This week brings cooler weather, the smell of turkey in the air, and the next chapter in our continued Monday Night Rookies series for Pro Football Network. Tonight’s NFL Week 12 meeting features the Monday Night Football matchup of the Baltimore Ravens and the Los Angeles Rams. Ravens rookie wide receiver Marquise Brown will be a quiet threat to the Rams defense. Brown has some high numbers where it counts but only has had one game all season with more than four targets. Let’s breakdown some of the data and see if Brown has the big-play potential to make a difference in the upcoming Monday night game.
College career
Marquise Brown began his college football career in 2016 as wide receiver for College of the Canyons, a public community college in Santa Clarita, California. Following that season, he would accept an offer from Oklahoma and began playing for the Sooners in 2017. Over the next two seasons, Brown would complete 132 receptions for 2,413 yards and 17 touchdowns. Brown announced that he would forgo his final year of eligibility for Oklahoma in 2019 to declare for the 2019 NFL Draft. Marquise Brown would later be selected in the first round of the draft by the Baltimore Ravens as the 25th overall pick.
PFN OSM trends
Marquise Brown has had a quiet but impressive year according to Pro Football Network’s OSM trends. The Offensive Share Metric helps to give a clear picture on how much an individual player attributes to the team’s overall success that week. Brown completed his first game in the NFL during Week 1 with an elite OSM grade of 46.68. He was the first player in the history of the National Football League to score two touchdowns of 40+ yards in his first game. However, his targets since then have been low in the Ravens offensive system this year. Brown has a very good overall OSM grade on the season of 33.14. This grade places him at WR39 among all NFL teams, just ahead of Jakeem Grant, Taylor Gabriel, and Keenan Allen. This shows us that, while Brown isn’t getting the opportunity to touch the ball very often, when it is in his hands he is consistent with making big, productive plays this season in Baltimore.
Next Gen Stats
Brown is currently ranked 8th among all NFL receivers in YAC/R on the 2019 season. For yards after catch per reception (YAC/R), Next Gen looks at how many yards on average the player is able to pickup after making the catch. This is also a stat that will improve the player’s overall OSM performance. Brown is averaging 7.2 yards after catch per reception on the season. This is tied with San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel and Los Angeles’ Cooper Kupp.
Here we will see an example of how Brown is able to pickup high YAC/R. This clip is from NFL Week 1 against Miami. Watch how Brown is able to shake his initial defender and then take advantage of open field and out run the nearest defenders picking up 38 yards after catch along the way.
But it’s not just after the catch numbers that’s high among other receivers. Brown’s speed and agility allows him to get further down the field before the pass as well. This stat is the player’s TAY, or targeted air yards. Brown is averaging being 12.5 yards downfield before being targeted by his QB. This TAY average is comparable to Julio Jones and Adam Thielen this year. The following clip is from Week 2 against the Cardinals. Brown is able use his speed and gets nearly 20 yards downfield before being targeted by Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Marquise Brown has shown to be a valuable rookie on Ravens offense this year but has not been targeted much since NFL Week 5. This seems to be a combination of an ankle injury that he has been working through the last few weeks and Baltimore’s strategy of just not throwing the ball to wide receivers very often. His speed and big-play ability has put up some impressive numbers when given the opportunity on the field. But even last weekend’s dominant win over the Texans left Brown with only four targets for 23 yards. Has Marquise Brown proven his worth enough to convince head coach John Harbaugh that he should be allowed more than 4-5 targets this week? Or will Los Angeles’ corners be too much for Brown to overcome?
Remember to check back here every Monday morning to take a look at our latest Monday Night Rookie. Next week will feature a player from the MNF matchup of the Minnesota Vikings at the Seattle Seahawks. Do you have a favorite Vikings or Seahawks rookie that you would like to be featured? Do you agree or disagree with today’s article? Join in the conversation on Facebook and let me know your thoughts.