2025 PFJ All-Rookie Team

by Chris Willis, NFL Films

Awards:
OROY: Tetairoa McMillan, Panthers, WR
DROY: Nick Emmanwori, Seahawks, NB

2024 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By Chris Willis, NFL Films

Jaylen Daniels (left) and Jared Verse (right)

Once again, we present our annual All-Rookie team, selected by Chris Willis, the Head of the NFL Films Producer, the Head of the Research Library, and the resident historian there as well.

OROY – Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders

DROY – Jared Verse, EDGE, Los Angeles Rams

2023 PFJ All-Rookie Team

 By Chris Willis, NFL Films

For the tenth season in a row, we once again present our annual All-Rookie team selected by Chris Willis, the Head of the NFL Films Research Library and the resident historian there as well.

Offensive Rookie of the Year—C.J. Stroud, Texans

Defensive Rookie of the Year—Kobie Turner, Rams

1960 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

Gail Cogdill is the runaway Rookie of the Year, winning both The Sporting News and UPI awards and our Defensive Rookie of the Year pick is Maxie Baughan a starter on the World champion Eagles. Larry Wilson and Roger Brown also have terrific rookie campaigns as well. 

Jim Marshall looked very good at defensive end for the Browns showing a lot of speed and movement on film. Bobby Boyd picked off seven passes for the Colts starting his career off on a high note. 

Vince Promuto was as good a rookie guard as there was in the 1960s—he could flat-out block.  Roy Hoard and Jim Boeke won starting roles for the Rams and did reasonably well. 

The teams—

1959 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

If you can pick up TJ Troup's book The Birth of Football's Modern 4-3 Defense: The Seven Seasons That Changed the NFL —

So much information on this era is contained in there it is like a reference book of the 1953-59 seasons.

The 1959 rookie crop was not as strong as some of the previous seasons we've covered in this series. The quarterbacks were particularly weak. However, there were some standouts as well. 

The Rookies of the Year were a tie between Nick Pietrosante (The Sporting News) & Boyd Dowler (UPI). In the second half of his rookie year Dowler caught 27 passes in St. Vince's running offense which is very IMPRESSIVE.

Tackle J.D. Smith was outstanding as a rookie starter for the Eagles.

The Defensive Rookie of the Year, in our view, was Dave Baker by a hair over Richie Petitbon. The 49ers had two fine defensive linemen in tackle Monte Clark and end Charlie Krueger. 

John LoVetere is the fourth Rams defensive lineman we chose for First-team All-Rookie since 1954 and none of them lasted very long in Los Angeles.

One all-time nugget—rooks Tom Franckhauser & Eddie Meador tie for the team lead in interceptions with three—when did two rookie corners ever tie for the team lead? It can't have happened too often.

Tommy Davis is our kicker and punter, a Paul Zimmerman favorite he could boom them the San Francisco weather conditions and did so for a decade.

The teams—

1958 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

Bobby Mitchell had 66 carries for 479 yards after six games—on pace for a 960-yard season before tailing off. Mitchell was the consensus Rookie of the Year (UPI and The Sporting News) and a nice backfield compliment to Jim Brown—the NFL's best player.

Darrell Dess of the Steelers played both guard and tackle and when Mike McCormack got hurt, Willie Davis went both ways in some games, but was best at defensive end. We put Dess on the Second-team and Davis on the First-team. Davis looked good, very good at defensive end. 

Ray Nitschke played both middle and outside linebacker—two excellent Packer linebackers (Currie the other) "stuck" in a defense that was poorly coached, and many times misaligned. Dennit Morris also played outside linebacker as well as inside. Charlie Jackson was not very good, but who else is there? 

Bobby Joe Conrad had his moments as a rookie in the secondary. If we had chosen Conrad were that would mean EIGHT Chicago Cardinals listed on a 2-9-1 team that became strong in 1960. That Cardinal team was on the road to victory, yet not necessarily due to Pop Ivy's double-wing, just excellent young talent. 

