The question on everyone’s mind is who should win the Rookie of the Year award? The top 3 candidates are QB’s Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, and Russell Wilson.

Should the player with the best stats win or should the player who impacts their team the most win, but that could be the same person.

Andrew Luck was expected to win the Rookie of the Year in the beginning of the season. Luck was the 1st overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft and was expected to turn the Indianapolis Colts franchise around after the loss of Peyton Manning. There was nothing but pressure and high expectation on Luck. The Colts have always been an elite team in the League and they wanted to get back to that point. Luck was trying to fill shoes of probably the best Quarterback to ever play the game.

Robert Griffin was 2nd pick in the NFL draft and he had considerably less pressure on him than luck did. Griffin went to a team who was used to failing and being the trash of NFL. Griffin had a lot of hype around him but not pressure to be a top class team. If Griffin didn’t live up to the hype, it would just be another terrible season for the Redskins. Griffin had a different style of play than Luck being more a running Quarter back who is generally more deceptive, injury prone, and harder to figure out what play they are running.

Russell Wilson was always a good Quarterback in college but not great like Luck and Griffin. Wilson led his team to win the 2012 Rose Bowl and he set the FBS single season record for Passing Efficiency. Wilson was selected quite farther back in the draft, he was the 6th Quarterback taken in the draft, being selected 75th to the Seattle Seahawks. He was an average player about to have his shot in the NFL.

All of these players had ended up having astounding regular seasons and led their team to the playoffs over veteran NFL quarterbacks. Luck turned last year 2-14 colts to 11-5 and to win the AFC wild card which is the second fastest turn around in NFL history behind the Dolphins from 2008 at 1-15 to 2009 to 11-5. Griffin took last year’s 5-11 Redskins and turned them to 10-6 to win the NFC East Division. Wilson took the 7-9 Seahawks and turned them to 11-5 this year. Clearly Luck took the worst team and did as good as or better than the other rookie QB’s.

Well how good was the offensive production of the Quarterbacks? Russell Wilson had the most touchdowns with 30 while Luck had 28 and Griffin had 27. Luck had more than 1000 more passing yards than the others. Of course he did have more pass attempt because Luck is the entire team and he carriers the colts on his back. The colts have no rushing game or defense. Wilson has help with one of the best running backs in the league with Marshawn Lynch and had the 1st scoring defense and 4th total defense. Griffin had the best rushing team in the League.

Who is the best passer out of the three? RG3 had the best completion percentage with Wilson close behind while Luck was farther back. Luck broke Cam Newton’s record for most passing yards by a rookie quarterback. RG3 Might have had a better completion percentage but he through less than half of the passes Luck did. Also, RG3’s offensive system was much simpler than both Luck and Wilsons. Griffin’s offense was based on the zone read which a college system is basically while Wilsons was a more complex West Coast offense. Lucks system was the most complex which was basically the spread system with no running game a.k.a. an “air raid offense.”

Luck and Griffin ended their season by losing in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Wilson won his game over his fellow candidate Robert Griffin III. Wilson ended up losing in the Divisional round of the playoffs by two to the Atlanta Falcons. Griffin got hurt against Wilson and the Seahawks in the 4th quarter and he needs total reconstructive surgery to his ACL and LCL in his right leg. That is the problem with running Quarterbacks because they get injured more often. This is Griffins 3rd knee injury in his career. This is his second ACL injury in 4 years.

I believe Andrew Luck should win Rookie of the Year. He took the worst team and brought them into the playoffs. Peyton Manning only went 3-13 in his rookie year. He did not have the best completion percentage but he threw the ball 2 times more than the other two Quarterbacks. Rushing Quarterbacks always get figured out in their career and never win the Super Bowl. Just look at Vince Young, Michael Vick, and JaMarcus Russell. Luck will have more of an impact in the NFL and to his team than Wilson and Griffin will.