Fantasy football championships are won every year on the backs of players shredding the league in the second half of the season. Many top seeded teams falter in the playoffs as their players with great first half success regress to the mean. As a result, teams on late season surges led by fantasy football breakouts often capture those elusive fantasy football titles.
Jahmyr Gibbs – RB, Detroit Lions
Jahmyr Gibbs is a prototypical second half rookie running back breakout candidate. By now, you’re probably aware of his elite draft capital and situation behind RB David Montgomery. Montgomery has been burying Gibbs by soaking up snaps and touches in the Detroit Lions‘ backfield. But the situation is not as troublesome as it looks. Gibbs has all the talent and pedigree in the world to emerge as an explosive fantasy starter for the stretch run.
Montgomery has out-snapped Gibbs 201 to 121 this season, per FantasyPros. But that number includes Gibbs’ two games missed to Montgomery’s one. Montgomery also out-snapped Gibbs 55 to 19 in their win against the Chiefs on the league’s opening night. Expect Gibbs to close the gap on those numbers and showcase his talents as he does.
Montgomery may miss time with a rib cartilage injury. He’s not practicing right now. Gibbs has a hamstring issue of his own, but he seems far healthier than Montgomery for the time being. Gibbs is the future of the Lions backfield, and he has an opportunity shine in the Lions’ high-powered offense right when fantasy managers need him most.
Bryce Young – QB, Carolina Panthers
Bryce Young was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and hasn’t had the start to his career we were hoping for. We’ve seen a trend in recent years of quarterbacks struggling early in their careers. With the exception of a handful of superstars, many of the league’s elite passers weren’t lighting it up from day one. And among those who we’ve seen struggle, with some failing miserably as other ascended to the top of the league, I have extremely high confidence that Young and the Carolina Panthers will figure it out sooner than later.
Bryce Young threading the needle
again, get 3 WRs with the talent equal to 33-year-old Adam Thielen, and Bryce is going to cook pic.twitter.com/P5sK7J5WUy
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) October 16, 2023
Young is merely the QB28 on the season in six point passing touchdown leagues. He had two single-digit scoring performances and a missed game in the first four weeks of the season. The Panthers are on Bye in Week 7, so he’s not an immediate breakout candidate. But when he returns, he has a very good chance to push for low-end QB1, high-end QB2 status for the fantasy playoff push. In Superflex leagues, that’s a very valuable piece in your lineup.
The quarterback landscape is messy right now. Many of the projected QB1s from the preseason have been underperforming and there have been significant injuries at the position. Many mid-tier QBs are looking better because of it. I expect Young to solidify himself at the top of that tier by season’s end. Young is a true talent at the position, and he’ll be among the fantasy football breakouts this year.
Jaylen Waddle – WR, Miami Dolphins
For the record – I’m not an Alabama fan. It’s not my fault that Nick Saban is putting this many fantasy football assets into the NFL.
Jaylen Waddle is a lineup lock in virtually every format outside of the shallowest leagues and most stacked rosters. But something weird has been happening to Waddle early in the season. The Miami Dolphins are far and away the best statistical offense in the NFL through six weeks and Waddle isn’t getting his fair share. Waddle is just the WR37 in PPR leagues, averaging 13.1 points per game.
Tyreek Hill and Raheem Mostert are playing the best football of their careers, and De’Von Achane was stuffing the stat sheet before he suffered a knee injury. But make no mistake – Jaylen Waddle is an elite playmaker in the NFL and he is about to erupt in a big way. He’s one of the best fantasy football breakout players to target in the second half of the season.
Waddle missed Week 3 due to injury and has commanded an 18% target share to this point of the season. That number is slightly lower than his 2022 mark of 21.6%. But where Waddle really does his damage is with efficiency. Per PlayerProfiler, Waddle led the NFL in yards per reception and yards per target, and was top five in both yards per route run and fantasy points per target. Combine that elite efficiency and a likely increase in volume with the league’s top offense, and Waddle is sure to emerge as a league-winning asset.
Elijah Southwick
Elijah Southwick is a professional writer, editor and content creator covering sports news and fantasy football. He is a contributing writer for The League Winners and Lead Sports Content Writer at Degen Magazine.