Fantasy Football 2024: Year 2 NFL players who could break out

The NFL Draft of 2024 presented a decent number of rookies that fantasy football teams would be eager to include on their team. Nonetheless, with some of the new entrants into the player pool, there is absolutely no way some of the 2023 prospects are not still latent.

Below are six second-year players that you don’t want your 2024 fantasy drafts to happen without. Consequently, they excluded is a line for players such as Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Puka Nacua, all of whom have secured a 2024 ADP in the first two rounds this offseason so far.

Will Levis is a Quarter back on the Tennessee Titans team.

I could have spent some more words discussing Anthony Richardson the same way I could have spent hours talking about any other quarterback; however, seeing that you have likely drafted him as the second quarterback off the board following the latest Yahoo mock draft, then the likelihood of you ‘ignoring’ him seems highly unlikely. Therefore, I decided to shed some light on one of the late round sleepers that I get a lot of joy from.

Levis had his ups and downs for a freshman QB, but he was fairly hot to begin with; 19 of 29 for 238 yards passing, 4 TDs and zero interceptions. That hype died down rather rapidly (as did the rest of the Titans’ offence), but even so there are more than a few things fans can get excited about the glimpses he gave them in his first year.

Tennessee’s front office went for an overhaul and worked a lot on strengthening up virtually each segment of the offence; the team managed to sign C Lloyd Cushenberry - one of the few outstanding centres in this class of the FA - while the seventh overall pick in this year’s draft is OT J. C. Latham. They get former Cowboys RB Tony Pollard as another dimension of explosion with the already second-year RB Tyjae Spears, but him later.

Lastly, they went on to make some huge overhauls to their receiving corps after they signed free agents in Ridley and Tyler Boyd to go hand in hand with Hopkins. Though, with Treylon Burks projected to be their WR4, this offense may just have the zap to sizzle.

Levis has an absolute cannon of an arm and wasn’t shy to let it fly as a rookie, he led all QBs in DYAR with 22. The deep pass rate on PFF 4% per PFF. With actual targets to catch those downfield passes, Levis’ potential that has been previously hyped for might not be a myth anymore. And it does not end there, he is also a kinda tricky mashup of size and speed that can easily pose as a red zone rushing threat in the same way that Josh Allen does.

Kendre Miller, Running Back New Orleans Saints

Move over Kendre Miller; let there be no memory of that first season! Third round selected talent showcased difficult beginning to his pro career: entering the offseason, he needed to work on rehabilitation of the MCL injury sustained during the final minutes of college football. It was further frustrated by a re-injuring his knee in the preseason, then straining his hamstring prior to week 1, and then an ankle problem which saw him sit out weeks 10-17.

When he returned in Week 18, he was healthy again for what was his final year at TCU and fans got to see what Miller was capable of if healthy. Miller churned out 73 yards on a season-best 13 carries, good for about 5 yards per attempt. 6 yards per carry. He presented the burst, the wiggle and the selective shuffle, making defenders miss him 38% of the time at the end of the day and completing 3. is once again one of the best in the nation at 8 yards after contact per attempt — best in the nation.

Thus, Kamara’s job as a receiver should be safe given the fact that he had the most targets among RBs in the last season with 6. 6 targets per game, his efficiency has dipped and so Miller can become a possible early down usage candidate to make his potential worth when taken as a RB 50 with his current ADP.

Tyjae Spears, He is a running back for the Tennessee Titans.

The dynasty known as the Tennessee Titans swang the door for the heir apparent open and allowed Derrick Henry to walk in free agency. Some expected that to be second-year back Tyjae Spears, but the Titans signed RB Tony Pollard to a three-year, $21. To repair those expectations, fans were instead given Pedro Martinez signing a 75 million contract in free agency.

This leads us to the next strategy: what if we quit to soon?

Again, rolling our respective eyes at the idea of ‘following the money’ when projecting touches at the running back position, we must acknowledge Spears’ ability to feast as a rookie and perhaps entertain the idea of both he and Pollard having a job behind, eh-hem, this newly beefed up Titans o-line.

Spears, as the rookie and as the backup to Derrick Henry, scored 838 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns; was ranked fourth among the running backs with the 50% snap share with 1. You get 1 fantasy point for each point scored, and 1 point equals one touch, so 01 fantasy points per touch. Spears matched with Miami Dolphins’ Raheem Mostert, tops that same grouping with a forced miss tackle of 26% and ranks sixth in YAC per attempt (3. 15).

Spears had some health issues as he exited Tulane, and perhaps this reveals he was never a heavy-duty NFL starter to begin with. But the efficiency he showed in his inaugural season as a professional should be enough to even make the most cocksure Pollard supporters glance at Spears in the late rounds; he is being drafted at round 11 of 10 – team leagues based on ADP coming into the new season.

