Tag Archives: Breakout Candidates

NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Defense edition:

Back for the second half of this annual series. With us being in the true dead period of the NFL offseason, with training camps set to start partially about a week from now, we’re talking about young breakout defenders across the league. Yet again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on the other side of the ball.

Defining the term “breakout” can be somewhat volatile, so here are the guidelines I typically set for the defensive players – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Moreover, I typically stay away from guys who have barely seen action in the pros up to this point. This, for example, makes names like cornerback Travis Hunter (Jaguars) and defensive tackle Walter Nolen (Cardinals) ineligible.

Among last year’s group, Laiatu Latu finished top 20 in total QB pressures with the Colts, Payton Wilson made some key plays as one of the starting linebackers for the Steelers to help them make the playoffs, and Browns safety Ronnie Hickman was credited with only one touchdown allowed on well over 1000 defensive snaps, compared to his nine passes defensed. Here’s who made the list this time around:

 

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NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2026 NFL season – Offense edition:

It’s that time of the year. We’re in the depths of the offseason, with NFL training camps starting off in a couple of weeks. We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the movement of players and construction of rosters, before examining burning questions for all 32 teams at this stage. So now, let’s bring back my annual two-part series on young breakout players across the league. Once again, we’ll be looking at seven different players on offense and defense each.

To avoid questions around what constitutes a “breakout”, here are the guidelines I set for myself – no 1000-yard rushers or receivers, players that have scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nomination, or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions already. That’s why you won’t see someone like Bears tight-end Colston Loveland show up here. Also, I typically try not to include such players who have barely seen the field as pros, although I did make one exception here.

Drake Maye ended up as the runner-up for league MVP, Rome Odunze and Ricky Pearsall showed promising flashes when healthy, and Tanor Bortolini established himself as a quality starter at center for the Colts, as guys who made the list a year ago. Let’s get to the 2026 version:

 

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NFL Draft, NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2025 NFL season – Defense edition:

We’re back for the second half of yet another two-part series, only this time in written form, as we switch sides of the ball and talk about some of my favorite second- and third-year defenders, who I expect to take the next step. Just like we did in the offensive edition last week, we’ll discuss seven players today.

Once again, to identify what would qualify a “breakout” or rather players excluded in this discussion, I’m largely relying on statistical measurements that they haven’t reached yet – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nominations or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. I also generally stay away from players who have barely seen action in the pros yet. That makes names like Cardinals defensive lineman Darius Robinson and Eagles cornerback Kelee Ringo, for example.

Daiyan Henley emerged as one of the best linebackers in all of football after making the list a year ago, but I’m still waiting on names like B.J. Ojulari and JuJu Brents to stay healthy and show if they can justify me putting them up there in the most recent version of this. Let’s get into these next few names for 2025:

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NFL Draft, NFL Offseason

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2025 NFL season – Offense edition:

These last two months have been loaded with video content, discussing basically every single offseason move made by all 32 teams and, most recently, going through one burning question for each of them. So now it’s time for one of my favorite projects in written form every year – breakout candidates. Split up into offense and then defense next week, we’re looking at seven players on each side of the ball, coming off their rookie or second season, who I project to make a leap in 2026.

Since it’s tough to set the guidelines for what would qualify a “breakout” for the purposes of this exercise, I’m relying mostly on statistical metrics that the players in question haven’t reached yet – no 1000-yard rushers or receivers, players that have scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nominations or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions already. I also generally stay away from players who have barely seen action in the pros yet. That makes names like Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy and Steelers offensive tackle Troy Fautanu ineligible, for example.

Chase Brown, Khalil Shakir and Cam Jurgens all delivered on the lofty expectations I set for them last July, while Anthony Richardson is someone I’m still rooting for to reach his sky-high potential. Here’s this year’s list:

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NFL Offseason, Storylines around the NFL

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2024 NFL season – Defense edition:

In the second half of this annual series, we’re switching over to the defensive side of the ball and outlining young players around the NFL, who I expect to make a leap in 2024.

For the purposes of this exercise, considering it’s tough to set the guidelines for what counts as an actual “breakout”. Therefore, I relied mostly on statistical metrics that exclude players from this category – no front-seven defenders who recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, players who intercepted 4+ passes, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nominations or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Also, I generally stayed away from players who have barely seen action in the pros yet.

Also, in order to not repeat myself, I won’t mention names like 49ers edge rusher Drake Jackson (who had a hot start before suffering a quadriceps injury that ended last season early for him), Broncos edge rusher Baron Browning (who missed the first half of the season but did put up strong pressure numbers from that point onwards) and Bengals safety Dax Hill (whose grading looks worse than his raw production, but I expect to align more now and Cincinnati’s defense generally bouncing back with him in year two as a starter), since they made the list last year.

Let’s begin:

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NFL Offseason, Storylines around the NFL

Second- and third-year breakout candidates for the 2024 NFL season – Offense edition:

We’ve been heavily focused on video and podcast formats recently. So now it was time to get back to writing about players and delivering detailed evaluations/outlooks for one of my favorite pieces of the offseason. Split up into offense and then defense next week, we’re looking at some young players across the league I expect to make a leap in 2024.

