There are better comps for L.J. Collier’s rookie season than Seahawks Rasheem Green

Since the Seattle Seahawks saw their 2019 season come to a close against the Green Bay Packers, many fans have proposed that Rasheem Green’s development as a pass rusher in 2019 creates a favorable comparison for first round draft pick L.J. Collier. While it’s true that Collier and Green are both defensive linemen drafted by the Seahawks, the comparison fails to find much similar beyond that.

Many have argued that Collier’s lack production in 2019 is similar to the lack of production Green displayed in 2018, but this is simply not true. Yes, it’s true that Green did not do a whole lot in 2018, he did much more than Collier this past season. Here’s a comparison of their production as rookies.

In short, even as little as Green did, he did far more as a rookie than Collier did. Thus, let’s take a step back and look for a comparable player, because not only did Green log more production, Green was one of the youngest rookies in 2018, while Collier was one of the older rookies in 2019.

The result of digging for a comp yields a somewhat surprisingly similar player, all the way down to age during their rookie season.

How did this mystery comp perform as a rookie compared to how Collier performed as a rookie? Better than Collier, but it’s certainly a closer comparable than Green.

So, who is this mystery comparable?

Photo by Otto Greule Jr /Getty Images

Interestingly, it’s former Seahawk Michael Bennett, who coincidentally also played his college football in the state of Texas. Now, that said, who are some other players whose age and rookie production compares well to Collier? Thanks to the Pro-Football-Reference.com player season finder it’s possible to quickly find rookies who had production similar to that of Collier’s in 2019. So, here’s every rookie over the past fifteen years who was at least 23 years old, had one or fewer sacks and a half dozen or fewer tackles while appearing in at least five games.

It doesn’t take long to see that for every Michael Bennett and Mario Addison, there are a whole lot more instances similar to those of Kenny Iwebema and Jeremy Navarre, meaning that while developing into a force isn’t out of the question for Collier, it certainly seems to be on the lower end of expected outcomes.