Fantasy Football Breakout Candidates: AFC North

It’s breakout season in the fantasy football community. July is the perfect time to start planting your flags on players as we start getting ready for draft season.

My name is Ellis Johnson and I am back with another series of articles. I recently finished a series listing the top dynasty players on each NFL team, which you can find here. It’s now time to select a breakout player from each NFL team.

In this series, I am going to divide the teams by division and order them based on my confidence that they will break out. Without further ado, let’s select some breakouts!

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Pittsburgh Steelers 

George Pickens (WR, PIT) 

The whole world will tell you that George Pickens is going to explode this season. Although not a bad thing, it seems like a cop-out to select him.

So far in his career, he has shown consistent development and an incredible ability to make highlight catches. I still believe his catch against the Browns as a rookie is a top-3 catch of all time (video in the tweet below). With Diontae Johnson now on the Panthers, Pickens is the undisputed alpha. We saw Russell Wilson take advantage of Courtland Sutton’s big-play and red-zone ability, which will likely transfer right over to Pickens on this offense.

George Pickens catch vs The Browns pic.twitter.com/nKD53iTEUQ

— awthentik (@awthentik) August 17, 2023

Cincinnati Bengals

Zack Moss (RB, CIN)

We had a taste of what a Zack Moss breakout could be last season. After starting the season for the injured Jonathan Taylor, Moss was incredible. Over the first six weeks of the season, he had four weeks as a top-10-scoring RB. That production was good enough to land him a starting job on one of the best offenses in the league.

The Bengals went out of their way to trade an aging Joe Mixon and acquire Moss. At a glance, this may seem like a downgrade at the position. However, Mixon’s inefficiency was creeping up on him as the offense’s overall prowess inflated his stats. 

One of my favorite statistics from last year is that Moss was one of the most efficient runners out of the shotgun formation. Interestingly, Mixon was never a great shotgun runner, making me believe this was a very deliberate offseason target.

Additionally, we know Joe Burrow lives in the shotgun and has a massive offensive line to help protect him while he dissects defenses. This is a perfect scheme fit for Moss, with no clear competition for the early down work. Fire him up, as this could be a massive year for the young RB.

Zack Moss credits his wife for making the transition to the #Bengals easy.

"It allowed me to come in here and do what I've got to do."

presented by: @drinkgaragebeer pic.twitter.com/LOUh3QgMsm

— Enter the Jungle Show (@CinBengalsTalk) July 16, 2024

Bonus Player No. 1

Tee Higgins (WR, CIN)

Tee Higgins is my first bonus breakout candidate for this season. Yes, I am a Bengals fan, and yes, you can argue he has already broken out. However, his recent best ball average draft position of pick No. 40 makes me believe he could crush his expected finish.

Higgins has been hindered by injuries throughout his career, flashing brilliance in his limited healthy games. Injuries, along with his contract issues, have overshadowed what this season means for the fifth-year WR. Higgins has signed his franchise tag and will be a Bengal this season. As a result, he is linked to Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase with a revamped offensive line once again.

Although Higgins is the clear second option on this team, Burrow should be slinging it enough for both to have solid fantasy seasons. In the past when both Chase and Higgins have been healthy, Chase averages 27% targets and 38% air yards, while Higgins isn’t far behind with 23% targets and 35% air yards (stats from The FF Newsletter).

If Higgins fails to have a healthy season, he severely hinders his potential contract for next season. However, if he balls out (like we know he can), a team will need to back up the truck to acquire him next offseason. Money is an incredible motivator, and his red-zone chemistry with Burrow could lead to a top-12 finish in fantasy.

"I know what I got internally with the organization. I love Cincinnati and I love being there and hopefully I'm there for most of my career." - @teehiggins5 on @ProFootballTalk

THE OPPS ARE IN SHAMBLES pic.twitter.com/iufnxWVQii

— Cincinnati Clothing Co. (@CINClothingCo) February 9, 2023

Bonus Player No. 2

Jaylen Warren (RB, PIT)

My second (and likely last) bonus selection in this series is Jaylen Warren. If you say Pickens is too obvious of a selection, I have another one for you. Warren has been very efficient in his limited play, and now he gets to play as the second RB in an Arthur Smith-led offense. 

When Smith was coaching Bijan Robinson, he gave a significant portion of rushing volume to Tyler Allgeier. As a result, we could see Warren get enough volume weekly to be a flex play. He also has the additional potential to start to eat into Najee Harris’s workload or take over if Harris misses time.

Cleveland Browns

Jerry Jeudy (WR, CLE)

I’m under the assumption that David Njoku already broke out last year. That makes Jeudy the only other option for this article. Although I struggle to see their quarterback play well enough to support Amari Cooper, Njoku, and Jeudy, he has the talent to thrive.

Let’s flashback to last year when Elijah Moore was getting a lot of offseason hype for his new role on this offense. Although that did not come to fruition, Jeudy fits the role a lot better.

It seems wild to think that Jeudy was selected before both CeeDee Lamb and Justin Jefferson in the first round. However, coming out of college, that’s how talented he was. In the NFL, we have yet to see anything more than glimpses of his upside; however, he has also been handcuffed on a subpar Broncos offense. 

If there is a coach who could find Jeudy’s untapped potential, it might be two-time Coach of the Year, Kevin Stefanski. It’s a long shot, but it might be worth scooping him up late in drafts to see what his role is come Week 1.

Baltimore Ravens

Rashod Bateman (WR, BAL)

Every year, there are a select group of players who seem to be winning the offseason news reports. To the surprise of many, Bateman might be the winner of the most positive reports out of camp. 

Much like Jerry Jeudy, it’s easy to forget that Bateman was a first-round draft pick in 2021. This offseason, Bateman also signed a contract extension to stay with the Ravens for the next few years. Immediately after the signing, reports out of camp from both the players and coaches talked about how he appears to have turned a corner this offseason.

Unfortunately, the volume for a breakout will be hard to come by, making him my least confident breakout of this division. Even in a revamped offense under Todd Monken, the Ravens were still 31st in pass attempts last year. It might take a lot for Bateman to be fantasy-relevant; however, he should be able to set career highs in most metrics this season.

#Ravens HC John Harbaugh on which player he expects to make a leap in 2024:

“I think Rashod Bateman’s gonna take a big step… The ball’s gonna get to him a lot more next year.”

Harbaugh sports an 85% reliability rating on usage/workload coachspeak

We’ll be drafting a good… pic.twitter.com/9x2vtg56yS

— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) February 27, 2024

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