Throughout the season following each game I will be taking a look at the rookies and how they fared. This will consist of thoughts such as the positive and negatives from that game, areas to watch or work on and clips to support what I’m sharing. Hopefully, this will shed some insight on some things you may or may not have seen.
Week 13 vs Arizona Cardinals
Active Players
#77 Broderick Jones (Round 1) – 61 offensive snaps, 3 special teams snaps
It was an up-and-down game for Jones. There were some really good reps and some not so good ones.
In pass protection, he started off solidly locking on defenders and sustaining blocks. On several occasions, the Cardinals sent three rushers to his side leading him to decide on whom to block. Throughout the game when he played with his head up and shoulders back, he was good. There were a handful of reps where he was bending at the waist, cutting his ability to move laterally. He was slow with his hands as well and allowed the defender into his chest on multiple occasions. He had some nice chops to the defenders’ hands and got a good push on a failed screen play.
As a run blocker, he was better but also had some negative reps. He was mobile and effective climbing to the second level and had a really nice double team with James Daniels. He had a nice reach block on an inside defender as well as a good scoop block later in the game. On the frontside of outside zone, he was able to get a good push on his opponent. On some down blocks, he had his head down and the defender was able to slip off him. He was also late releasing to the linebacker on a combo block.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 446 offensive snaps, 41 special teams snaps
#24 Joey Porter Jr. (Round 2) – 68 defensive snaps, 8 special teams snaps, 4 tackles, 2 solo.
Porter was primarily locked on Marquise Brown and held him to zero receptions on three targets. His coverage reps were evenly split between press man and various zone coverages and was impressive not biting on a double move. Possibly his best rep of the game went unnoticed due to the ball being knocked down at the line of scrimmage. He had a good position on the throw, and it could have turned into a pick-six.
He was targeted on a crossing route that was overthrown and a crossing route that was thrown low to which the receiver could not hold on. His final target came on a back-shoulder throw. He was in tight coverage, but the receiver made a tough catch. In the end zone, he was called for a costly pass interference call. He was in a very good position on the receiver but when it became the scramble drill, he ended up grabbing the receiver.
Against the run, he showed improvement. On two separate occasions, he was able to force the play back inside and get in on the tackle. Much better than he showed at the beginning of the season.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 515 defensive snaps, 73 special teams snaps, 33 tackles, 23 solo, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 6 PBU
#95 Keeanu Benton (Round 2) – 25 offensive snaps, 2 special teams snaps, 2 tackles, 1 solo, 1 PBU, 1 FF
Benton was a menace from the get-go. He was able to get into the backfield twice early in the game to disrupt plays. The first was the Cardinals’ first pass play where he knocked down the aforementioned pass in the direction of Porter using a strong club/swim move. On other passing downs, he was good as the penetrator on a twist to the right and later opening up a lane for blitzing linebacker working to his left. He had an unblocked play where he applied pressure but stumbled chasing the quarterback and another play where he drove the center back into the pocket.
Against the run, he played well using strength to make his mark. He had a particularly nice play when the right guard tried to block down on him. He recognized it right away, held him off with his left arm before pushing him into the running lane to make the tackle. In the second half, he drove the center back into the quarterback on a running play, forcing a fumble. In the fourth quarter, he was limping a bit but was still able to shed the center for a tackle.
He played just nine snaps in the first half and was off the field for the most part when Arizona was scoring its points. I’m curious about the reasoning for that.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 368 defensive snaps, 30 special teams snaps, 30 tackles, 14 solo, 1 TFL, 6 QB hits, 2 PBU, 2 FF, 1 sack.
#80 Darnell Washington (Round 3) – 34 offensive snaps, 8 special teams snaps
Washington missed a frontside run block. I’m leading with that because he has been so good that hasn’t happened much.
As a run blocker, he was very good overall, including on a couple pancake blocks. His handling of Edge players continues to be impressive. They also had him jam the defender at the line of scrimmage before climbing to the second level, which I don’t think I’ve seen too often.
In the passing game, he had three pass-blocking attempts. He won two of them. The other one, a defender got inside of him, but that play was one with a low snap and the play was aborted. He had a strong chip on a defender on the left side when his assignment dropped into coverage.
As a receiver he was used on eight routes. Five of those were curl routes, one in the flat, one corner route, and one a block and leak to the middle. He is open a lot on these curl routes and could easily get seven-plus yards on each one. He has been open all season but rarely used as the checkdown. I wonder if the change at quarterback will get him more opportunities.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 354 offensive snaps, 99 special teams snaps, 7 targets, 5 receptions, 41 yards
#51 Nick Herbig (Round 4) – 12 defensive snaps, 20 special team snaps, 1 solo tackles, 1 TFL
Herbig saw an increase in playing time this week when T.J. Watt missed some time in the game.
Against the pass, he saw two reps in pass coverage, both time dropping into the right flat. A screen came his way and he tried to duck under the blocker but couldn’t make the tackle. He had a solid chop/rip up the arc, but the left tackle was able to push him past the quarterback.
On his first series, he did have a tackle for a loss. He ducked inside the tight end to force the runner to cut inside. Watt slipped off the tackle and Herbig cleaned up for the TFL. He tried to duck under a puller on a read option play and would have left the edge wide open, but Watt returned the favor and chased him down from the backside. On a couple other running plays, he did a nice job setting the edge versus a tight end and later in the game showed great effort to fight a double-team block to string a run to the outside.
2021 Regular-Season Totals – 103 defensive snaps, 247 special teams snaps, 14 tackles, 10 solo, 4 TFL, 2 QB hits, 1 FF, 2 sacks.
#74 Spencer Anderson (7th) – 2 special team snaps
Anderson saw his first game action since Week Five against Baltimore. He was used on two snaps on the field goal unit.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 1 offensive snap, 7 special teams snaps
2023 Rookies of The Week
Week 1 – NT Keeanu Benton
Week 2 – CB Joey Porter Jr.
Week 3 – NT Keeanu Benton
Week 4 – TE Darnell Washington
Week 5 – OT Broderick Jones
Week 6 – Bye
Week 7 – OLB Nick Herbig
Week 8 – CB Joey Porter Jr.
Week 9 – OT Broderick Jones
Week 10 – NT Keeanu Benton
Week 11 – CB Joey Porter Jr.
Week 12 – OLB Nick Herbig
Week 13 – NT Keeanu Benton
Inactive for Week 13 – #21 Darius Rush (Round 5 Colts)
Practice Squad – #45 Jack Coletto (UDFA 49ers), #85 WR Duece Watts (UDFA Packers), #84 WR Jacob Copeland (UDFA Titans)
Reserve/Injured – #27 DB Cory Trice Jr.
