One of the more interesting features we do at The Sporting Base is a weekly feature on NFL rookies. Here are the top five rookies (offensive players and kickers) on winning teams from Week 1 of the 2026 season.
5) Emmett Johnson
The Kansas City Chiefs rookie running back from Minneapolis, Minnesota was the Chiefs’s fifth round pick (161st overall) in the 2026 NFL Draft out of the University of Nebraska. On Monday night in a 31-10 Chiefs won over the Denver Broncos, Johnson had eight rushes for 24 rushing yards and two catches for 44 receiving yards.
4) Kaelon Black
In the San Francisco 49ers’s surprise 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Australia, 49ers rookie running back Kaelon Black of Virginia Beach, Virginia had 14 rushes for 65 rushing yards and one catch for five yards. Black was the 49ers’s third round pick (90th overall) in the 2026 NFL Draft out of the University of Indiana.
3) Josh Cameron
The Jacksonville Jaguars rookie from Cedar Park, Texas had two catches for 20 yards and one touchdown on Sunday in a 34-10 Jaguars win over the Cleveland Browns. Cameron had a four-yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence with one minute and 42 seconds left in the first quarter and put the Jaguars up 14-0 at the time. Cameron was the Jaguars’s sixth round pick, 191st overall, in the 2026 NFL Draft out of Baylor University.
2) Kenyon Sadiq
The New York Jets rookie tight end from Idaho Falls, Idaho had three catches for 21 yards and one rush for three yards in a 23-10 Jets win over the Tennessee Titans. Sadiq’s touchdown was a three-yard run that opened the scoring. Sadiq was the Jets’s first round pick (16th overall) out of the University of Oregon in the 2026 NFL Draft.
1) Jeremiyah Love
The Arizona Cardinals rookie running back from University City, Missouri had 11 rushes for 41 rushing yards and two catches for nine yards in a surprising 26-14 Cardinals win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Love was the Cardinals’s first round pick, third overall, out of the University of Notre Dame.
