Doug Martin and Seven Mid-Season Rookie of the Year Candidates

Every April the best minds in football try to figure out who among the current crop of talent coming out of college will be able to play and contribute to the team sooner rather than later. Pick the right guys and the future of the team can change almost immediately. Pick the wrong guys and the team can sink even lower to where college coaches will start talking about Nick Saban being able to beat you.

There were some pretty high expectations laid out for this year's banner crop of rookies. Five started the regular season at quarterback and while only two are potentially having award-winning seasons the other three are starting to shape up. Defense is probably the one place where rookies can usually make an immediate impact. So far there are a number of them that are doing just that.

After reviewing the top eight candidates it is readily apparent why the NFL gives out two rewards for Rookie of the Year, one for offense and the other defense. There are simply too many good candidates on each side of the ball! Andrew Luck is the favorite for the offensive end, but Doug Martin has made a pretty convincing case with the third most rushing yards in the league.

What about the defensive side? Chandler Jones is getting it down for the Patriots, but Bobby Wagoner is a tacking machine!

It's a good thing we have two more months before any real decisions have to be made.