Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Our top NFL breakout candidates for 2026 feature players ready to transform from overlooked talents to stars.
- Multiple teams could see their rosters reshaped by these emerging performers, with several positioned to lead their units.
- The list highlights both established contributors and hidden gems, setting the stage for a season full of surprising standout performances.
Prior to last season, Jaxson Smith-Njigba was a decent receiver on the Seattle Seahawks, given an opportunity with DK Metcalf now in Pittsburgh. Rico Dowdle wasn’t even on anyone’s radar. Drake Maye had upside, but nobody expected him to take the New England Patriots back to the Super Bowl so quickly. Tyler Shough was never supposed to get an opportunity, but he supplanted Spencer Rattler and never looked back.
All of those players are now household names. It’s all thanks to the breakout season. Every year, more than a dozen players go from relative unknown to superstar in a moment. Some had high draft pedigree, while others were completely overlooked until now. For one reason or another, they didn’t make a name for themselves.
This year, there are legitimately more than 100 players who could break out. There are names on every team and at every position. We assessed all of the possibilities and found the 10 best options.
1. Isaac TeSlaa, WR, Detroit Lions
We start with a surprise, but there’s a reason for this surprise. Let’s start with the obvious: the Detroit Lions have two great receivers ahead of Isaac TeSlaa. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams both had north of 1,100 yards last season, with St. Brown breaking 1,400 yards. Yet, we’re predicting the third wide receiver on the Lions to have a breakout year.
There are a few reasons for this. For one, we feel like there’s a nonzero chance that Williams is traded this season. Something about the situation seems like a value proposition. St. Brown is a superstar, but Williams has been kind of a headache who finally hit his first-round value. Maybe the Lions can pull a first-round pick out of another team if they move the talented receiver.
And the reason to do that is that TeSlaa is ready for primetime. The Lions are an incredible offense, and TeSlaa is a big-play machine already. Last season, the former third-round pick only had 16 catches, but he averaged 15 yards per reception. He has shown the ability to make incredible catches, and that will really work for head coach Dan Campbell.
2. Omarion Hampton, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers are still a running offense. Greg Roman is no longer running the offense, but we still see the Chargers implementing their running game in the best possible fashion. The biggest reason for that is Omarion Hampton. The 2025 first-round pick was really good at times last year, but he wasn’t a star. That changes this season.
With so many eyes on guys like Ashton Jeanty and Jeremiyah Love, Hampton has slightly fallen under the radar. The North Carolina product won’t be under the radar for long. Fantasy teams will be salivating at the output he gives to everyone, and Chargers fans will see their next great running back. The 25-year-old had just 545 yards last season, but with the starting position firmly his, he should at least double that output.
The Chargers should be one of the better teams in the AFC this season, and Jim Harbaugh is prepared to make Hampton his workhorse back. They are also getting both of their very talented offensive tackles back, which will only help Hampton thrive. That will make him one of the breakout stars at the position, and it could even have him passing Jeanty for tops in his draft class.
3. Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens have flirted with superstar receivers in the past, but they were either veterans near the end of their careers or tight ends. Since the turn of the century, guys like Shannon Sharpe, Derrick Mason, Steve Smith, Anquan Boldin, Mike Wallace, and Mark Andrews have been team leaders in receiving. In that time, they’ve spent six first-round picks on wide receivers. Most of the time, they’ve been busts. We’re talking about Travis Taylor, Breshad Perriman, Rashod Bateman, and Hollywood Brown. However, it looks like they finally hit a home run with Zay Flowers.
Flowers has been the Ravens’ receiving leader for three years in a row. Many might say he’s already “broken out,” but we don’t think he’s come close to his ceiling. Flowers has the talent to put himself in the Ja’Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, and Justin Jefferson conversation.
To get there, Flowers needs to score. While he had 1,200 yards last season, he only had five touchdowns. The season prior, he had more than 1,000 yards but just four touchdowns. Fantasy football is still driving narratives, and Flowers’ size might be holding him back slightly, but he has the talent to take it to the next level.
4. Luther Burden III, WR, Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears have had an interesting offseason, but the biggest change they made (outside of committing to a stadium in Indiana) was trading D.J. Moore to the Buffalo Bills. The receiver group is focusing on youth, with Rome Odunze expected to be the top receiver, but what if it’s actually Luther Burden III?
Caleb Williams has already praised Burden this offseason, stating he makes the first man miss every time. It’s clear that Williams feels the most confidence in Burden, even talking about how he catches everything thrown his way. That confidence means something, even this early in training camp.
Burden is supremely talented, and he seems primed to take over as the number-one receiver in an offense led by Ben Johnson. In his rookie season, he caught 47 balls for 652 yards. He needs to score more, with just two touchdowns to his name, but that should happen with Moore elsewhere and Williams growing his role. That will lead to incredible numbers. Burden is already getting fantasy hype. He should be a big part of the Bears’ move into that next level of contender.
5. Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers
Tucker Kraft looked like he was going to break out last season with a Green Bay Packers team that was chosen by many as the top team in the league. They traded for Micah Parsons right before the season, and it seemed like everything was going their way. Then, the season was a pretty huge disappointment, and Kraft suffered a season-ending injury in Week 9.
