Early 2025 Fantasy Football Breakouts: Wide Receiver

While there's no football for quite some time, it's never too early to start prepping for your fantasy football drafts. Best ball drafts are already open and people are already taking advantage of average draft position (ADP) discrepancies.

Every year, we try to uncover players priced way too cheap who have a chance to break out. In this article, we'll take a look specifically at the wide receiver position. For one reason or another, these guys are poised to break out in a big way in 2025.

We won't highlight guys who have already broken out, like Brian Thomas Jr., Malik Nabers, or Ladd McConkey. These guys are all WR1 options heading into the 2025 season. Instead, we'll dig a bit deeper to find some guys priced outside the top 25 who have high-end upside in 2025. Target these potential breakout wide receivers in your fantasy drafts.

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Rome Odunze, Chicago Bears

Keenan Allen (likely) out, Ben Johnson in. Since becoming the Lions offensive coordinator in 2022, Johnson's offenses have been top-5 in points scored every year. The Lions were also top-3 in offensive plays per game each of the last two seasons.

Lucky for Bears fans, that offense is coming to Chicago, and Odunze is slated to be a big part of it. NFL analysts Nate Tice and Matt Harmon recently broke down Odunze's potential fit in Johnson's offense. Fantasy managers will want to take note of the comparison.

Another fit that Matt & I talked about with Ben Johnson in Chicago is Johnson potentially using Rome Odunze in a power slot role like Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Odunze is a big body, had some nice moments working from the inside and is a plus-blocker.pic.twitter.com/3Hz1EsRk47 https://t.co/Pg37dmw7Lh

— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) January 22, 2025

It wasn't always pretty for Odunze as a rookie. However, he was playing behind two established veteran receivers on an offense that looked stagnant a majority of the time. He did, however, flash upside when called upon. According to analyst Jacob Gibbs, Odunze led all Bears receivers with 13.8 yards per target when Caleb Williams delivered an on-target throw on his first read.

There were not very many instances of the Bears offense playing on time in 2024,,,

but when it did happen,

Rome Odunze looked pretty good https://t.co/ktmcgfufD4 pic.twitter.com/DMYWAbZIhF

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) February 3, 2025

To showcase just how bad it was in his rookie season, Odunze was second among receivers in unrealized air yards (917) and just 98th in catchable target rate (58.4 percent), per PlayerProfiler. His target quality couldn't have been much much worse than it was last season. The hope is that Ben Johnson can maximize the production of his most talented playmakers, Odunze included.

Jalen McMillan, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It was a tale of two seasons for the Washington product. Early on, McMillan battled a hamstring injury and found himself, at best, third on the Bucs' pass-catcher depth chart. One could argue he was fourth on the depth chart when Chris Godwin was healthy, behind Mike Evans, Godwin, and tight end Cade Otton.

Then, Godwin suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Coming out of the bye in Week 11, McMillan kept stacking good practices and good reps on top of each other. It culminated in a very productive final five weeks of the season, where he averaged 63.2 receiving yards and totaled seven touchdowns.

Now, Godwin is a free agent, but the Bucs reportedly want to do what they can to keep him in Tampa. That's easier said than done, however, with a guy looking to cash in coming off a productive season before his injury.

If Godwin goes elsewhere, it's wheels up for McMillan. Even if he remains in Tampa, it sounds like new offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard wants to get the ball in McMillan's hands "as much as possible."

#Bucs OC Josh Grizzard on Jalen McMillan:

“The goal now is to continue where he left off, and now be someone that we can rely on and get the ball in his hands as much as possible.” pic.twitter.com/38lg3zlMJ0

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) February 6, 2025

Ricky Pearsall, San Francisco 49ers

Pearsall's rookie season started with a bang, literally. The Florida product was shot in the chest in an attempted robbery in San Francisco in August. He ended up missing the first month and a half of the 2024 season, but miraculously made a full return to football in Week 7.

Pearsall showed flashes of potential early on. Remember, the 49ers used a first-round pick on the guy for a reason. He's got a rare combination of size, speed, and agility.

Ricky Pearsall goes 46 yards for his first career TD!

📺: #SFvsTB on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/R7zjs0naAm

— NFL (@NFL) November 10, 2024

However (and naturally), his production was anything but consistent in his first few games. That makes sense considering he was a rookie who dealt with a major hardship a month before the regular season kicked off.

Deebo Samuel Sr. will likely be elsewhere in 2025 and Brandon Aiyuk is recovering from a major knee surgery on November 15, 2024. There's a good chance he isn't ready for the start of the 2025 season and there's no telling if he's even the same guy he once was.

That leaves Pearsall, Jauan Jennings, and George Kittle as the primary pass-catchers in San Francisco. Those guys are good, too, but it's Pearsall who was a first-round draft choice who'll now have a full offseason to prepare and claim his spot on a high-powered offense.

When given a full-time opportunity in Weeks 17 and 18 in his rookie season, Pearsall didn't disappoint.

Ricky Pearsall still has a lot of room to improve in 2025 and beyond, and that's what makes plays like this so exciting.

Does a really nice job of selling downfield, and the stop-start quickness and fluidity at the top of route is superb.

Tremendous catch too. pic.twitter.com/8z3Sr59gWt

— Nicholas McGee (@nicholasmcgee24) January 27, 2025

Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos

It took a season and a half, but Marvin Mims Jr. finally made some headway in the second half of his sophomore season. Maybe it was Bo Nix, but maybe it was also Sean Payton's trust in the second-year man out of Oklahoma. Here's what he had to say when he sat down with Kay Adams:

#Broncos HC @SeanPayton on the MILE HIGH evolution of WR Marvin Mims Jr 📈🙌🐴

"One player we saw grow EXPONENTIALLY would be Marvin Mims." @heykayadams @marvindmims @Broncos | #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/d4IkhNHSOs

— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) February 5, 2025

Mims was never more than a part-time receiver in 2024, but you could see and feel the progression being made down the stretch. From Week 13 on, he had a 33 percent target rate on 15.8 routes run per game. Mims' yards per route run (YPRR) increased drastically from 1.53 as a rookie to 2.86 in 2024. Per PlayerProfiler, he led all receivers in target separation (2.73 yards) last season.

Now, Mims will enter his third NFL season having shown Payton and this Broncos coaching staff his abilities as a wide receiver, not just a punt returner. As such, he should continue getting more and more opportunities to make plays on offense.

BO NIX LAUNCH CODES 🚀

📺: #DENvsCIN on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/qPX3R5Ap4F

— NFL (@NFL) December 28, 2024

Mims is still just 22 years old, was an early breakout at Oklahoma, and was a second-round pick made by the Sean Payton regime. He's also playing in an ascending offense with a very good quarterback and an elite offensive line. The reasons are plentiful to buy into Mims as a breakout candidate in 2025.

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