Arizona Cardinals rookie class ranked a bit higher than you would expect from PFF

Arizona Cardinals fans had some thoughts on the 2021 NFL season.

One of the big ones was the lack of snaps from their first round rookie linebacker Zaven Collins, especially as the season progressed and fell apart.

However, according to PFF the Arizona Cardinals rookie class had a pretty good season and ranked higher than most would expect.

From PFF:

13. ARIZONA CARDINALS

Why they’re ranked here: Arizona had only three of their draft picks play more than 50 snaps on either side of the ball. Two of the three — off-ball linebacker Zaven Collins and wide receiver Rondale Moore — generated more than a 1/10th of a WAR, something only 49 total first-year players accomplished.

Now, PFF did talk about Collins quite a bit.

How their top pick fared: Collins’ role on defense diminished as the season progressed, due in part to a shoulder issue. The 16th overall pick was volatile across his 220 snaps. Collins played over 15 snaps in eight games. Six of those ended in a single game PFF grade above 70.0, but two ended in sub-35.0 grades. This all led to a 69.3 PFF grade for the season.

The Collins lack of snaps is definintely something we will discuss over the summer, but when on the field he played pretty well.

Now, it’ll be about getting him on the field more.