Second and third-year players ready to break out in 2018

Malik Hooker

Okay, I’m kind of cheating on this one. While Hooker has only started six games in his brief NFL career, I believe he already broke out. Even though it’s his three interceptions in that limited period of time that has people talking, I have gone all in on him due to the improvement he showed in his open-field tackling compared to his Ohio State tape.

Anybody who scouted Hooker in college knows about his ridiculous range to make plays on the ball outside the numbers from his deep middle spot, but there were serious concerns about his tackling technique as a last line of defense. The kind of aggressive angles towards the ball combined with a lack of a break-down and medical reports about shoulder issues caused Hooker to drop all the way to the middle of the first round, but I had him as a top-five prospect and what I saw from him last season has me very excited.

Looking to predict NFL playoff Scenarios? Try our NFL Playoff Predictor for real-time simulations and stay ahead of the game!

With Earl Thomas less than a year away from turning 30, I could definitely see Hooker take over as the premier guy as that deep middle safety.