Kraft is reportedly still working his way back from the torn ACL, so it might seem like a huge risk to predict a breakout season now. However, the writing just seems like it’s on the wall. He’s in the final year of his rookie deal, so if the Packers don’t cough up the money for an extension, he has every reason in the world to dominate on the field.
On top of that, we’ve seen that dominance already. In Week 2, he had 124 yards and a touchdown against the Washington Commanders. He had 143 yards and two touchdowns against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has the ability to have these superstar performances. With just a little more consistency, he could take over as the next Travis Kelce.
6. Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are one of those teams that have a lot of analysts very intrigued. Bryce Young should be much better, or at least he should be consistently a starting-caliber quarterback. They reinforced the receiver position, with Tetairoa McMillan ready to become a star. Honestly, so many players on the Carolina Panthers could become the breakout star here. However, we’re going with running back Jonathon Brooks.
The former Texas Longhorns product is an incredible talent, but he was drafted two years ago and has 22 yards to his name. He played a few games in 2024, and he never looked great. He’s averaging 2.4 yards per carry, albeit with very few carries to judge him by.
Brooks has been dominant in training camp so far. After two years of injury recovery, we’re finally seeing the talent that made him one of the most exciting players in the 2024 NFL Draft. Brooks has to overtake Chuba Hubbard to secure the starting job, but we feel like the Panthers' offense is going to literally run through Brooks. And if they are able to surprisingly take over the NFC South, then he could be the star they've been looking for at the position.
7. Kool-Aid McKinstry, CB, New Orleans Saints
There are a few reasons we’re spotlighting Kool-Aid McKinstry as a breakout star for the New Orleans Saints. For one, the NFC South is wide open, and there’s strife with both the Atlanta Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This opens the door for the Saints to take over the division, and winners get noticed. However, this is also about his age. McKinstry is just 23 years old and has two years of experience under his belt.
One of McKinstry’s biggest strengths is his elite football IQ. At Alabama, he consistently shut down some of the nation’s best receivers. He gets a chance to do that on a weekly basis with matchups with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, and Malik Nabers, on top of his matchups in his division. If he’s able to stop the best of the best, which he has the talent to do so, then he will make a name for himself in the NFL.
He’s had a lot of near misses in his career in terms of big plays, and the experience he now has mixed with his continued youth allows for him to grow into a star. There aren’t many star quarterbacks left in the league. This position is more of a necessity than a luxury, and that has forced some to take a back seat, but with salaries inflating, McKinstry has every reason to dominate on the outside.
8. Quinn Ewers, QB, Miami Dolphins
We’ll be honest here: we really wanted to put a quarterback on this list. It’s hard to do that without just picking a rookie. We’re trying to avoid rookies, as that doesn’t really feel like a “breakout star”; that’s just a star entering the NFL. So, Fernando Mendoza, Cade Klubnick, and Carson Beck, who all have a chance to break out this season, aren’t eligible for our criteria.
The Miami Dolphins did the strangest thing this offseason. They let Tua Tagovailoa go just to give big money to Malik Willis, a player some described as the top free agent in the class. We’re just not believing in the hype. He’s always been a flawed player, and he thrived under the tutelage of Matt LaFleur. That is going to look much different than Jeff Hafley.
Last season, we really liked what we saw from former Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers. The man who once held off Arch Manning is now on a Dolphins team with pretty much nothing around him, but we see at some point him getting an opportunity to play. And even with less talent around him, we can see him bringing hope to the Dolphins fanbase.
9. Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars made a surprising move this offseason, letting running back Travis Etienne go to the Saints and replacing him with… pretty much nobody. They are going all in on bruising running back Bhayshul Tuten. However, beyond that, he has the explosiveness that could make him special.
With how fantasy football works, running backs can still be huge stars, and it looks like the Jaguars are ready to make Tuten that star. Etienne wasn’t worth the first-round pick the Jaguars spent on him, but he was finally growing into a rising star of his own. Now, he takes that talent around the Gulf.
We trust Liam Coen to make these offensive decisions. He spent a year with Etienne, and nothing says he was pounding at the table to keep him. They are going forward with Tuten as the star, and there’s a reason for that. We expect him to be a sleeper candidate that everyone loves, and one that is going to work out very well for anyone who takes a chance on him.
10. Jack Campbell, LB, Detroit Lions
We are starting and ending with the Lions this season. The Detroit defense is in shambles after the arrest of Terrion Arnold and the lingering injuries to Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch. The secondary is not going to be good, which means the Lions have to get creative. They need to stop the pass before it happens, and that will come with a superior pass rush.
The Lions have a chance to make that work. Aidan Hutchinson is on the cusp of stardom, and he probably gets there this season, but if he’s the only person making the quarterback pay for throwing the ball 50 times per game, then there will be no actual punishment. This is where Jack Campbell will break out.
He’s gotten much better each season. Players are getting fewer receptions against the linebacker in each of his three seasons, and his sack numbers have gone up. He had five sacks last season, but with what we expect to be an interesting defensive philosophy, Campbell could easily get to double-digit sacks by the end of this season. He will become one of the most recognizable traditional linebackers in the NFL this season because of the opportunity in front of him.
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