It was clear long before last April that the 2012 NFL Draft was going to center around two players. Those two players — quarterbacks, of course — were Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III.
Both players were expected to be franchise-changing talents. Luck was the consensus choice for No. 1, but holding the second pick wasn’t expected to be too shabby, either, with Griffin waiting for the team in possession of that pick. That pick did belong to the St. Louis Rams, but the Washington Redskins gave up a ton to acquire it and take Griffin. Meanwhile, the Colts were “lucky” enough to finish as the NFL’s worst team in 2011 and thus earn the right to pick Luck.
Luck and Griffin are almost one season into their NFL careers, and so far the results have been pretty spectacular. Both of their teams are in the playoff hunt, with both clubs controlling their own destinies. Luck and the Colts have rallied around cancer-stricken head coach Chuck Pagano en route to a 9-5 record. Griffin’s dynamic play-making abilities have the Redskins knocking on the door of the playoffs as part of a three-way tie for the NFC East lead.
However, Luck and Griffin aren’t the only rookie quarterbacks who are producing the most important stat — wins. Out west, some may tend to forget that the 9-5 Seattle Seahawks are being run by a rookie quarterback as well in Russell Wilson. The youngster came out of Wisconsin with not too many expectations, at least not when it came to making an impact. Yet Wilson outplayed high-priced free-agent pickup Matt Flynn, winning the Seattle starting job. He’s made the most of it, and he has the Seahawks looking a playoff berth square in the face. The progress is definitely there for all three of them, especially after their three teams combined to go 14-34 last season, and now they’re all poised to play postseason football.
It would appear that all three rookies are going to add to their trophy cases throughout their NFL careers, but only one of them will be able to take home this year’s rookie of the year award.
