The kickoff to the NFL season is less than a week away meaning fantasy football drafts are happening all over the country. There are many important strategies that go into a good fantasy football draft, but one of the most important ones is trying to find value in the middle and late rounds of the draft. Being able to find a diamond in the rough can help you win fantasy football championships; therefore, it is good to go into your draft with a few players in mind to target who could outperform their average draft position (ADP). Breakout candidates can be identified in several ways. Typically, a breakout candidate is a young player with lots of potential, someone with a great roster to support them or a combination of the two. With that in mind, here are five players who have a strong chance of having a breakout season in 2024.
Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Daniels likely has the best chance among this year’s rookie quarterbacks to succeed in fantasy in 2024. Daniels is a dual-threat talent, which is a valuable asset in fantasy football. With a similar playing style to Kyler Murray, Daniels should fit nicely into Kliff Kingsbury’s offence. Murray was successful with Kingsbury as his head coach from 2019 to 2022, and hopefully Daniels can find the same success. Daniels can be drafted as a high-end QB2 in most leagues and could make it to your starting lineup later in the season, especially in deeper leagues.
Drake London, Atlanta Falcons
London has shown signs of being a great wide receiver in his first two seasons, but there were a few things in his way from making that a reality until now. London will finally be free from Arthur Smith’s run-heavy offense. Plays will now be called by offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, a former staff member of the Los Angeles Rams from 2019-2023. During that period, the Rams ranked second in wide receiver target share. Additionally, London has dealt with mediocre quarterback play from the likes of Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke. This season will feature Kirk Cousins under center for Atlanta which will be a huge step up. Cousins was able to help bring Justin Jefferson to the elite status that he has now. While London may not be on Jefferson’s level, he’s ready for a career-best season.
Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens
Flowers had a solid rookie season in 2023, but you can expect him to have an even better sophomore campaign. Flowers showed lots of potential, especially at the end of the season when he scored more than 19 points in four of his final five games of the season. He should get plenty of passes thrown his way and should be one of the top pass catchers for Baltimore. Flowers also proved to be capable of producing after the catch with 45.6 percent of his receiving yards coming after the catch. When you add that to his potential increase in target share, it makes Flowers a low-end WR2 to high-end WR3 to start the season, but he could very well outperform these expectations. With an ADP of 61.5 on ESPN, he is a great pick in the fifth or sixth round with a ton of upside.
Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
Kincaid averaged 9.4 PPR points per game in his rookie season with the Bills. In year two, his team will be counting on him to take on a much bigger role in the offense after the departure of wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. With Buffalo’s wide receiver corps being led by Curtis Samuel, Keon Coleman and Khalil Shakir, Kincaid may become Josh Allen’s top pass catcher this season. The former 2023 first round draft pick should be one of the most reliable players at the tight end position and has the potential to be one of the elite players at his position. With an ADP of 62.4, he is well worth taking at this point in the draft, even over George Kittle and Evan Engram, who have a similar ADP.
Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions
Williams has had a slow start to his NFL career after being one of the top wide receiver prospects in the 2022 NFL draft. He was sidelined for more than half of his rookie season due to the torn ACL he suffered in his final college football game. Last season, he was suspended for violating the NFL’s gambling policy, which caused him to miss the first four games of the season. Willams did not have a huge role in the Lions offense in his first two seasons, but he appears to be ready to take on a bigger role in 2024. Williams has been a standout in training camp according to multiple reports and seems to be on a mission to show why he was such a high valued prospect coming into the NFL. He will face more competition for targets as Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta will get their share of passes. However, given the improvements that Williams has made, Detroit will hopefully try to get the ball to him more often. Williams is well worth one of your late round picks.