Who's #1?

Can you ever remember a year when we were talking about the NFL Rookie of the Year? Usually it goes by the wayside just like the Lou Groza, Silver Slugger and Mr. Nice Guy awards. Unless you are a Rookie of the Year historian, or a portly gentleman with a bad goatee, you just don't know who the NFL's Rookie of the Year is because it never matters. The reward is a trip to Dollywood with 58-year-old women dressed as rhinestone cowgirls.

That all changed this year.

Has there ever been a more electric rookie class? This is the NFL's version of the 2003 NBA rookie class, you know--the LeBron, 'Mello and D-Wade class. The 2006 NFL rookie class was loaded with the gems: Leinart, Young and Bush with a dash of Mario Williams and Jay Cutler.

But who is the Rookie of the Year? The choices have been unofficially narrowed down to Vince Young, Reggie Bush, Maurice Jones-Drew and Devin Hester. In the spirit of the '03 NBA rookie class, each of the candidates will be listed with a personalized nickname that hopefully catches on.

VY

Young has been deemed "a winner." He passes for 82 yards and two interceptions--he's a winner. He completes 42% of his passes--he's a winner. That's Jeter territory. The sports media has perpetuated a myth that says a quarterback who wins, wins despite his mediocre numbers. And don't forget this: VY has mediocre numbers. Even during the recent hot streak he's thrown for more two more touchdowns than interceptions. Color me not impressed by VY. He's a fantastic talent, but is playing with a solid supporting cast. In case people have forgotten, Travis Henry is in his backfield, Norm Chow is in the booth and he's got a solid defense that held Indianapolis to 17 points and helped the Titans crawl back from a 21-0 deficit with nine minutes left against New York.

VY has proven that he can get it done despite average numbers. His overtime scramble against Houston was a thing of beauty, but I'm not about to buy him as the next Elway. He's not even Jim Harbaugh circa '95.

President Bush

This Commander-in-Chief of the Aints is going to shatter the rookie receptions record--and he's a running back. He got off to a slow start and has yet to show that he can run between the tackles, but when he gets the ball, it's a thing to behold. VY gives a slight juke that throws off a defender, the Prez bounces, jukes, spins, crawls, hurdles and flips between defenders.

Bush is doing to NFL defenses what he did to college defenses. They flail around like Fresno State and UCLA did a year ago, and the transformation has happened so quickly.

Hesteria

The NFL hasn't seen a return man like Hesteria in a long time. He's good enough to make you want to belt out Def Leppard tunes in honor of his nickname. Let's try something...

Take a "Photograph" of Hester being an "Animal" and "Let's Get Rocked." And for chrissakes, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" when Hester gets going because I get all hot and sticky sweet.

Match that, Stu Scott. I just named four Leppard megahits about a guy who returns kicks--and not much else. He has made five tackles, and his voice is higher than Mike Tyson's. But the guy has six returns for touchdowns and became only the second player to ever return two in one game when he did against the hapless Rams.

Mo' Money, Mo' Drew

All right, now I'm getting into Chris Berman's territory. Dumb nicknames that make no sense and play off of stupid rap songs. But God help me, I love it.

Mo' Money came out of UCLA, meaning he did a couple of games against fellow Rookie of the Year candidate President Bush. Mo' Money has been every bit as good as Bush. He probably won't get 1,000 yards, but he has over six yards per carry and nine touchdowns. Thirty-three receptions for 332 yards is also pretty impressive.

Drew was made candidate after an impressive, but hollow, performance against the Indianapolis Colts, and he's going to be the top back for the Jaguars soon. The leading back, Fred Taylor, is made out of fiberglass and is being held together by

band-aids and Bubble-Yum.

Hollywood Leinart

2006 has not been kind to Hollywood.

First, he lost to Texas in the Rose Bowl.

Then, he fooled around with a 5'7" version of the clap, Paris

Hilton.

And he knocked up girlfriend/whatever Brynn Cameron.

And finally he dropped from consensus #1 pick in 2005 draft to forgettable #10 pick in 2006 draft and was sent to NFL Hell, Arizona, where he played understudy to Kurt Warner.

By Week 5, he was playing, and he almost defeated Chicago in his first start on "Monday Night Football." Then it got bad, and they lost to the Oakland Raiders. Things have been better lately. He's won three of his last three games and has passed for over 2,000 yards in 10 games. Leinart has completely fallen off the map of relevance. He's now J.J. Redick, only he's healthy and pretty good.

Consider this: he's thrown for the same amount of touchdowns as VY, the same amount of interceptions and three fewer rushing touchdowns while completing a better percentage of passes and thrown for 400 more yards in two fewer games.

"But, Ryan," you say, "he's got Anquain Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald and Edgerrin James! He's loaded!"Not exactly. Yes, he's got two super receivers in Boldin and Fitz, but James has been a collossal bust without a decent offensive line. And let's see Young try to complete nearly 60% of his passes behind the Arizona Cardinals' line. He would be reduced to running every single down.

If we're going by numbers, Leinart is the guy, but because he plays on such a bad team, he'll be completely ignored. Meanwhile, Young's latest surge will lead to him getting many, many votes.

Oh, to be a Titan...