The 5 Best Rookie Quarterback Seasons Over the Last Decade
1. Robert Griffin III, 2012
Robert Griffin III arrived in 2012 and impressed the league with his mostly mistake-free football. Rookies tend to make plenty of mistakes as they adjust to the speed and skill of the talent in the NFL, but Griffin threw for 20 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions while also rushing for more than 800 yards and 7 touchdowns.
The Andre 3000 doppelgänger threw only 427 passes in 2012, but like the others in our list, he was very efficient.
| Player | Passing NEP | Rank | Rushing NEP | Rank | Total NEP | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Griffin III | 73.63 | 10th | 59.29 | 1st | 132.92 | 6th |
Griffin made up for his lack of receiving weapons and made the most of his rushing attempts, posting a Rushing NEP per rush of 0.52, ranking first among quarterbacks with 50 or more rushing attempts. Further proving his rushing prowess, Griffin had a Success Rate of 66.04% on rushing attempts, meaning about two-thirds of his attempts led to positive NEP.
His Passing NEP per drop back of 0.17 ranked sixth in the league among quarterbacks with 400 or more drop backs. His efficiency was even more impressive when you realize his leading receiver was Pierre Garcon, who ranked 31st among wideouts in Reception NEP per target in 2012 among those with at least 60 targets.
Due to his unfortunately gruesome knee injury at the end of 2012, Griffin just hasn't been the same since. Even if he never reaches this kind of dominance again, we will always remember his rookie season.
