5 Breakout Players to Target (2025 Fantasy Football)

Below you will find a list of five potential breakout players for the 2025 fantasy football season.

Fantasy Football Breakouts

I wrote about Kenneth Walker as a must-have running back earlier this offseason, and he’s my headliner for this season’s breakout list. Admittedly, Walker’s injury history reads like a Mark Twain novel with 12 different recorded injuries through his three-year career. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on television, so let’s assume he puts his sore foot behind him and operates with a clean bill of health this season.

Despite missing six games last season and playing through a slew of injuries, Walker led the league in broken tackles with 34. Pro Football Focus (PFF) recorded his 0.42 missed tackles forced per carry as the best mark of all time, with the next best coming in at 0.31. These numbers are more impressive when we consider that Walker was running behind one of the worst offensive lines in football.

Out of 46 running backs with 100+ carries, Walker landed at 44th in yards before contact with 1.7. While the Seahawks are unlikely to boast a top-tier offensive line this season, they added guard Grey Zabel in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, who has impressed during training camp and preseason thus far, and Abraham Lucas will return to full health.

The biggest boost for Walker, however, comes with the addition of Klint Kubiak as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Kubiak, known for his outside zone running scheme, benefits Walker, who has averaged 4.4 yards per carry (YPC) on zone runs compared to 4.0 YPC on gap runs throughout his career. His explosiveness and physical running style are ideal for Kubiak’s system.

In the past, Walker’s lack of receiving work has held him back, but last season, he saw 53 targets while PFF gave him a top-10 receiving grade. Meanwhile, Kubiak’s running backs have ranked in the top three in routes run over the last three years, and we saw him make the most of Alvin Kamara last season. If Walker retains that type of involvement in the passing game and an increased rushing efficiency, he will smash in this system.

Acquiring an elite tight end is extremely expensive these days, so why not grab one on the cusp of a breakout? Tucker Kraft has shown all the signs of becoming the next breakout player at the position. He finished last season second in yards per route run (2.64), yards per target (10.1) and yards per reception (14.1). He also landed at third in fantasy points per route run (0.61), fourth in fantasy points per target (2.33) and fourth in target separation (2.44), proving to be an extremely efficient target.

Coupled with that efficiency was Kraft’s 9.3 yards after the catch per reception. Not only was that mark 1.5 yards better than the next best tight end last season, it was also the best mark since George Kittle in 2018. His 0.32 avoided tackles per reception led the league, providing further evidence that he’s a YAC demon.

Similar to the efficiency and yards after catch dominance, Kraft compares to Kittle as a high-quality blocking asset to his team as well, so we can be confident he will continue to see a high volume of snaps. Fortunately, that’s not the only reason he will see a high number of snaps, as offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich has stated that the coaches spent time this offseason identifying ways to get his tight end more touches.

Without a true number one receiver and Christian Watson expected to miss most of this season, there’s room for Kraft to take over as a top option, if not the top option, in a good Packers offense.

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If Drake Maye isn’t on your breakout list, do you even play fantasy football? It seems that everybody and their mother is in on Maye this season, yet his average draft position (ADP) is down at QB17. I won’t proclaim I was the first to tout Maye as a high-end fantasy asset, but if you’ve read my work, you know Maye has been one of my top targets from the jump.

Although his rookie season stats don’t jump off the page, he showed plenty of signs that he’s primed for a second-year breakout. He landed at 17th overall in quarterback rating but posted the 13th-best completion rate and the 14th-best catchable pass rate. Maye consistently showed off his arm talent but was limited to an average depth of target (aDOT) of just 7.4 yards, the seventh-lowest mark among quarterbacks. With Josh McDaniels back in New England, that number should see a dramatic increase after Raiders quarterbacks topped the league in ADOT during McDaniels’ time with the team.

Maye has all the traits to be a franchise quarterback and will see an improved group of pass-catchers this season, but what makes him so intriguing for fantasy football is what he did on the ground last year. Maye scrambled 3.5 times per game for 31.3 rushing yards on scrambles, both of which were second-best marks among quarterbacks. He tallied the seventh-most rushing yards per game, and his 11% scramble rate on dropbacks was the second-most of all quarterbacks with at least 75 dropbacks.

