New York Jet Mark Sanchez made a big splash as a starting rookie NFL quarterback this season, until he began to falter in losses to the Saints, Dolphins and a disastrous showing last Sunday against the Bills. But he\u2019s not the only first-year player making headlines. Matthew Stafford, Percy Harvin, Johnny Knox, Knowshon Moreno, Kenny Britt, Mike Wallace, Jeremy Maclin and Austin Collie are a few of the other rookies making news. Sanchez, the Jets\u2019 top draft pick and fifth overall out of USC, burst onto the scene in the season opener, passing for 272 yards, the third-most for a rookie, along with a touchdown in a win over Houston. He is also the first quarterback to start and win his first three games. The No. 1 overall selection in the draft was Stafford, out of Georgia, who led the Detroit Lions in snapping their 19-game losing streak in Week 3 against Washington. He threw for 241 yards and a touchdown in that game. Harvin and Knox have become receiving and return threats for their teams. Harvin, Minnesota\u2019s top pick out of Florida, caught 18 passes for 233 yards and two TDs through Week 5. He also had 14 kickoff returns for 437 yards, including a 100-yard return for a touchdown in the Vikings\u2019 win over San Francisco. Knox, out of Abilene Christian, has turned out to be a steal after he was selected 140th overall by Chicago in the draft. He had six catches for 70 yards and a touchdown in a win over Pittsburgh, and a 102-yard kickoff return for a TD in the Bears\u2019 victory over Detroit. Through the first five weeks, Knox led the league with an average of 35.8 yards per return. Denver\u2019s No. 1 pick, running back Knowshon Moreno, ranked 11th on the league\u2019s rushing list going into Week 6 with 337 yards and a touchdown. He caught a TD pass in the Broncos\u2019 Week 4 win over Dallas. There is an abundance of rookie wide receivers gaining attention. Tennessee\u2019s first-round choice Kenny Britt topped all rookie receivers with 289 yards through Week 5. Pittsburgh\u2019s Mike Wallace followed him with 246 yards. Others of note include Austin Collie of Indianapolis, a fourth-round, 127th overall selection. His biggest game in the opening five contests came in the Colts\u2019 win at Tennessee in Week 5, with eight receptions for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Also, Philadelphia receiver Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles\u2019 first-round pick, ranked 16th in the NFL before Week 6 with a 15.6 average per catch. He had six catches for 142 yards and two TDs (51, 40) in a Week 5 victory over Tampa Bay. And Hakeem Nicks is becoming a key player in the Giants\u2019 offense. He had a 54-yard TD catch in a win over the Chiefs in Week 4 and another TD reception the following week against the Raiders.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New York Jet Mark Sanchez made a big splash as a starting rookie NFL quarterback this season, until he began to falter in losses to the Saints, Dolphins and a disastrous showing last Sunday against the Bills. But he\u2019s not the only first-year player making headlines. Matthew Stafford, Percy Harvin, Johnny Knox, Knowshon Moreno, Kenny […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"First-year players make their marks","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11593,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-no-images","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}