NFL All-Rookie team 2023/24:

Special teams:

K Jake Moody, 49ers

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RS Marvin Mims, Broncos

ST Chamarri Conner, Chiefs

The clear choice for kicker here would’ve been the Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey, who hadn’t missed a field goal attempt until week 18, when he had one blocked and doinked another chip-shot. Since he spent two years in the USFL prior however, he isn’t officially counted as a rookie by the NFL. The alternate here is Jake Moody – the only kicker drafted on day two this past April. He did miss that potential game-winner from 41 yards away in the rain at Cleveland, but altogether converted 84.0% of his field-goal attempts and missed just one of his 61 PATs.

At punter, you could make a case for the Rams’ Ethan Evans, whose gross punter average is 2.3 yards higher than the one of Baringer, but the Patriots sixth-round pick overall averaged 2.4 yards more per net punt (40.8), has a lower touchback rate (8.2%), a significantly lower return average allowed (4.5 yards). He also led the NFL with 38(!) of his 98 punts ending inside the opposing 20, forcing the other team to drive the length of the field.

You could make a strong argument for Marvin Mims being the top return specialists across the entire league for 2023. Among players with double-digit attempts on punts and kickoffs, he ranks number one (16.4 yards per punt return) and number four respectively (26.5 yards per kick return), having scored a touchdown at Miami. His only blunder was that fumble kick and then fumble on the same play against the Patriots.

Finally, I’m not going to act like I watched every single rookie individually on special teams but I do have a good feel for the guys who popped on tape, flying down the field when covering kicks, and making some key blocks in the return game. Conner is one of them.

Three rookies had eight tackles on special teams (Tre Tomlinson, Jerrick Reed and Anthony Kendall) compared to seven for the Chiefs sixth-rounder. However, not only was his presence more apparent across the five units he was part of, but he also had the biggest role on defense, with an interception and just one of 37 attempted tackles total missed.

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