• S Calen Bullock, Houston Texans: It was good to see Bullock take a more willing approach to run defense and tackling. He led the team with four total tackles. He finished the game with a 59.7 run-defense grade and a 61.0 coverage grade across 19 snaps.
• Edge Austin Booker, Chicago Bears: The 6-foot-4 edge rusher has over an 81-inch wingspan, and he uses those long arms well when attacking offensive tackles. He earned a 73.6 pass-rush grade during his first preseason contest, beating his blocker four times and registering one quarterback hurry.
• Dominate fantasy football season with promo code PFF25: Unlock all of PFF's fantasy content and tools, including full access to the fantasy football mock draft simulator, for 25% off using promo code PFF25.
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
After a long offseason, we finally have NFL football to recap. Sure, it might not be regular-season football with the locked-in starters, but we’ll still take it.
While most of the projected Week 1 starters sat out last night, the 2024 NFL Hall of Fame Game still gave us plenty of opportunities to watch the younger guys from each roster, including the rookies.
Here are our top rookie performers from the game between the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears.
S CALEN BULLOCK, HOUSTON TEXANS
Anyone who followed the draft process closely enough to read a Calen Bullock scouting report knows that coverage is his bread and butter. While he was at USC, he was one of the best ball-hawking single-high safeties in college football. But if you happened to read that much into him, you also read that tackling was not his strong suit and often an area that got him in trouble.
So, naturally, his first big play in the NFL was a big hit and a forced fumble. And on the following play, he made what could have been a touchdown-saving tackle. So much for scouting reports.
It was good to see Bullock take a more willing approach to run defense and tackling. It’s not that he couldn’t do it; he was just slender, and it was more difficult for him in college, so he wasn’t exactly motivated to throw his body at ball carriers.
I figured a spot on the Houston defense might be best for him. As a former linebacker, Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is likely one of the best candidates to motivate his young players to wrap up and make some hits on the ball.
We saw glimpses of that from Bullock, who led the team with four total tackles. He finished the game with a 59.7 run-defense grade and a 61.0 coverage grade across 19 snaps.
EDGE AUSTIN BOOKER, CHICAGO BEARS
Many in the draft community were shocked when Kansas edge rusher Austin Booker slipped all the way to the fifth round. At one point, he was considered a potential late first-round pick, but an inconsistent offseason caused his stock to drop more than expected.
Booker left Kansas as a redshirt sophomore with only one year of starting experience, during which he even missed some games. He has a long, slender build, but when he tried to add extra weight during the draft process, his athleticism suffered, likely causing his slide in the draft.
However, Thursday night's performance suggests the Bears might have a steal on their hands, even if he is “just” a designated pass rusher. The 6-foot-4 edge rusher has over an 81-inch wingspan, and he uses those long arms well when attacking offensive tackles. He earned a 73.6 pass-rush grade in his first preseason contest, beating his blocker four times and registering one quarterback hurry.
There was a play in the second quarter where he hit his offensive tackle with a long-arm-to-arm-over combo that gave us a glimpse of what his NFL pass-rush plan could be.
EDGE SOLOMON BYRD, HOUSTON TEXANS
Byrd played five seasons in college but was there for six, as he did not play during the 2020 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He seemed to be an NFL draft afterthought, but I was intrigued when I got to see him at East-West Shrine Bowl practices. He was very willing and conscious to get his hands up and moving against blockers, and he even showed off a nice spin move in one-on-one drills.
The Texans selected him in the seventh round this past April. He earned a 74.4 pass-rush grade in the Hall of Fame Game. He beat his blocker three times, though he failed to record a pressure.
TE BRENDEN BATES, CHICAGO BEARS
Bates was the first undrafted free agent to make a name for himself on a national stage this preseason. He played at Kentucky for five seasons but never recorded more than 100 receiving yards in a single season, let alone a game.
Though he played just 12 snaps on Thursday night, he earned an 88.3 overall grade and a 90.3 receiving grade. This was rooted in his two catches of 20-plus yards for 47 total yards in the game.
MORE NOTES
• Texans rookies OT Blake Fisher and TE Cade Stover played a significant number of snaps on Thursday night. Fisher's 38 snaps were tied for the most of any player, and Stover’s 36 were tied for the second-most. It appears both of those players are going to get quite a bit of work this preseason.
• Bears undrafted rookie cornerback Leon Jones played 36 snaps on Thursday night, earning a 69.7 overall grade. It felt like he was flying all over the field to be wherever the ball was going, an energy that would stand out to his coaches.
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.