Here are 5 early top candidates for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year

The NFL Draft is over and now it’s time to look ahead to the upcoming 2024 season. This year’s draft set records with fourteen consecutive offensive players drafted to start the event And 23 offensive players drafted in the first round. As a result, a handful of talented defensive prospects were picked by competent teams with tangible play-off ambitions.

Here are five players who are well-positioned to have impressive rookie seasons and qualify themselves for Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Turner and his promising talent should be the favorite to win Rookie of the Year. He ended up with perhaps the perfect coach to help him have a strong Year 1 in Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who plays a fairly extreme style of defense with a ton of blitzing that will create opportunities for Turner to make plays. Turner will also get a chance to cut back on coverage a bit, something he did quite a bit during his time at Alabama.

Minnesota now has some quality depth with Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard on the roster. Turner will still be the top dog barring any early issues. The opportunities will be plentiful for Turner to play on the ball.

Mitchell fell a little further than expected in draft. He could have been put in the perfect situation to make a deeper impact as a rookie. Mitchell was already an incredibly productive defender in college when it came to getting his hands on the ball. Now he gets to play for a defense that has a boatload of edge rushers and Jalen Carter on the interior. This is a dream scenario for a ballhawk like Mitchell. Those guys up front will create chaos and force errant throws, allowing Mitchell to clean up the backend and be the playmaker he was called upon to be. Mitchell against the Eagles was a match made in Heaven in terms of potential immediate impact.

Verse isn’t always the flashiest edge rusher, but he was productive at Florida State and brings a high floor to the Rams. Verse would have had a cleaner path to winning Rookie of the Year if Aaron Donald was still on the roster. Verse is still a qualified and talented player in his own right. He and second-year pro Byron Young, who had a fantastic rookie season, will take charge of an extremely young Rams defensive line. The opportunities for sacks will be there because Verse doesn’t face much competition to get on the field. Then it’s about seeing how much he can produce.

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The Colts made Latu the first defensive player off the board in this year’s draft. This is an interesting combination for Latu and the Colts as they already have some young bodies on the edge. They just picked up Kwity Paye’s fifth-year option and Dayo Odeyingbo is another development option. With Samson Ebukam solidified in one primary edge role after a 9.5-sack season, Latu’s immediate path to the field could potentially be a rotational role. If he gets off to a good start in training camp and increases his rushing opportunities, this could be a gold mine year for a talented, well-rounded defensive player. Defensive tackles DeForest Buckner and Grover Stewart make life easier for the entire defense and Latu should get into advantageous situations when he is on the field.

It will be interesting to see how the Colts distribute their young edge snaps, but Latu should have the upper hand given his recent draft status and projected potential. When he plays, he will have opportunities to make plays with plenty of help from the interior wrecking crew.

Cooper was the first linebacker off the board this year, coming in at No. 45. Cooper is a flawed player, but as the starting linebacker for the Packers he should at least have a big statistical season. Only two off-ball linebackers have won Rookie of the Year since 2012 (Luke Kuechly/Shaquille Leonard), but if Cooper can surpass 100 tackles this season, he’ll have a chance to take home an award – even if became the prize heavy Over the past decade, the trend has shifted toward pass rushers and defensive backs. Tackles and splash plays with a full season of starts will give Cooper some focus on this.