Rookie standouts from the 2024 NFL Hall of Fame Game

Calen Bullock, Houston Texans: Of Bullock it was also nice to see him embrace more the role of run defense and tackling. He played a great role by getting four total tackles most than any other member of the team. He had a 59 after the game was over. Independent variables of the study are: Run defense grade – 7, Pass defense grade -10,QBR- 39%, Passing yards – 225 yards, Points -24 Third-Down efficiency-61%. A mean coverage grade of 0 was achieved in the 19 snaps.

Edge Austin Booker, Chicago Bears: Hearing has a wingspan of well over 81 inches, which is quite good given that he stands 6-foot-4; he does a good job of using these long arms to attack tackles. He earned a 73. 6 pass-rush grade in his first preseason game eliminating his man 4 times and recording one quarterback hit.

Well, as you can see, all this free time means that at long last there is NFL football to recap. Yes, this is not the regular season football where you have the locked in starters, but yes we will take it.

As many of the projected Week 1 starters did not play last night, there were still several first and second-team players and of course the rookies from each team on the field in the 2024 NFL Hall of Fame Game.

Presenting below are the statistical leaders for rookies based on the regular season match between Houston Texans and Chicago Bears.

CALEN BULLOCK, HOUSTON TEXANS

Any person who paid his/her attention to the draft process and tried to read a Calen Bullock scouting report realizes that coverage is his forte. While he was at USC he was arguably one of the best single-high safeties prowling for the football in college football. But if you decided to read that much into him you also read that he was not a great tackler and usually this weakness got him into a lot of trouble.

Hence, his first substantial game in the NFL which was, in fact a big hit and a forced fumble. But on the succeeding play, he could have saved what could have been a touchdown with that nice tackle. I suppose that is the end of scouting reports as a practice.

At least there, it was good to observe that Bullock was quite willing when it came to run defence and tackling. It’s not that he couldn’t do it; he was just slender, and it was more difficult for him in college, so he wasn’t exactly motivated to throw his body at ball carriers.

I began to think that maybe he could play for Houston as a defensive player. Current Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is a former linebacker, which probably makes him one of the more qualified people to get his young players to grab on and to start hitting the ball.

We did that somewhat from Bullock, who emerged as the overall leader of the whole defensive team with four total tackles. He arriving at the end of the game, he had a 59. A seven run-defense grade and a 61. an average of 0 coverage grade from the 19 snaps.

Austin has put in EDGE develops and contributed to the Chicago Bears .

Quite a number of the draft pundits could not believe that Austin Booker who played for Kansas as an edge rusher could go undrafted to the fifth round. He was seen as a mid to late first round talent but harsh off-season got worse than what was expected.

Kansas was left with the redshirt sophomore in Booker who only had a one-year starting experience and even lost some games here and there. He is tall and lanky, but during the combine he attempted to get some bulk, apparently sacrificing his agility in the process and that must have been the reason he was not drafted higher.

But, Thursday night showed that the Bears might have pick of the litter even considering he is “just” a designated pass rusher. The 6-foot-4EDGE has over 81 inches of wingspan, and this arm length is evident when he gets to charges on the tackles. He earned a 73. 6 pass-rush grade in his first preseason contest, defeating one of his block four times and posting one quarterback hurry.

His simply stunning was in the second quarter, when he beats his offensive tackle with long-arm-to-arm-over move, which gave me some hint about what he will be in the NFL as a pass rusher.

EDGE SOLOMON BYRD, HOUSTON TEXANS

Byrd also gave five years to college football although he was in that level for six because of the null 2020 season due to coronavirus. He appeared to be on the NFL draft board afterthought but I was able to take a look at him when I watched him at East-West Shrine Bowl practices. He was very eager and aware for his hands to go up and start chopping through the blockers and he even a did decent spin move in one on one situations.

The Texans chose him in the seventh round this past April as a rookie without any prior regular-season experience. He earned a 74. 4 pass-rush grade in the pre-season — Hall of Fame Game. He counted three knockdowns on his blocker though he did not accumulate a single pressure.

TE Brenden Bates Joined the Chicago Bears

Bates was the first free agent who was not invited to the NFL draft to depict his worth on a national level during this preseason. He was at Kentucky for five years but below 100 receiving yards in a season or a game was as good as it got for him.

He played only 12 snaps on Thursday night; if he was given more playing time, he would get an 88. Regarding the overall grade, the applicant achieved a score of 3 overall grade and a 90. 3 receiving grade. This stemmed from his two receptor catches of more than two decades for a combined 47 yards in the game.