Rams RB; Chiefs CB take top rook awards … With the Super Bowl set to kick-off in just a few hours, the NFL handed out its annual individual player awards last evening. There were no big surprises as Carolina QB Cam Newton was named the league’s MVP, while Houston DE J.J. Watt won his third defensive player of the year honors. Meanwhile, the top rookies of the year were St. Louis RB Todd Gurley on offense and Kansas City CB Marcus Peters on defense. Both were first round picks at the 2015 draft with Gurley going 10th overall, while Peters was taken with the 18th pick. Interestingly, though, neither came without some controversy. Gurley had been considered to be one of, if not the best player in college football in 2014, but tore an ACL late in the year; in fact, he did not play through the first month of the NFL season, but still ran for over 1,100 yards and 10 TDs in what amounted to 12 games. Peters came with even more baggage as he was kicked off the Washington team last year after getting into repeated spats with the coaching staff. All this may give some pause to NFL teams evaluating players like Notre Dame OLB Jaylon Smith and ole Miss DT Robert Nkemdiche this year. Both had been considered to be top 5 prospects this year, but both have seen their draft grades slip, Smith because of a torn ACL and Nkemdiche because of character concerns that became manifest in that bizarre incident in which he was hospitalized briefly after jumping out a local hotel window. Stay tuned!
