big part of the Eagles' defensive resurgence.
Los Angeles Rams: EDGE Jared Verse
PFF’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, Jared Verse has been a menace against opposing offensive lines this season. While he has only six sacks, none of which have come after Week 10, Verse has registered multiple pressures in all but one game this season, culminating in 77 regular-season pressures — far and away the most among rookie edge rushers and fourth most among all edge rushers in the league. He trailed only Trey Hendrickson, Myles Garrett and Jonathan Greenard, all of whom registered at least 11 sacks.
Verse was particularly disruptive in the Rams’ wild-card round victory over the Vikings, tying his career-high with seven pressures and recovering a fumble for a touchdown. Verse will have a tough task against this Eagles’ offensive line, which PFF voted the best in the league. His earlier matchup with Philadelphia was also the aforementioned game where he didn’t record multiple pressures this season. But if past performance is any indicator, he will be more than up to the challenge.
Washington Commanders: CB Mike Sainristil
The easy choice for the Commanders is quarterback Jayden Daniels, as the probable Offensive Rookie of the Year has been nothing short of sensational. However, considering Detroit’s injury woes on defense, a productive game by the young signal-caller should be expected. Detroit is much healthier on offense, especially with the news that they’re expected to have David Montgomery back. With the Lions’ offense looking as good as ever, the Commanders need someone to step up — and the onus may fall on rookie second-rounder Mike Sainristil.
The Lions have no shortage of weapons to choose from at receiver, whether that be their star Amon-Ra St. Brown or explosive deep threat Jameson Williams (who sneakily recorded a 1000-yard receiving season). Sainristil will likely be drawing one or both of these assignments. While he’s had his inconsistencies this year (63.6 PFF coverage grade), his highs have been extremely high. Sainristil has four games with coverage grades above 75.0, including a 90.0 showing against the Eagles in Week 11. He has shown that he has lockdown potential, and if he can bring that out against the Lions, it could go a long way toward Washington achieving the upset.
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