Following each game, I will be taking a look at the rookies and how they fared each week. 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 18 vs Baltimore Ravens
Active Players
#77 Broderick Jones (Round 1) – 62 offensive snaps, 3 special teams snaps
As the regular season came to an end, Jones struggled down the stretch, including in Baltimore.
As a pass blocker, his positioning overall was too wide, allowing defenders to get past him on his left side. His pass set was too far up the arc, losing the half-man alignment. He allowed multiple players into the B gap, some of which led to pressures. Add that he was leaving his chest open, allowing defenders to push him back with power rushes, and it wasn’t his best day. Facing speed rushing up the arc, he was solid overall. There was one rep where he dipped his head leading to Jones giving up a sack.
As a run blocker, he was solid for the most part. He was consistently late out of his stance when having to move to his left. He executed a solid reach block early in the game and was effective when hinge blocking on the backside. For one snap, he aligned as the left tight end in an unbalanced alignment. When climbing to the second level, he had some good and some bad reps. He had a nice block on the linebacker for Najee Harris’ touchdown.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 767 offensive snaps, 60 special teams snaps
#24 Joey Porter, Jr. (Round 2) – 57 defensive snaps, 6 special teams snaps
Overall, it was a quiet day for Porter with just one pass coming to his area. Approximately 75 percent of his coverage snaps were in zone coverage.
His lone target came while playing in the underneath zone picking up the running back out of the backfield. He was in good position and got a hand up on a perfectly thrown ball, and luckily the ball glanced off the hands of the Raven. He was in solid position as the force player on screen to funnel the play inside.
I particularly liked his awareness in Cover Three when there was not receiver to this side. A player can get lazy and not get enough depth allowing a receiver coming across the field to get behind him, but Porter had it covered.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 807 defensive snaps, 119 special teams, 43 tackles, 32 solo, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 10 PBU
#95 Keeanu Benton (Round 2) – 20 defensive snaps, 2 special team snaps, 3 tackles, 1 solo.
Benton was used in his regular alignments, primarily as the nose tackle, 2i technique and 3 technique.
As a pass rusher, he had a couple of nice rushes back-to-back in the first half. The first, a spin move, was particularly nice to see. I don’t remember him using a spin before this game, but if he did, it wasn’t many. He followed that up with a solid hand chop to shed the blocker on a quick pass. The rest of the game he tried another spin, bull rush, club/swim and chops with less effectiveness.
Against the run, he struggled against double teams. That’s something he handled well all year and maybe the wet field factored into that. He did a nice job playing as a two-gap defender to control the blocker and slide with the play. He was credited with three tackles, but I only had him for two. Both came late in the game. A tackle scraping down the line, shedding the blocker and combining with Myles Jack for the stop. The other came on a play where he read the running back coming out of the backfield and covered him to take away that option. He ended up chasing the quarterback out of bounds for the stop.
He also had a chance to recover a fumble late in the game but as he tried to scoop the ball into his belly it squirted out behind him.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 484 defensive snaps, 48 special teams snaps, 36 tackles, 16 solo, 1 TFL, 8 QB hits, 2 PBU, 2 FF, 1 sack.
#80 Darnell Washington (Round 3) – 39 offensive snaps, 6 special teams snaps
Washington had a big hand in the running game, effectively shutting down the edge player to his side for the majority of the game.
In the passing game, Washington only ran three routes in the game. On two of those, a curl and skinny post, he was covered. On a shallow cross, he was open on the second level with room to run but Mason Rudolph hit another receiver for a first down. He also had a couple reps in pass protection that were successful at controlling his man.
As a run blocker, he had a cut block that was effective and a big down block to clear a path on a short-yardage run. For most of the game, his assignment was on the edge blocking the Ravens Jeremiah Moon. Moon had one rep where he was able to shed Washington for the tackle but overall, he was dominant in this matchup. He was a big part of the big day had by Harris.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 511 offensive snaps, 141 special teams, 10 targets, 7 receptions, 61 yards
#51 Nick Herbig (Round 4) – 13 defensive snaps, 23 special teams snaps
Herbig’s role will be bigger in the playoffs with the loss of T.J. Watt. In the Ravens game, he played all but two of his snaps on the left where Watt usually plays.
As a pass rusher, he tried a variety of rush moves, including a speed to bull, cross chop, snatch, swim, spin and crossing the face of the tackle but didn’t have any success against the mountainous Daniel Faalele.
Against the run, his motor was running hot, Herbig showing great hustle to chase every play. The few running plays that occurred with him in the game were either up the middle or away from him.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 191 defensive snaps, 352 special teams snaps, 27 tackles, 19 solo, 5 TFL, 3 QB hits, 2 FF, 1 FR, 3 sacks.
#74 Spencer Anderson (7th) – 1 offensive snap, 3 special teams snaps
Anderson got back onto the field for the offense for the first time since Week Five. He aligned as the right guard for the final snap in victory formation. His special teams snaps were on the field goal kick team.
2023 Regular-Season Totals – 2 offensive snaps, 26 special teams
Rookie 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
Week 14 – OLB Nick Herbig
Week 15 – OLB Nick Herbig
Week 16 – OLB Nick Herbig
Week 17 – OLB Nick Herbig
Week 18 – TE Darnell Washington
Rookie of the Week Totals
OT Broderick Jones – Twice
CB Joey Porter Jr. – Three
NT Keeanu Benton – Four
TE Darnell Washington – Twice
OLB Nick Herbig – Six
Inactive for Week 2 – #21 Darius Rush (Round 5 Colts)
Practice Squad – #45 Jack Coletto (UDFA 49ers), #85 WR Duece Watts (UDFA Packers)
Reserve/Injured – #27 DB Cory Trice Jr.
