Very few wide receivers enter the NFL and instantly dominate. There’s an obvious learning curve to the position and most rookie receivers enter the league as second or third receivers at best. Even though they offer immense talent, the elite wide receivers in the NFL usually take a season or two to find their footing. With that in mind, today we’re going to look at three potential second-year wide receiver breakouts that could pay huge dividends during the 2023 fantasy football campaign.
The 2022 draft was a great draft class for wide receivers. Six wide receivers were drafted in the first round and another seven in the second. For comparison, this year, only four were drafted in the first round and another four in the second round.
Three of the 2022 receivers ended the year ranked as WR2s and WR3s. Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Christian Watson all had outstanding rookie years. This year they rank as WR9, WR13, and WR19. I consider those three as having their breakouts already.
Here are three other second-year wide receivers I expect to break out and join the upper tiers.
Second-Year Wide Receivers Ready to Break Out.
Drake London – Atlanta Falcons
London was the first wide receiver taken in the 2022 draft. He was the No. 1 receiver for the Falcons by a wide margin. He had 72 receptions and the No. 2 behind him only had 40. For 13 of those games, he was catching passes from Marcus Mariota., who only passed for 2,219 yards in that time. London was the only legitimate pass catcher on the field for several games. Kyle Pitts could have taken some of his pressure off but he only started 10 games. Cordarrelle Patterson missed four games and only saw 31 targets as he spent the majority of his time running out of the backfield.
This year things should be much better for London. He will be with a much better QB in Desmond Ridder. Hopefully, Pitts can come back and be the force we all think he can be. In addition to taking some of the focus off London, his blocking should give the QB more time to find London downfield. Patterson can get back to catching balls as a wide receiver. Oh, and all eyes will be glued to the backfield with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier running the ball. That should open up the passing lanes even more.
Arthur Smith has said that he wants to get closer to a balance between the run game and the passing this year. Granted that is a run-first coach speaking, but If he opens things up even a little bit then London could absolutely have his break-out year.
Treylon Burks – Tennessee Titans
Another former first-round pick with upside.
Last year was not a good year for the rookie. Because of injuries, he was only able to play in 11 games. Also, the starting QB was hurt for part of the year leaving Burks on the field catching passes from Malik Willis and Joshua Dobbs.
This year if Tannehill goes down, Will Levis and his incredibly strong arm will be the one passing to him. Burks will be the clear No. 1 receiver over Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Kyle Phillips.
Any team with Derrick Henry will always be a run-first team if they have the option.
The problem with the Titans is they may not always have that option. With one of the worse defenses in the league, they will probably be playing from behind in most games.
Burks should have plenty of chances to become one of the most targeted wide receivers in 2023. Therefore, if he takes advantage of the favorable opportunities he could be another one of the second-year wide receivers ready to break out.
Johan Dotson – Washington Commanders
Dotson was drafted two spots higher than Burks. Like Burks, he missed quite a few games. He was chasing balls thrown by Taylor Heinicke and Carson Wentz. Scott Turner was running the offense.
This year the QBs will be Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett which should be an improvement. The most important upgrade though will be seeing what Eric Bieniemy can do with this offense.
Since the No. 1 receiver is Terry McLaurin, you will not see Dotson forced to fight off double coverage.
Last year he ranked as WR44. We at Fantrax have him projected as the WR35, making him a WR3 on your team. With the changes the Commanders made, Dotson could surprise us all and break out as a WR2.
If you don’t think he is capable of surprising us then think about this. Fantrax shows a stat on their draft ranking cheat sheet that I find very interesting. It’s the percentage of times that a player exceeded his projected Fantasy point total in a game. Of the wide receivers they have ranked over WR35, only 4 players exceeded their projections more than 54% of the time. Those players: Cooper Kupp, DeVonta Smith, Justin Jefferson, and Johan Dotson. Not bad company.
Are you buying into these second-year wide receivers? Share your thoughts in the comments below. For more great rankings and analysis, make sure to check out our 2023 Fantasy Football Draft Kit!
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— Lisa Ann (@thereallisaann) May 6, 2023