Our retro Defensive Rookie of the Year is Erich Barnes narrowly edging Alex Karras who was a fine rookie defensive tackle for the Lions. Lou Michaels started all year for the Rams and played well. Jack Morris picked off six passes and took one to the house. 

The teams—

1957 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

1957 rookie crop ranks right there with 1952 & 1953 in quality. Jim Brown was the consensus Rookie of the Year and was the AP and Sporting News Player of the Year and a consensus All-Pro and made the Pro as well—a rookie could hardly do better. On top of all that Brown led the NFL in rushing and rushing touchdowns on the 9-2-1 Browns.

Paul Hornung, one of our Second-team Halfbacks started all three backfield positions for the Packers, quarterback, fullback, and halfback. 

Center Frank Morze was a stonewall on Niners goal line defense in addition to being a fine pivot. Second-team guard Nisby began as a starting defensive end but was moved to guard where he shined but was not quite as effective as Sandusky and Gordy.

Once the Lions gave Steve Junker gets a chance—from week 4 on—he was excellent and Ron Kramer was not as consistent, but his game against Baltimore showed he could be a force. 

As Second-team end, we tied Jon Arnett who started the first four games of the season at split end and Tommy McDonald was opening day starter at running back, then benched he was basically a kick return man, but when allowed to play outside at flanker. Rather than snub one we picked both, but bother were hybrid ends and backs. 

Milt Davis is the Defensive Rookie of the Year. However, there is a caveat, Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the NFL lists him as having played one game in 1956 but film study does not reveal where that actually occurred. Thus under the rules of the era, he was a first-year player—eligible for All-Rookie honors. We are going with that unless someone can show that he actually played in 1956.

Davis picked off 10 passes and returned them for 219 yards taking two to the house (leading the league in all three of those categories), making All-Pro along the way. 

Billy Ray Smith had an excellent, near-Pro Bowl season for the Rams and Paige Cothren had the first of two good seasons with the LA club. 

The teams—

1956 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

Johnny Unitas

Dittrich of Cardinals was the nominal starter (started all the games), yet Bob Konovsky played just as much as just as well so we tied them on the Second-team. Morrow of Rams was a guard, until last game of the year, and then started at center. Buddy Brown loses his job as the starting right guard for Packers in and in the second half of the season Forrest Gregg starts and some of his highlights against the Niners in December are eye-popping. Plays very well against Leo the Lion. Agile, drive blocking.

Johnny Unitas was what was considered a first-year player, someone who had been to a previous NFL camp but they were still considered rookies and eligible for rookie awards. This definition lasted until at least 1973 and as such we make him the All-Rookie quarterback. If some have an issue they can move Bart Starr to First-team and Earl Morrall to the Second-team.

If Lowell Perry would have stayed healthy or Clyde Conner had a first half of the season like he did the last few games of the year...either one would be a First-teamer.

The Colts halfback Lenny Moore was the United Press Rookie of the Year and deservedly so. rushing for 649 yards and 8 touchdowns and a 7.5 yards-per-rush average. The backup halfback tandem was good as well, a deep year for that position. 

J.C. Caroline was The Sporting News Rookie of the Year, he played offense but was stellar on defense picking off six passes and taking two to the house. 

Sam Huff began 1956 as a defensive tackle for the New York Football Giants with Ray Beck at middle linebacker in the 4-3 defense. Beck goes down with an injury and is replaced by Harland Svare who does not get the job done. 

Finally, Tom Landry turns to Sam Huff to be the middle 'backer and the rest, as they say, was history. Huff was a great middle linebacker for many years ending it as a Hall of Famer. Gonzaga gets the Second-team but remember:  The Niners tried everyone but the Morabito sisters at that position, including 1955 rookie Ed Beatty who recovers three Ram fumbles in an early-season game...two from linebacker, one on special teams to tie Corwin Clatt's record. 

