Week three of the 2023 National Football League regular season is now complete. Here are the top five offensive performances by rookies on winning teams.
5) Calvin Austin III
The wideout from the University of Memphis was the Pittsburgh Steelers’s fourth round pick, 138th overall, in the 2023 NFL Draft. On Sunday night, Austin III of Memphis, Tennessee had two catches for 72 receiving yards and one touchdown in a 23-18 Steelers win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Austin III’s touchdown catch from quarterback Kenny Pickett was actually for 72 yards, and tied the game at seven with six minutes and 12 seconds left in the first quarter.
4) Sam LaPorta
Well folks, I picked up this Detroit Lions tight end in fantasy off of waivers at just the right time as he won me the week, as I defeated a famous Alberta accountant by three fantasy points! LaPorta of Highland, Illinois was the Lions’s second round pick, 34th overall, out of the University of Iowa. On Sunday, he had eight catches for 84 receiving yards and one touchdown in a 20-6 Lions win over the Atlanta Falcons. LaPorta’s touchdown catch was for 45 yards from Jared Goff with 10 minutes and five seconds left in the second quarter, and put Detroit up 10-3 at the time.
3) Tank Dell
The Houston Texans rookie wide receiver from Daytona Beach, Florida had five catches for 145 yards and one touchdown on Sunday in a 37-17 Houston Texans win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Dell’s touchdown was a 68-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Stroud and put the Texans up 34-17 with eight minutes and 59 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Dell played his college football at the University of Houston, and was the Texans’s third round pick, 69th overall, in the 2023 NFL Draft.
2) C.J. Stroud
The quarterback that found Dell on Sunday is also a NFL rookie. C.J. Stroud of Rancho Cucamonga, California completed 20 of 30 passes for 280 passing yards and two touchdowns along with three rushes for 14 yards. He also found Brevin Jordan for a four-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Stroud was the Texans’s second overall pick out of Ohio State in the 2023 NFL Draft. The only player selected ahead of Stroud was Bryce Young by the Carolina Panthers.
1) De’Von Achane
The running back from Missouri City, Texas set the Dolphins franchise record for the most rushing yards in a game by a rookie. De’Von Achane, the Dolphins’s third round pick, 84th overall out of Texas A&M, had 18 carries for 203 yards and two touchdown rushes, and four catches for 30 receiving yards and two more touchdown catches in a 70-20 Dolphins win over the Denver Broncos.
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