Keiland Williams—RB—Washington Redskins It’s hard to imagine a bright spot in a game in which the Redskins lost 59-28 to the Eagles, but Williams proved to be just that. With Clinton Portis already out, Williams was forced into starting duty when starter Ryan Torain couldn’t get loose in warm-ups. And the undrafted free agent from LSU responded extremely well. He carried the ball 16 times for 89 yards (a solid 5.6 per carry average) with 2 rushing touchdowns. And on top of that, he caught 4 passes for 50 yards and another touchdown. Williams has truly proven to be a nice surprise for the Redskins this year as a dual threat out of the backfield, scoring 3 rushing touchdowns so far and adding 2 receiving touchdowns.

Joe Haden—CB—Cleveland Browns It has been impressive to me how competitive the Cleveland Browns have been this year. And I don’t think Keep Reading…

Maurkice Pouncey—C—Pittsburgh Steelers I’ve probably been remiss in not mentioning Pouncey before Week 9, but it’s often hard to quantify how good an offensive lineman if performing without being able to watch him every single game. And this is more about the body of work than how Pouncey performed this past week versus Cincinnati, although Pittsburgh had over 100 yards rushing and allowed only 1 sack. One of the storylines that came out of this past week’s game was the fact that the offensive players on the Steelers claim that if they had a re-vote for team captains, Pouncey would for sure get the nod. That’s an incredible compliment for the rookie 1st round pick from Florida. Add that to the fact that Rashard Mendenhall is having his breakout year with over 700 yards rushing already and Pittsburgh has had to deal with 3 different starting quarterbacks, yet they still Keep Reading…

Ndamukong Suh—DT—Detroit Lions Suh was once again flat out dominant this past week versus the Washington Redskins. With 5 tackles, 2 sacks (giving him 6.5 on the year) and a 17 yard fumble return for touchdown, Suh has easily placed himself amongst the leaders for rookie of the year. Not only that, but don’t be surprised if Suh, a first round pick from Nebraska, makes the Pro Bowl as well. Any pre-draft talk of Gerald McCoy being the better player has blown away, as Suh looks every bit of future All-Pro.

LeGarrette Blount—RB—Tampa Bay Buccaneers It’s not my favorite thing to have to write about a player in back-to-back weeks, but Blount’s performance on Sunday versus Arizona can’t be ignored. He carried the ball 22 times for 120 yards (a 5.5 yards per carry average) and 2 touchdowns. The undrafted free agent from Oregon showed a combination of Keep Reading…

Daryl Washington—ILB—Arizona Cardinals At least the Cardinals hit on one of their 7 draft picks. With 1st round pick Dan Williams having an especially disappointing season, 2nd round pick Daryl Washington from TCU has stepped up and is quietly putting together a solid rookie campaign with 42 total tackles thus far. This past weekend against Seattle, Washington tallied 11 tackles and his first career sack. He was all over the field, especially against the run, and looked like he will be around for a very long time.

LeGarrette Blount—RB—Tampa Bay Buccaneers It’s pretty easy to dislike LeGarrette Blount, but it’s not easy to deny that he looks like he might stick around in the NFL for a long time. With a pretty unique frame for a running back at 6’0” and 247 lbs. Blount’s bruising style and hard running are making a name for himself in Tampa Bay. Keep Reading…

Danario Alexander—WR—St. Louis Rams One of the stories coming out of the draft for me was the fact that Alexander did not get drafted. Then I was even more surprised when none of his off-season workouts resulted in a contract offer. Of course the knee injury suffered at the Senior Bowl played a huge part, but Alexander’s production at Missouri was off the charts. So when St. Louis finally signed him on 8/23 and placed him on the practice squad, I was intrigued as to what would happen. Well what happened was Mark Clayton went down with a season ending knee-injury, Alexander got promoted from the practice squad, and in his first game as a pro versus the San Diego Chargers he caught 4 passes for 72 yards including a 38 yard touchdown catch. Impressive stuff considering what Alexander has gone through. It’s safe to say keep an eye on Keep Reading…