Rookie Contract Contributions

How many players on rookie contracts offer their team starter level snaps?

Last week I wrote about the contributions of rookie players. Players in their first year with the team who contribute significantly are obviously a major boon to the team. However, not every player can shine that early. Some players take a year or two to develop. Some players do not have an open role available to them their first year or two.

Players who develop on a rookie contract are often the best value for their teams. This is especially true when those players are getting a significant percentage of the team snaps, because rookie contracts are very small compared to starting veterans. What this means is that teams who can draft players and get them on the field quickly have an advantage on teams that cannot develop players as quickly.

This week, I am writing about players in their first four years of the NFL. This analysis will include their first year, not just years 2-4. It will not include 5^th year options for first rounders, because that adds a whole extra layer of complexity for very little value add, in my opinion.

This graphic looks at meaningful contributors/starters across the entire rookie contract (first four years, ignores 5^th year options). Please do note that the definition for “starter” here is not the same one as I used last week! Since we are no longer limiting ourselves to rookies only, the definition that worked for first year players no longer works. Instead, the definition now is any player who played 50% or more of the team snaps during the regular season in games that player played.