With TreVeyon Henderson, Stefon Diggs and Kyle Williams, coupled with Josh McDaniels’ return to the franchise, Maye will have an opportunity to take this offense to the next level and become a fantasy breakout in the process.

Most rookie seasons are met with challenges as players adjust to life in the NFL, but Ricky Pearsall was dealt some of the toughest and most unique challenges of any rookie. After the 49ers made him a first-round draft pick, Pearsall was shot in the chest in an attempted robbery. Nobody could blame him if it went down as a lost rookie season, but after missing the first six weeks, Pearsall provided some encouraging flashes in his 11 games.

A hot start yielded 132 receiving yards and a touchdown through Pearsall’s first three games, but the rookie was blanked in his next three contests and was quiet for six weeks. The last two games of the season, however, were a different story as Pearsall cooked to the tune of 14 receptions, 210 yards and two touchdowns, showing a penchant for torching man coverage.

Despite his ups and downs, Pearsall posted the best true catch rate and was 26th in fantasy points per target with 2.03. Matt Harmon believes the 49ers’ offense will function around Pearsall in many ways, allowing Brock Purdy to operate as a field general while Pearsall operates in a way we haven’t yet seen from this offense.

With Brandon Aiyuk expected to miss at least the first five weeks of the season and Jauan Jennings dealing with a calf injury and a contract dispute, Pearsall is expected to be the main beneficiary of a weakened group of receivers. After Purdy and Pearsall connected three times on their only drive of the game during Saturday night’s preseason win against the Raiders, Purdy spoke about their natural connection.

The quarterback stated that the two spent some time looking back on last season and where each of them can improve, as a unit, which has yielded a natural connection. If that connection rolls over to the regular season, Pearsall will have an opportunity to run away as the number one receiver in this offense.

Perhaps you already had the first four players on your breakout list, so let’s dig a little deeper for this one. Widely projected as a second-round pick, Troy Franklin slipped in the 2024 NFL Draft before the Broncos nabbed him at the beginning of the fourth round. A surprising fall considering Franklin’s speed and college production at Oregon.

In many ways, his rookie season justified his draft day tumble. He posted just 28 receptions, 263 yards and two touchdowns, showing raw talent but lacking refinement. His 4.41 40-yard dash speed was on display while he finished 12th in target separation, often getting open downfield. However, Franklin struggled with drops and physicality. His blocking left a bit to be desired, and he was hardly capable of making contested catches or battling through traffic. Frankly, it was fair to question if he was an NFL receiver.

Well, I’m here to tell you that people can change. Franklin came into camp with a much stronger build this season, but the same speed we saw from him as a rookie. He has drawn an incredible amount of praise throughout training camp, perhaps the most of any player across the league, and that has translated through two preseason games.

Franklin notched three grabs for 18 yards on the first few drives in the first game of the preseason, drawing the first target from college teammate Bo Nix. More importantly, Franklin looked like an NFL receiver with his fluidity, strength and soft hands that were lacking a year ago. If that wasn’t enough, Franklin posted four catches for 67 yards and two scores in the second preseason game, with one of his touchdowns coming on a contested catch over a defensive back.

Marvin Mims is an obvious breakout candidate based on his efficiency from last season, and if he gets a higher snap share, he’ll have a shot. I’m skeptical that Mims will become more than a gadget player, however. Even with his rookie struggles, Franklin played 100 more snaps than Mims last year.

Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi has praised Franklin, stating he’s much more versatile with his added weight, even playing in the slot some through training camp. The fact that the Broncos are moving him around suggests they will find different ways to utilize his skillset.

The Broncos have a crowded room of receivers and added Evan Engram as a weapon in the passing game, but they lack consistency and proven production outside of Engram and Courtland Sutton. Mims’ role is a question mark, Devaughn Vele has missed time with an injury and has been quiet during preseason, and Pat Bryant has shown flashes but trails the group as a raw rookie.

Franklin is the receiver who has been consistently highlighted throughout camp and preseason as a standout, and has emphatically made his bid for an increased role as the team’s No. 2 WR.

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