Tom Roggeman got playing time at guard for Bears, but film study, the man was a demon on special teams—hustle, couple thunderous tackles. 

The teams—

1955 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

  By John Turney and TJ Troup

Alan Ameche

Alan Ameche was the UPI and TSN Rookie of the Year, after leading the NFL in rushing, rushing attempts, and rushing touchdowns. His backup Rick Casares led the NFL in yards per attempt (5.2).  It was a good year for rookie fullbacks,

It was also a good year for rookie linebackers. John Reger started in a 5-2 scheme but the Steelers transitioned to a 4-3 defense in 1955 and Reger played the middle in the 4-3. Fortunato, Hazeltine, and Morris were all special as rookies, Morris even playing at least one game both ways—at fullback and linebacker in addition to other games where he played one or the other, but mostly he was a linebacker.

As always it should be noted that in this era there were still plenty of guys who went both ways at times . . . Darris McCord being one from 1955, though there were a couple of others.

However, we think the "Retro" Defensive Rookie of the Year Award should go to Dicky Moegle of the 49ers. He was everywhere on film and picked off six passes. Don Burroughs, the Rams left safety stole nine passes. After Moegle it is likely Fortunato would be next in line for DROY. 

The secondary lines ups here according to TJ's film study, are not how they are often listed by position because players like McCabe and Patton and Doyle and Sumner played both corner (defensive halfback) and safety. 

The teams—

1954 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup

Harlon Hill

The 1954 Retro All-Rookie team is headed by Harlon Hill who had a monster rookie season catching 45 passes for 1,124 yards (a 25.0-yard avg) and twelve touchdowns. Hall of Fame guard Stan Jones played tackle for the Bears as a rookie and did a good job. 

Defensively Jack Brumfield stood out for the 49ers as one of the best pass rushers in the league. Les Richter stepped in and played linebacker and kicked for the Rams and did well at both.

The era of this Retro All-Rookie series is documented in TJ Troup's book The Birth of Football's Modern 4-3 Defense: The Seven Seasons That Changed the NFL and is full of more detailed accounts of the NFL seasons 1953-59—

The teams—

1953 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

Doug Atkins

Like with the 1952 Retro Team we've attempted to award rookie players from 1953. Here is the full First-team and Second-team—

Doug Atkins played left end for the Browns and was not perfect by any means but he and tom Scott were the ends that made the most plays that we saw. Joe Schmidt would be the Defensive Rookie of the Year, however. He was playing at a high level from day one for the Lions.

Three Hall of Famers debuted on the offensive line—Jim Ringo, Rosey Brown, and Bob St. Clair and of the three we think Rosey Brown was the best that year and was the best Offensive Rookie as well. 

1952 Pro Football Journal All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney and TJ Troup 

Going back and picking award-winners in the past is always going to have pitfalls and we fully acknowledge that fact. However, in the spirit of fun and adventure and using film study and research now available it seems like it would be interesting to try and pick an "as if" or retroactive rookie squared for the decade prior to UPI picking theirs, beginning in 1961. 

There were a lot of great players with great rookie seasons in that span and we'd like to honor them and recognize their achievements. 

So, using what we now know via the aforementioned research and film study here is the 1952 PFJ All-Rookie Team—

Night Train Lane would be a pretty good Defensive Rookie of the Year (a still NFL-record 14 interceptions) for '52 and we've seen plenty of film of Gino Marchetti with the Texans to know he came into the NFL as a dominant player. 

Offensive Billy Howton would be the top guy. On a per-game basis, his rookie season still matches with the best ever in touchdown receptions. In twelve games Howton caught 53 passes for 1,231 yards (23.2 yards per catch) and 13 touchdowns. It's a pretty good set of rookie running backs.  

It should be noted that many players were two-way guys who played both offense and defense and only Troup's film study can sort through that but in general this is at least a jumping off point for discussions about the rookies in the 1950s.

