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Looking for Year 2 Fantasy Football Breakouts?
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Hims.
Want to know why I love talking fantasy football in May? Anything is possible. Second-year breakouts have no red flags, rookies are going to take over the world, the Jets can make the playoffs (whoops, sorry not that one). But you get what I mean!
There's optimism everywhere, which means it's the perfect time to go through those potential Year 2 breakouts. Are you willing to pay the price for players on ascending offenses? Is there a running back that too many people are overlooking? I've got three names for you…
Emeka Egbuka | Buccaneers
It was a tale of two seasons for Emeka Egbuka, but let's look at the good to start. Over the first five games of the season in 2025, he averaged 20.5 fantasy points per game. After that? We remember it like it was yesterday (the wound is still fresh). Egbuka scored one touchdown after Week 9 and ranked as the WR23, reaching double-digit fantasy points only twice the rest of the season.
The positives are glaring with Egbuka: he has already flashed his fantasy potential! Add on the fact that Mike Evans is gone and Chris Godwin is 30 years old with an injury history and it feels like we're cooking with gas. Oh, we can't just ignore the bad? No, that's totally fair. Egbuka suffered a hamstring injury and was never really the same after, but Baker Mayfield also didn't help the situation. Pro Football Reference ranked Mayfield as the QB27 in terms of on-target pass percentage (he finished 10th in 2024) — his TD rate also regressed to a more average 4.8% rate.
Fantasy Life has Egbuka projected for 122 targets in 2026 and I'm betting on the talent we saw in the first half of the season because he's shown the capability of putting up big numbers.
Bhayshul Tuten | Jacksonville Jaguars
Alright Bhayshul Tuten truthers please stand up! This is a player who has run pretty pure this offseason after Travis Etienne's departure to New Orleans coupled with Jacksonville signing only Chris Rodriguez and not drafting another running back. Could this be the breakout season? We've got the projections leaning in favor of Tuten: 197 rush attempts, 826 rushing yards, 39 targets and 9 total touchdowns.
This Liam Coen offense has given us great fantasy finishes before with Bucky Irving in Tampa Bay and most recently Etienne. He also led an offense that scored touchdowns on 27% of drives, the sixth-highest rate in the NFL. Tuten could be next in line to benefit and his RB26 price tag on Underdog is more than worth paying.
Luther Burden | Bears
Drink every time you see Luther Burden in a fantasy article this offseason—please don't though because you'd be a mess. This is low hanging fruit, but let's break down Burden's potential anyway. What if Burden is the WR1 for this Bears offense in 2026? He didn't give us a great season start to finish last year, but the flashes by the end are hard to ignore.
Over the Bears' last eight games of 2025 (playoffs included) Burden posted a 26% target rate Once he had a full-time role from late November on, no rookie wide receiver averaged more yards per route run than Burden (2.71) during the last decade.
Of course, it won't be THAT easy for us in fantasy. We still have to worry about Colston Loveland and Rome Odunze in an ascending Bears offense. Truth be told, I believe in Burden but may be priced out in drafts (WR21 on Underdog currently).
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Around the Watercooler
The latest fantasy and NFL gossip, news, memes and more from our merry band of football nerds …
💤 Don’t sleep on Terrance Ferguson late in drafts. And a couple others.
🏈 The No. pass-game option in Cleveland may not be a WR. Hello, Harold Fannin.
⛓️💥 If you’re into RB handcuffs, Kaelon Black, may be one answer.
🙌 Could Zachariah Branch command targets in Atlanta? Competition is stiff.
👁️ Keep an eye on Nicholas Singleton. Titans backfield is jammed, but no world beaters.
👀 A 12-team mock draft, with Justin Jefferson as a bargain.
🌕 How high is Ja’Marr Chase’s ceiling? The moon is pretty high.
🤩 Jonathan Taylor and James Cook are in a tier of their own.
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Editors’ Picks
ICYMI, here are some popular stories from this week …
Freedman’s Favorites
Who’s rising up the rankings? Matthew Freedman drops his favorite players after the draft.
Love Letter To My League
Do you have that league that hits the right spot? Cooterdoodle wrote about that league. We should all have THAT league, if we’re lucky.
Bounceback QBs
Go ahead, we dare you to pass on Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels Ian Hartitz ranked the top 12 QBs, with some bouncebacks and others rising up.
Breece Hall Won’t Escape NY After Signing 3-Year Deal
Not so quietly—can anything be quiet in New York?—the Jets have remade their offense this offseason. With Geno Smith and a pair of first-round rookie pass catchers—Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cooper—New York has fortified a side of the ball that was not fun to watch last year. Now the Jets have soldified one of the engines to the offense, with Breece Hall signing a three-year, $45.7M extension.
Not yet 25, Hall’s still in his prime. With an improved o-line and a healthy Garrett Wilson to keep the defense honest, could a big year be coming up? If Smith can elevate the offense, Hall’s RB16 designation in both our rankings and projections might be low.
Patrick Mahomes Injury Update: Ready Week 1?
Watching Patrick Mahomes get helped off the field at Arrowhead Stadium last December, it was easy to think the worst. A torn ACL was confirmed, which immediately put the start of the 2026 season in jeopardy for Mahomes.
Let’s remember this is the same warrior who played a Super Bowl with a badly sprained ankle and led the Chiefs to a thrilling victory. Having surgery just days after the knee injury, reports are that Mahomes is shooting to play Week 1, which would be just about a week short of nine months since the surgery. Who’s going to bet against Mahomes? ⤵️
It’s a Best Ball Draft Battle Challenge!
Wait, no drafting players from the same division for the first six picks? That was Pete Overzet’s directive after spinning the challenge wheel with Kendall Valenzuela and cooterdoodle … all while drafting an Underdog best ball team. Subscribe to the Fantasy Life channel to watch this show and so you won’t miss an episode.
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