Every team and every fan dreams of drafting an “instant impact” rookie. A rookie who will immediately step into a starter role and significantly elevate the play of both his unit and the whole team. Well, it’s been a while since the Cowboys had such a guy. I think we’d have to go back as far as DeMarcus Ware, who started 16 games and put up eight sacks, three forced fumbles and 47 tackles in his 2005 rookie season.
Of course, the Cowboys have had their share of breakout players recently with Tony Romo, Miles Austin, Jay Ratliff and probably Doug Free, but none of them had an instant impact in their rookie year.
It is a widely held belief that NFL players take a quantum leap in performance from their rookie season to their second season. After all, they’ve been through their first full season, they’ve been through a full NFL-level offseason strength & conditioning program, they’re hopefully a little more mature, and they’ve had ample time to improve their technique.
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