NFL: Ranking challengers for Rookie of the Year from 'Serious Threat' to 'Not A Chance'

Your first year in the NFL can be quite a daunting task, making the move from college football to the professional game where you’re no longer the big man on campus.

It’s back to being the youngster once again, but if you’re able to make the step up, there’s always the chance that you can make an impact on the league straight away and even come away with some silverware.

In the latest of our series of tier ranking articles when it comes to the NFL, we have drawn up a list of who we think will be contenders for the NFL’s Rookie of the Year Awards.

Now there are some variations when it comes to these awards, as the NFL gives out the Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award, one that goes to a player regardless of which side of the ball they play, whilst the Associated Press divides it out between offensive and defensive rookies of the year.

For the purpose of this, we will be essentially combining the two together and judging them based on how we think they will do, because so long as they are contenders and playing well, they should find themselves being considered for one of the awards. 

Using Tiermaker.com, we’ve broken down just the 1st round picks and placed them into one of the following four categories:

Should make an easy transition into the league and be considered a contender for the award

Might need to up their game a little bit and pull off some big moments to get themselves considered

Not necessarily out of the game, but will need a big transformation to earn themselves a chance

Not likely to get a mention, mostly due to the position that they play

With the criteria explained, here is our list of 1st round rookies and where we expect them to land:

Serious Threat: Jordan Davis, Kyle Hamilton, Derek Stingley Jr, Ahmad