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2014 NFL Draft Rookie Update: Picks 33 Through 37

By @rickstavig

2014 NFL Draft

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Now that we’re nearly three-quarters of the way through the current football season, we’re starting to get a better idea whether or not the rookies from the 2014 NFL Draft class were worth the hype or not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still early in their careers and you shouldn’t assume a prospect has reached the pinnacle of their development, but we at least have an idea. So how are the top dogs looking? We already looked at the first round (links here), so now we’ll break down the second rounders.

The Houston Texans took OG Xavier Su’a-Filo with the first pick of the second round, 33rd overall. Su’a-Filo has had a tough time cracking the lineup for the Texans, spending most of his time backing up starters Ben Jones and Brandon Brooks. Out of the 85 snaps he has seen (all during or before week 8), he’s had some struggles. He’s graded out below average in both pass and drive blocking and given up 2 hurries and a sack. He’ll definitely need to make some strides this offseason to further his development and prove the Texans didn’t make a mistake taking him this highly.

DE DeMarcus Lawrence was picked 34th overall by the Dallas Cowboys. Lawrence got off to a rocky start when he broke his foot this past summer but came back healthy earlier this month. Since then he’s been playing catch up but has seen more and more snaps in recent weeks. As a whole he’s graded out positively, tallying 4 hurries and 6 tackles in 131 snaps. Surprisingly, he’s been better against the run than getting after the QB, but with his athleticism and first step his pressure stats should only go up. Plus, going against that Cowboys O-line everyday in practice is only going to quicken his development.

OG Joel Bitonio was taken 35th overall by the Cleveland Browns, and quietly what a pick this has turned out to be. Zack Martin has been getting all the publicity for rookie linemen, but no other first year player grades as highly as he does among the big boys up front, and he grades out as the second best OG in the NFL, regardless of year. If Offensive Rookie of the Year wasn’t an award seemingly only based on stats, this guy would win it hands down. The left side of the Browns line with Bitonio and Joe Thomas is the best in all of football.

The Oakland Raiders tabbed Derek Carr to be their latest franchise QB when they took him 36th overall. Carr has been ‘the guy’ from week 1 and hasn’t looked back, starting all 12 games. His play on the field hasn’t been great but it certainly hasn’t been bad. He may only have one win on the field and not-so pretty grades statistically, but there’s a good chance he could be the guy the Raiders have been looking for all these years. He’s thrown for just under 60% with a 14/9 TD to INT ratio, but imagine what he could do if he had some legitimate weapons surrounding him. More impressive has been how he’s handled himself and the leadership he’s exhibited both on and off the field.

Ra’Shede Hageman was the 37th overall pick, taken by the Atlanta Falcons. Hageman has had a rough rookie campaign so far but has shown glimpses of what his immense athleticism and size are capable of doing at this level. He’s only played 162 snaps in 12 weeks (and graded out poorly in most of them), but has come on much stronger in recent weeks. Coming into this season it was widely known he was a bit of a project and it’s proven true. It will be interesting to see how the new coaching staff that takes over after Mike Smith is fired plans on utilizing him.

Rick Stavig is an NFL Draft Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickstavig or add him to your network on Google+.

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