Oakland Tribune's 1971 All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

Archie Manning and Jim Plunkett

This is the third and final Oakland Tribune All-Rookie team (that we've found). Once again the team is composed of more than 22 players so it's not a tightly defined All-Rookie team but for completeness, we've posted it.

By 1971 United Press International began picking teams once again as well as Football Digest. By 1974 the Pro Football Writers and Newspaper Enterprise Association began choosing teams as well. Pro Football Weekly also was in the mix, but we have not yet compiled those teams but plan to the next time we get to the Hall of Fame library. 

Oakland Tribune's 1970 All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

Terry Bradshaw

This is the second of the Oakland Tribune All-Rookie teams that fill in a gap of All-Rookie teams left when United Press International  (or anyone else as far as we know) did not choose them.

This is the 1970 iteration of their selections—

Oakland Tribune's 1969 All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

Greg Cook

From 1961-65 and then in 1968 United Press International picked All-rookie teams. They didn't pick them from 1968-70 but did resume in 1971.

However, the Oakland Tribune did pick teams from 1969-71 which are the only All-Rookie teams from 1969 and 1970 that were are aware of. 

They were not exacting in that they did not define First- or Second-teams and picked both from the NFL and AFL but since they are all we have we thought they were worthy of posting. 

Here is the 1969 team—

1967 UPI All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

In 1966 United Press International took a year off from picking an All-Rookie squad, we are not sure of the reason. They picked on in 1967 and then didn't pick another one until 1971. Again we don't know why. 

Here is the 1967 team—

United Press International NFL All-Rookie Team

Offense

SE Danny Abramowicz, New Orleans

TE Bob Windsor, San Francisco

OT Mike Haggerty, Pittsburgh

OT Jerry Jones, New Orleans

OG Del Williams, New Orleans

OG Dick Hart, Philadelphia

OC Bob Hyland, Green Bay

QB Kent Nix, Pittsburgh

RB Mel Farr, Detroit

RB Don Shy, Pittsburgh

FL Dave Williams, St. Louis

Defense

DE Mel Tom, Philadelphia

DE Marty Amsler, Chicago

DT Alan Page, Minnesota

DT Dave Rowe, New Orleans

LB Ron Porter, Baltimore

LB Jim Flanigan, Green Bay

LB Ken Avery, N.Y. Giants

CB Lem Barney, Detroit

CB John Douglas, New Orleans

S Rick Volk, Baltimore

S Phil Spiller, St. Louis

Specialists

PK Charlie Durkee, New Orleans

P Tom McNeil, Philadelphia

KOR Travis Williams, Green Bay

PR Ben Davis, Cleveland

1965 UPI All-Rookie team

 By John Turney  

The 1965 All-Rookie team selected by UPI consisted of two Hall of Fame Bears, Gale Sayers and Dick Burkus, and Cowboys HOFer Bob Hayes and several other top-flight pros.

Here is the list—

United Press International NFL All-Rookie Team

Offense

WR Bob Hayes, Dallas

WR Jack Snow, L.A. Rams

TE Jerry Smith, Washington

OT Ralph Neely, Dallas

OT Bob Nichols, Pittsburgh

OG Jim Wilson, San Francisco

OG Don Croftcheck, Washington

OC Ed Flanagan, Detroit

QB Craig Morton, Dallas

HB Gale Sayers, Chicago

FB Ken Willard, San Francisco

Defense

DE Tim Powell, L.A. Rams

DE Roosevelt Davis, N.Y. Giants

DT Walter Johnson, Cleveland

DT Jerry Rush, Detroit

LB Dick Butkus, Chicago

LB Lonnie Warwick, Minnesota

LB Jack Chapple, San Francisco

CB Carl Lockhart, N.Y. Giants

CB Al Nelson, Philadelphia

S Obert Logan, Dallas

S Henry Carr, N.Y. Giants

Specialists

P Frank Lambert, Pittsburgh

KOR Lance Rentzel, Minnesota

PR Roy Jefferson, Pittsburgh

PR Rickie Harris, Washington

Here is the original article—

1964 UPI All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

Nineteen sixty-four was the fourth year in a row that United Press International chose an All-Rookie team. Here is the iteration from that year which included seven Hall of Famers—