For the purposes of this exercise, considering it’s tough to set the guidelines for what counts as an actual “breakout”. Therefore, I relied mostly on statistical metrics that exclude players from this category – no 1000-yard rushers or receivers, players that have scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl/All-Pro nominations or are just generally considered one of the better performers at their respective positions. Also, I generally stayed away from players who have barely seen action in the pros yet.

Also, in order to not repeat myself, I won’t mention names like Colts left tackle Bernhard Raimann (who has established himself as an average starter I’d say) and Broncos tight-end Greg Dulcich (who missed pretty much all of 2023), since they made the list last year.

Let’s begin:


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NFL Offseason, Storylines around the NFL

Second- and third-year NFL players ready to break out in 2023 – Defense edition:

This is the second half of our series on the biggest breakout candidates across the NFL this upcoming season, where we focus on players heading into year two or three.

Once again, I’ll start by giving a quick introduction to each player with his collegiate background and time spent in the NFL so far, discuss the strengths of those players and some areas in which they flash certain skills, list a few things they should focusing on improving upon and then explain my reasoning for them establishing themselves as impact players this year

In order to bring some fresh names to the table, I didn’t include players who have already recorded double-digit sacks or tackles for loss, recorded three or more interceptions, earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nomination so far. Furthermore, I didn’t list a few other names that are largely already considered to be young stars, such as Jaelan Phillips or Jaycee Horn, and there will be no repeats from last year, which included names like Dayo Odeyingbo, Isaiah Simmons and Richie Grant.

We already started with the offensive guys last week and now we transition to eight more names over on the defensive side of the ball:


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NFL Offseason, Storylines around the NFL

Second- and third-year NFL players ready to break out in 2023 – Offense edition:

After talking about the veteran NFL players changing places, extensively discussing the athletes entering the league via the draft and then pointing out the biggest needs for each team over a two-part series, I went back to watching a bunch of guys who have recently entered the fray and who I believe are bound to emerge as more household names in 2023. In particular, this exercise is aimed at find those breakout candidates about to enter their second or third season in the pros.

First, I will give a quick introduction to each player with college background and NFL experience up to this point, break down everybody’s strengths and flashes of what they could excel in soon, mention some areas of improvement and why I believe they are bound to take a leap forward this upcoming season.

In order to bring some fresh names to the table, I didn’t include players who have already recorded 1000 rushing or receiving yards, 4000 passing yards, scored double-digit touchdowns, earned a Pro Bowl or All-Pro nomination so far. Furthermore, I didn’t list somebody like Jets running back Breece Hall, who was on pace for those kind of benchmarks prior to getting injured or some other names that are largely already considered to be young stars.

We will start on offense and then switch over to the defensive side of the ball next week:

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NFL Predictions, Storylines around the NFL

Second- and third-year breakout players for the 2022 NFL season – Defense edition:

After breaking down seven offensive breakout candidates for this upcoming NFL season, we’re switching over to the defensive side of the ball and identifying seven more names, who I believe are due for taking a big step forward heading into year two or three.

Once again, these guys must have at least played to some degree in the NFL and not made the list last year already. Players don’t qualify for a breakout, if they’ve once reached double-digit tackles for loss, sacks, at least five interceptions, received a Pro Bowl or All-Pro selection, as well as if they’re just considered one of the best players at their respective position already.

And for the purpose of this being original content, there won’t be any repeat candidates from my list last year, which included Alex Highsmith, who I named a day before the Steelers signed Melvin Ingram to push him back on the depth chart, and Javon Kinlaw, who needed season-ending knee surgery after struggling through it for a while. The rest of the list actually pretty much all hit in a major way.

So now let’s get to seven new names, that I’m excited about for 2022:

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NFL Predictions, Storylines around the NFL

Second- and third-year breakout players for the 2022 NFL season – Offense edition:

We’ve talked so much about the roster building process, with a bevy of big-time trades, an interesting free agency period and maybe the deepest draft we have ever seen, thanks to the effects of the COVID-shorted 2020 college football season. Two weeks we started shifting our focus ahead to this fall, with my ranking of the teams most likely to go from worst to first inside each division, before I did a longer video on the most intriguing training camp battles, that I’ll have my eyes on. Now it’s time to analyze specific players, who I believe will reach new heights this year.

As has become an annual tradition, this list is focused on players about to enter their second or third season. They must have at least played to some degree in the NFL and not made the list last year already. Players don’t qualify for a breakout, if they’ve once reached 1000 rushing or receiving yards, were selected to a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team, as well as just being considered one of the best players at their respective position already.

For the purpose of this being original content, there won’t be any repeat candidates from my list last year, which included J.K. Dobbins, Irv Smith Jr. and Mekhi Becton among others, who all missed basically the entire season (Becton was the only one to at least play one game)

Somehow, I ended up with seven players on either side of the ball, which may be an odd number, but that’s what I came up with when deciding to dive deeper into the tape and statistics of these players. So here’s my list on offense:


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