6 Fantasy Football Breakouts to Draft in 2024
- Anthony Richardson heads the top 2024 fantasy breakouts after a hot start in 2023.
- Zamir White and Chase Brown are some of the better RB values per 2024 ADP.
- Dalton Kincaid could be falling into a massive role with Stefon Diggs’ departure.
Everyone wants that huge fantasy football breakout player. It’s not exactly always the guy nobody else sees coming, but it certainly is the league-winner that everyone wishes they selected.
Saying someone will breakout in fantasy football and actually drafting him are two different things.
I’d agree that it’s a subjective thing until tangible data arrives, but I also think you’ll be bummed if the 2024 fantasy football season gets here and the following five dudes aren’t on your roster.
Anthony Richardson, QB, Indianapolis Colts
If extrapolation meant actual results, you’d all be a bit more serious about adding AR15 to your draft pool heading into the 2024 fantasy football season.
Seriously, Anthony Richardson averaged over 18 fantasy points per game as a rookie last year. If you take away his fourth starter – where he left injured after just 12 pass attempts – that spikes to 23 fantasy points per game.
Is that a torrid pace that was unsustainable? Obviously factoring injuries into the equation, yes. However, based on his elite rushing floor, quality surrounding weapons, stellar coaching, and rocket of an arm, I don’t think expecting something similar stretched out over a full season is all that crazy.
To be honest, the sky is the limit here.
But fantasy football breakout players are about upside, anyways. Had Richardson stayed healthy and continued that crazy average, he’d have been a hair short of Josh Allen (24 ppg). That’d make him the second best QB1 in fantasy football.
Accuracy, consistency, and health are “uh doy” red flags for the former Florida product. However, the production and ceiling is there and a top 5 finish is well within his range of outcomes.
Bijan Robinson, RB, Atlanta Falcons
I don’t need to write a novel on Bijan Robinson. He was a freak coming out of Texas last year, and he was fully expected to dominate in the pros.
He kind of did that, even though Arthur Smith did his best to prevent that from happening. Despite Smith being problematic for fantasy owners who drafted Bijan, he still churned out elite production.
- RB9 finish
- 214 carries
- 976 rushing yards
- 86 targets
- 58 catches
- 8 total TDs
Robinson should have touched the ball way more, and he even had one game where he randomly carried the ball just one time.
So, truly, he did all of that in just 16 games. Despite not being allowed to truly tap into his potential as a rusher and overall game-wrecker, he still cracked the top-10 among fantasy backs.
And this is all before realizing how special of a talent the guy is.
With Kirk Cousins in town and Arthur Smith thankfully a distant memory, we can firmly plan for a massive breakout in year two for Bijan.
Zamir White, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
White is not the physical marvel that Bijan is, but he’s a solid enough talent. And as we know in fantasy football, sometimes opportunity is more important than actual ability.
Luckily White does offer a little bit of both, but the thing we can really hang our hat on is the fact that the Raiders retained head coach Antonio Pierce. Pierce loves to run the ball, and he clearly is a fan of White.
Look at what he did down the stretch with Josh Jacobs injured in 2023:
- Week 15: 17-69-1
- Week 16: 22-145-0
- Week 17: 20-71-0
- Week 18: 25-112-0
White wasn’t totally useless as a receiver out of the backfield, either. During that run, he had 13 targets and hauled in 9 balls for 50 receiving yards.
Jacobs was the better and more explosive player, but White held his own, posting a per carry average north of 4.0 in three of his four starts to close out last year.
Volume is king and White has the crown. Las Vegas did add Alexander Mattison and they could add a rookie rusher in this year’s draft, but until we’re told otherwise, this is White’s starting gig to lose.
Extrapolating four games out over an entire 18-game season is probably silly, but he was still generating 15 fantasy points per contest. That’d have put him in contention for a top 5 finish a year ago.
For a closer look, check out this Zamir White 2024 fantasy profile.
Chase Brown, RB, Cincinnati Bengals
One more running back who has to be on your 2024 fantasy football breakout radar is Chase Brown. I do find it curious that everyone used to marvel at Joe Mixon’s efficiency-proof role with the Bengals, but here we are, basically ignoring a possible stud.
Brown came into the league as a very good athlete, and it helped him drop insane production (1,800 total yards and 13 total TDs) in his final season at Illinois.
I mean, look for yourself.
College production never guarantees a thing. However, Cincy clearly feels comfortable with him after trading Joe Mixon to the Texans.
The arrival of Zack Moss could make for more of a timeshare, but Brown is a good athlete with better size and physicality than he’s given credit for. I wouldn’t at all be shocked if he ended up shouldering a much bigger workload than anyone is currently anticipating.
The good news? He’s still dirt cheap in dynasty fantasy football leagues, and he’s not costing you much in redraft leagues. Chase Brown may have league-winning upside, but the market hasn’t caught up to his actual value.
Christian Watson, WR, Green Bay Packers
I was screaming from the mountain tops last draft season that Christian Watson was going to be one of the top fantasy football breakout players.
Unfortunately, nagging injuries prevented that from coming to fruition. To be fair, Watson still flashed major upside when he was healthy.
Despite being nicked up all year, he had two 20+ fantasy outings and five games of 10+ fantasy points.
In what is shaping up as a wide open, spread out, and fully stacked Green Bay offense, it’s fair to wonder if Watson completely missed his chance at being a legit WR1. However, if the team can simply get his health right, I still believe the sky is the limit.
His rookie production and year two flashes both extrapolate well over full seasons, while the evolution of Jordan Love should make for a promising fantasy landscape. Health is still the only thing keeping it from happening.
The nice thing? You no longer have to pay a premium to find out. Watson’s second year decline, his checkered injury history, and Green Bay’s plethora of weapons all work to curb his ADP.
Watson may not be the Top 10 stud I thought he’d be. But that ceiling is still there and you can now safely draft him far later this year than you could a year ago.
Dalton Kincaid, TE, Buffalo Bills
Kyle Pitts also belongs on my list of potential 2024 fantasy football breakouts. However, I really can’t say a bunch more that’s different that I didn’t already say about Bijan Robinson.
Kirk Cousins coming to town is going to open up that offense completely, and we all know how much Cousins loves throwing to tight ends.
How about we talk about someone that is met with a little more controversy, and someone that isn’t so blatantly dripping with athletic talent.
Kincaid is a solid, fluid athlete. He’s a good route-runner, and he offered steady production as he finished as the TE11 as a rookie. I was already enamored with him, and then Buffalo traded away Stefon Diggs.
Now, I can’t get enough of him.
Kincaid is not a freak athlete, but neither are most productive fantasy tight ends. The best TEs run good routes, block well enough to stay on the field, rack up targets, and can score. Kincaid has proven he can do all of that while not even operating as his team’s #1 option.
Might the Bills add a stud wide receiver? Perhaps, or maybe they really do think they can get by with what they’ve got.
If true, Kincaid is in for a massive year-two bump and feels like a top-10 lock. He was already knocking on the door as a rookie. Now he’s got a better role and more experience. Sign me up for that.
That does it for my look at the top fantasy football breakouts for 2024. A lot can happen between now and your drafts, but I’d start quietly circling these guys as major blow-up candidates.
The only bummer? I don’t think it’ll be long before everyone is in on these guys.
Writer at Daily Fantasy Fade
DFS Keanu has been covering fantasy sports, DFS, and props for the better part of a decade, all while fighting The Matrix and a litany of assassins.
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