NFL Rookie of the Year- Bradford or Suh-

NFL Rookie of the Year: Bradford or Suh?
Next week the will hand out their awards for various achievements during the 2010 season. While there was once a time that the were having players win, and compete for, MVP and Coach of the Year Awards they have not had any serious contenders for any league-wide awards in quite a long time. This year is different. The Rams certainly have a finalist candidate in .
The NFL has three different Rookie of the Year Awards. One goes to the Offensive rookie, one to the Defensive rookie (both voted on by the AP) and then there is a Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award, which will be voted on by the fans. It appears that Bradford will win the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award unless something unforeseen happens.
On the other side of the ball will win the Defensive Rookie of the Year unless something unbelievable happens. The Pepsi Award is nothing more than a beauty contest determined by fan vote, so that really doesn’t count in my mind as to who was the best rookie in 2010. So who was it? The quarterback who pulled a franchise out of mediocrity and had one of the best seasons by a rookie quarterback ever or a defensive tackle who was All-Pro in his first season and is already one of the best defensive lineman in the game?
The stats are very interesting in this debate. Bradford had one of the best years a top picked rookie quarterback has ever had in NFL history. Bradford set rookie records for completions and attempts in 2010 and was second all-time in passing yards. Bradford was also very accurate and increased the team’s win total by six in just one season. The problem comes with the numbers put up against other NFL quarterbacks this season. Bradford lags behind badly. He was 25thin the NFL in QB Rating, 18thin touchdowns and 12thin yardage.
defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh’s numbers meanwhile compare with every defensive lineman’s numbers very favorably. Suh had more sacks than any other defensive tackle in the NFL this season with 10. Suh also was 7thin the league in tackles with 66 making him the 3rdhighest rated defensive tackle in the league in that stat. In short all of the measures place Suh among the leagues’ best right now in that position.
Suh was a dominating player this season and looks like he will be an absolute force in the league for a long time to come and that is why you would vote for him. Bradford on the other hand should be right there in consideration with him though because he changed the Rams franchise and made them a borderline playoff team, while Suh did not hugely elevate the Lions record this season. Suh certainly made them better, but did not have the bigger effect on the bottom line like Bradford did.
So if they had a single Rookie of the Year Award who should they give it to? For the 2010 season I would vote for Suh. He came in and immediately was the best player at his position in the NFL. I don’t care what position you play that is an unbelievable achievement. Suh is everything everyone thought he would be and that is why the Rams weren’t ridiculous for seriously giving thought to drafting Suh first overall instead of Sam Bradford.
With that being said though there is no way in the world the Rams did the wrong thing in taking Bradford over Suh. As great as Suh was he was not going to be six games difference in the win-loss total this season. Bradford is that big of a difference. The NFL is a quarterback’s league and if you don’t have one you don’t win. Some would say that the Lions might have been a playoff contender had Matthew Stafford stayed healthy. It is further proof that you can’t not have a quarterback and win on a consistent basis.
I was on the Ndamukong Suh bandwagon last spring as the Rams were making their decisions. I thought Suh was going to be really special and it appears that will be the case. Luckily though the Rams did just as well and even better drafting Sam Bradford. These two are both future All-Pros and Pro Bowl starters year after year during the next decade. For one season Suh was better than Bradford, but the Rams still made the right choice,Dustin Colquitt Jersey.
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