Rookie Report Card: Daniel Jones and Dawson Knox
Each week throughout the season, I’ll cover at least two rookies in the Rookie Report Card and try to always include the biggest performers from that particular week. On top of reviewing my expectations for each player coming into the league and how well he’s lived up to those expectations at the NFL level to this point, I’ll grade the player in three categories. Those categories are performance to date, 2019 potential and long term upside.
The series continues in week three by focusing in on a pair of big performances from rookie Daniel Jones and Dawson Knox.
Daniel Jones, QB NYG
Week Three Stats: 23/36 passing (63.9%), 336 passing yards, two touchdowns, four carries, 28 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, two fumbles lost.
Coming out of Duke, Jones was one of the most difficult players for dynasty owners to value. Draft gurus seemed convinced that Jones was a system quarterback and that the QB’s success had way more to do with David Cutcliffe’s masterful teaching skills than those of the 6’5”, 220 pound signal caller. The negative rumblings bled into the dynasty community and spread like wildfire as there were few that chose to talk about his timing and accuracy and far too many that highlighted his propensity to throw into coverage at times or make off-balance and back foot throws.
It was fashionable to be a Jones basher, just as it was a year ago with quarterback Josh Allen. And when the Giants – whose recent history is littered with bad decisions from their front office – selected Jones with the sixth overall pick in the NFL draft, most in the community giggled.
Personally, I was a Daniel Jones fan. Athletic enough to make plays with his legs and accurate even when on the move, he appeared to have the right mix of athleticism, pocket savvy and accuracy to transition to the NFL each time I watched him in college. He was a target of mine throughout the pre-draft process in superflex leagues.
Scouts called Jones a gunslinger and said he’s too willing to make risky throws. Many picked on his habit of holding the ball too long and pointed to the 13 fumbles (eight lost) in his final two years as the Blue Devils’ starter as a reason why he’d never be anything more than a backup in the NFL.
Through one start, we all couldn’t have been more wrong.
After lighting up the pre-season (85% completion percentage, 12.2 YPA, 2 TD, 0 INT, 2 rushing touchdowns), Jones picked up right where he left off in his first NFL regular season start. Poised in the pocket and quick to get the ball out of his hands, he delivered the ball on time and accurately throughout the game and never put the ball in harm’s way through the air. When protection broke down, Jones used his athleticism to flush out of the pocket but always kept his eyes downfield. He delivered the ball well on the run and used subtle pump fakes to create running room when necessary.
The naysayers may say that Jones’ numbers were boosted by Evan Engram’s speed on his 75-yard catch and run and he was fortunate the Buccaneers were playing so much man coverage in the red zone, allowing him to find running room to score twice on the ground. The truth is, with the exception of his two fumbles (both lost), Jones was nearly perfect on Sunday.
Whether he was feathering throws into the corner of the end zone to Sterling Shepard in the face of the blitz, hitting Darius Slayton on a deep out route for a crucial first down, or stepping through pressure and speeding to the end zone for a game winning touchdown on fourth down, Jones was a dynamic difference maker in his first NFL start – and did it without Saquon Barkley for much of the game and with what most consider to be a bottom half of the league group of pass catchers.
Although the two fumbles are concerning (he struggled with fumbles in the pre-season as well) and nobody should expect this type of performance on a weekly basis, the arrow is pointing way up for Jones. It’d take a king’s ransom for me to part with him in a superflex or 2QB league.
Dawson Knox, TE BUF
Week Three Stats: Three receptions, 67 receiving yards, one touchdown reception (four targets), one carry, nine rushing yards.
Despite catching just 39 passes for 605 yards and never finding the end zone in his 18 college games, Knox was an easy player to like coming out of Ole Miss. It was clear to anybody watching the Rebels that Knox was there to block and create time for DK Metcalf, AJ Brown and DaMarkus Lodge to get open. In the limited opportunities he got to get downfield, however, he shined. Big (6’4”, 250 pounds) and athletic (4.58 40-yard dash), he showed with Ole Miss that he could stretch the field (18.9 YPC in 2018) due to his quickness and excellent catch radius.
When Knox ended up with the Bills in third round of the NFL draft after Buffalo traded up for him, many dynasty owners salivated over the landing spot with only Tyler Kroft and Jason Croom on Buffalo’s depth chart. Then both Kroft and Croom ended up with injuries in training camp and glowing reports out of Buffalo surfaced about Knox’s ability to stretch the seam. Dynasty owners took notice once again as he moved into the third round of many rookie drafts in July.
The hype subsided in August however after Knox missed multiple weeks of practice due to an injury of his own. He went in the fourth and fifth round of rookie drafts in August.
After two quiet weeks to begin the season that saw Knox catch just two passes for 19 yards combined, he was much more involved in week three against the Bengals, catching three passes for 67 yards and a touchdown and also carrying once for nine yards. Although his one-yard touchdown in the first quarter created a nice launching point for his big day, it was a 49-yard catch and run in the fourth quarter that was his most impressive play of the afternoon. His corner route left him wide open down the left sideline where he made the catch that preceded an impressive stiff arm and incredible broken tackle – a real life version of a “hit stick.” The play led to a Frank Gore game winning touchdown.
Despite getting just four targets on Sunday (nine through three games), Knox has been on the field for just over half of the Bills’ snaps in each of their three games. It appears that he’s the clear starter and preferred option in the passing game. Although he’s extremely raw after coming out early from college and rarely being used in the passing game while at Ole Miss, it’s clear he has a good chance to be a much better professional than college tight end, and the play he made in the fourth quarter on Sunday is evidence of it.
Unless you’re playing in a shallow dynasty league, Knox is almost certainly already on a roster so it’d likely take a trade to add him at this point, but that shouldn’t keep you from trying to make a move for a young player with low-end TE1 upside. Those looking for a developmental tight end shouldn’t hesitate to give a future third-rounder for him.
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