United Press International NFL All-Rookie Team

Offense

WR Paul Warfield, Cleveland

WR Dave Parks, San Francisco

WR Bucky Pope, L.A. Rams

OT Bob Brown, Philadelphia

OT George Seals, Washington

OG Milt Sunde, Minnesota

OG Jake Kupp, Dallas

OC Joe Wendryhoski, L.A. Rams

QB Bill Munson, L.A. Rams

HB Charley Taylor, Washington

FB Tony Lorick, Baltimore

Defense

DE Carl Eller, Minnesota

DE Lloyd Voss, Green Bay

DT Ben McGee, Pittsburgh

DT Chuck Hinton, Pittsburgh

LB Lou Slaby, N.Y. Giants

LB Mike Morgan, Philadelphia

LB Dave Wilcox, San Francisco

CB George Rose, Minnesota

CB Bobby Thompson, Detroit

S Paul Krause, Washington

S Mel Renfro, Dallas

Specialists

PK Bruce Gossett, L.A. Rams

P Bobby Walden, Minnesota

Here is the original release:  

1963 UPI All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

Hall of Famer Jackie Smith was voted to the 1963 All-Rookie team as were All-Pro Andy Russell, Lee Roy Jordan, and standouts like Lionel Aldridge, Fred Miller, Jerry Stoval, and Kermit Alexander. 

Here is the complete team—

United Press International NFL All-Rookie Team

Offense

WR Paul Flatley, Minnesota

WR Ron Goodwin, Philadelphia

TE Jackie Smith, St. Louis

OT Steve Barnett, Chicago

OT Dave Graham, Philadelphia

OG Don Chuy, L.A. Rams

OG Dan Grimm, Green Bay

OC (no selection)

QB Glhynn Griffing, N.Y. Giants

RB Don Libson, San Francisco

FB Bill Thornton, St. Louis

Defense

DE Lionel Aldridge, Green Bay

DE Don Brumm, St. Louis

DT Fred Miller, Baltimore

DT Jim Kanicki, Cleveland

LB Lee Roy Jordan, Dallas

LB Andy Russell, Pittsburgh

LB Dennis Gaubatz, Detroit

CB Kermit Alexander, San Francisco

CB Lee Calland, Minnesota

S Larry Benz, Cleveland

S Jerry Stovall, St. Louis

Here is the original UPI clipping:

1962 UPI All-Rookie Team

 By John Turney 

In 1961 United Press International began choosing All-Rookie teams. In 1962 there were two Hall of Famers among the group, Merlin Olsen and Mick Tingelhoff. 

Here is the 1962 version—

United Press International NFL All-Rookie Team

Offense

OE Gary Collins, Cleveland

OE Steve Stonebreaker, Minnesota

OT Irv Goode, St. Louis

OT Joe Carollo, L.A. Rams

OG Pete Case, Philadelphia

OG Leon Donohue, San Francisco

OC Mick Tingelhoff, Minnesota

QB Ron Miller, L.A. Rams

HB Ronnie Bull, Chicago

HB Joe Womack, Pittsburgh

FB Art Perkins, L.A. Rams

Defense

DE George Andrie, Dallas

DE Ed O'Bradovich, Chicago

DT Merlin Olsen, L.A. Rams

DT Guy Reese, Dallas

LB Bill Winter, N.Y. Giants

LB Mike Lucci, Cleveland

LB Sam Tidmore, Cleveland

DB Claude Crabb, Washington

DB Mike Gaechter, Dallas

DB Bill Triplett, St. Louis

DB Wendell Harris, Baltimore

The original article—