2023 Breakouts

Jerry Jeudy, WR

Now this one is tricky because Dows had him as a breakout last season, but with me choosing Jeudy as a breakout this year, we agreed that he has to finish as a WR1 for it to be a hit. With all these stud WRs out there, it may be hard to do, but I believe he can take the next step and finish with the top dogs. Last season for the Broncos was a shit show and was honestly laughably bad at times, but Jeudy somehow was able to finish as WR21 on the season in Half PPR. This was shocking to me when we did our end of the season Power Hour podcast, because I did not believe any Bronco was valuable last season. Last year there was a lot of talk on who would be the better Broncos WR out of Jeudy and Sutton and rightfully so, but I believe Jeudy is the clear number 1 WR on the team over Sutton now. This is nothing against Sutton, this is more on the fact that Jeudy is just that talented. The injury to Tim Patrick only helps Jeudy because he will have to be relied on even more heavily than planned in this new offense. It does all come down to Russell Wilson, but with a new HC in town, I think the team and Jeudy can take a massive step forward. (Scott Miln)

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR

Every now and then there comes a rookie WR who is simply destined to burst onto the scene with the force of thousand winds. And JSN is that guy to me. His ADP has him at WR36, which is respectable, shows some tentativeness on the part of drafters taking rookies who slot in 3rd on their depth charts in preseason, which might be fair, and ultimately still shows a good sign of faith in the kid. But I think this hesitation is a mistake for redraft formats and dynasty drafts alike, and JSN is a guy who could turn in a rookie campaign that comps to Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, and guys of that caliber. Is that bold? Of course. But that’s what I’m here for. He’s the 3rd WR for a team that hasn’t had 3 successful WRs at the same time… well, ever. But they haven’t had a guy like JSN either, and while I’m still a Lockett guy through and through, he may end up the odd man out this year, not JSN. I project JSN as a top 16 WR in 2023, and I’m putting my breakout pick on the line for it. (Cory Dows)

Dameon Pierce, RB

This guy should be more of a Sleeper pick than a Breakout, but I really could not find many other players this young for this category. Pierce was a steal in dynasty drafts last season and before he was hurt in Week 14, you were feeling pretty great. He had a slow start his first two weeks last year when Burkhead got more work, but from Weeks 3-14, he was RB13 overall. I feel that people need to remember that because he was a non-pass catcher RB on a bottom 2 NFL team and you still got extreme value out of the pick. The Texans may still be a bad team, but they have only gotten better from last year until now. The biggest reason I have faith in Pierce is that they could have brought in a number of other guys at RB or even drafted someone high, but all they did was sign Devin Singletary. This should show you that they believe highly in Pierce and he should see around 70% snap percentage in this offense; an offense that is only getting better. In the NFL it is hard to find a legit bell-cow back, and even though he is on a bottom-end team, it should not matter. Volume is king. (Scott Miln)

Rachaad White, RB

RB36 a year ago, and due for much more this season. As of now, there is no Leonard Fournette (or other veteran RB, minus Chase Edmonds) to split reps with, which should bode well for the explosive and dynamic sophomore back. White is on a team without a true stud at QB, and when we’ve seen this in the past, we’ve seen RBs feast out of the backfield. Whether it ends up Mayfield or Trask might be irrelevant, as both are known to check down to RBs, but be proficient enough hitting open receivers that the defense should still have to stay honest enough that they can’t simply stack the box to bottle up Rachaad White. I like his upside this year, and could see him finishing as a top half of the pile RB2 (so RB18 or better) come the end of the season. (Cory Dows)