Identifying and drafting the right breakout wide receiver can be the difference between winning your fantasy football league or suffering the ridicule of your league mates.
Sometimes receivers can break out later in their career, but most often the jump happens in their second year. Almost every season you can find a top fantasy receiver outside of the top-15 taken in fantasy football drafts, and many have been second-year breakouts, like JuJu Smith-Schuster (2018), Tyreek Hill (2017), Allen Robinson II (2015), Josh Gordon (2013), Hakeem Nicks (2010), DeSean Jackson (2009), Calvin Johnson (2008) and Greg Jennings (2007).
In this series of articles, I'm looking at the breakout potential for second-year wide receivers. One of the best ways to determine the range of outcomes and the probability of success for fantasy players is comparing them to similar historical players. In these analyses, I'll compare the second-year receivers to hundreds of others drafted since 2006 and project the likelihood of their breakout based on those who had the most similar size, college production, draft position and rookie metrics.
[Editor’s note: Subscribe to PFF ELITE today to gain access to PFF’s Premium Stats and new Player Grades experience in addition to the 2020 NFL Draft Guide, 2020 Fantasy Rookie Scouting Report, PFF Greenline, all of PFF’s premium article content and more.]
-
Marquise Brown, Baltimore Ravens
-
N'Keal Harry, New England Patriots
-
Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers
-
A.J. Brown, Tennessee Titans
-
Mecole Hardman, Kansas City Chiefs
-
JJ Arcega Whiteside, Philadelphia Eagles
-
Parris Campbell, Indianapolis Colts
-
Andy Isabella, Arizona Cardinals
-
D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks
-
Diontae Johnson, Pittsburgh Steelers
-
Terry McLaurin, Washington Redskins
-
Miles Boykin, Baltimore Ravens
-
Hunter Renfrow, Las Vegas Raiders
-
Darius Slayton, New York Giants
-
Preston Williams, Miami Dolphins
-
Jalen Hurd, San Francisco 49ers
-
Hakeem Butler, Arizona Cardinals
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.