Green Bay Packers, Dontayvion Wicks, wide receiver

The Packers’ offense got a rather unexpected boost in 2023 with Love starting his first season as a full-fledged NFL quarterback. Now, fantasy managers are left to analyze the options within the receiving corps — one that is young, and ridden with minimal experience, and the Packers are currently at the bottom with the league’s minimum average age 25. 2 years. That inexperience and lack of a true WR1 meant Love spread his targets fairly evenly across the entire offense, which none of its pass-catchers received more than an 18% target share between the regular and postseasons.

Considering how Love was with Year 1 as a starter, it is not impossible that none of these wideouts gets to 120+ targets in 2024. If that is the best-case scenario, then one should hardly build the fantasy team with large investments in the WR corps, and rather go for the lowest-costing option. That option is a 2023 fifth-round pick Dontayvion Wicks who currently ranks as the WR58 of the draft.

Wicks was never more than a seven-target man in any particular game but analyzes well to point out that he could have a good shot at commanding a larger target share in Year 2. According to PFF Rating, Wicks stands in the 70th percentile or higher in terms of receiving grade 77. 0, separation percentage- 82% Open Target Rate, yards per route run- 1. 94 and Yards After Catch per Reception-5. 3.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba Wide Receiver for Seattle Seahawks

JSN had a raw stat line as a rookie of 63-628-4; that is not even remotely close to the clinic that Puka Nacua pulled off last season, but let’s not count JSN out just yet.

Lucky for Smith-Njigba, there were events which though, fluctuated to and fro as a rookie. His 63. The 9 PFF receiving grade can also be said to be equal to 10. Consequently, 4 yards per reception average placing sixth worse in the league among the WRs with 75 or more targets on the year belongs to both players. He wasn’t exactly used in a manner that would be beneficial to a high efficiency campaign, however, he ranked shared the 3rd lowest aDOT (6. 4) of that pack. The offence just never properly took full advantage of this player and the intermediate areas of the field.

Thus, what has changed in 2024? Well, a lot of things he used to do with his friends suddenly he doesn’t have friends as any of those things involves friends. First is the change of coaching personnel is one of the many factors that lead to the shifting process. The organization has hired its new head coach in defensive guru Mike Macdonald, which in turn hired Ryan Grubb formerly of Washington Huskies as the organization’s new offence co-ordinator. As analyst Matt Harmon points out, there could be a more effective role for Smith-Njigba in Grubb's offense that hadn't come to fruition in his rookie year:As analyst Matt Harmon points out, there could be a more effective role for Smith-Njigba in Grubb's offense that hadn't come to fruition in his rookie year:

Currently, Smith-Njigba may also believe more chances for outside routes exist as reliable veteran Tyler Lockett is entering the age of 32. Lockett regressed in the latter part of recent years with limited improvement to his yards per reception, yards after the catch per reception, and the yards per route run in the most recent campaign and the previous one. as a rookie JSN only ran 31% of his routes split out wide compared to 69% coming from the slot, this is not far off his time at OSU, but there is certainly more potential on the perimeter with known talent in will catch ability.

Lastly, should you need one more reason not to give up on JSN heading into Year 2, remember that there was once a time he was OSU's best and most productive receiver — while playing in the same lineup as superstars Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave:Lastly, should you need one more reason not to give up on JSN heading into Year 2, remember that there was once a time he was OSU's best and most productive receiver — while playing in the same lineup as superstars Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave:

Dalton Kincaid, a Tight End player, and the Buffalo Bills

Presently, Dalton Kincaid is being called as the sixth tight end in the draft, which I believe for the potential exposure that awaits him as a member of the Bills’ offense in 2024, it’s still too low. Let’s not forget that Buffalo also lost Stefon Diggs this past offseason and he has targeted on 728 of Josh Allen’s 2,612 total passes since the start of the 2020 season. They also let go of Gabe Davis in free agency who has served as Allen’s second favorite target (339) in that regard.

With that, Kincaid is now one of the limited returners from last season for the Washington Football Team’s receiving core to have made a significant impact, thus, that chemistry with Allen from last year directly translates into the second year. Right from his early days as a rookie, Kincaid already proved he had the ability to get targets; nineteen. routes run ranked second on the team with target rate 3%, only Diggs, popular wide receiver, 90. It was even ranked fourth among all tight ends respecting the 1% open target rate, according to PFF.

Kincaid struggled for the first half of the year mainly being a rookie but finished the year quite well having more than five targets in the final four (Bills) games including playoffs with the average of nearly seventy yards per game in the last leg. They should not be shocked if that usage increases even more with the possibility of earning an increased target share and then we witness his upside as a receiver in 2024.