At one point, Cincinnati Bengals rookie wideout Ja’Marr Chase looked like the easy pick for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
But right as Chase cooled off, New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones started lighting it up under the watchful eye of Bill Belichick, getting the team back into first place in the AFC East and the playoff picture.
That has prominent folks thinking Jones, not Chase, could end up winning the big rookie award.
Over at NFL.com, Tom Pelissero polled a number of NFL execs and Jones (11 votes) just nudged out Chase (9) in the contest. An NFC exec is quoted as saying this about Chase:
“I would definitely go Chase over Mac. (Justin) Herbert last year had more of an impact than Mac Jones has with New England. I can see Herbert in (Jones). But I think Chase has had more impact.”
Jones’ Patriots are 9-5 and while he’s had games like that win in Buffalo where he only attempted three passes all night, he’s thrown for 18 scores and 10 picks with a 69 completion percentage that would be the highest ever for a rookie passer.
Bengals fans know how impressive Chase has been and that he’s the only reason the team has a semblance of a deep passing game this year. But some quiet stretches lately tend to overshadow the 1,038 yards and 10 scores on a 17.0 per-catch average.
Given how we know awards season generally overrates the quarterback position, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the actual voting itself go this way, too, unless Chase gets back to dominating games and Jones starts struggling.
