Fantasy football 2025: Justin Fields, Caleb Williams among breakout candidates

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With the thick of fantasy draft season approaching, I recently provided my top 10 values at running back and tight end. I offered my top 10 league-winners, too. While there was a little bit of overlap, I tried to avoid writing about the same players here, so make sure to read those pieces as well. Now, on to my leading breakout candidates!

Don’t sweat the concerning August headlines; Fields is my guy this season. The Jets are clearly built to run the ball, and that should help Fields — one of just three NFL QBs ever to post a 1,000-yard rushing season — reach his full fantasy potential. Expect a lot of outside-zone runs, which play exactly to Fields’ strength. Not only that, but new Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand spent the past five seasons on the Lions’ coaching staff. If his offense operates like Detroit’s did during his time there, I expect Fields won’t be asked to air it out as much as he was in Chicago, and that he will instead be expected to complete shorter passes, like he did last year in Pittsburgh, when he posted his best career metrics as a passer. In his six starts with the Steelers, Fields generated 18.89 fantasy points per game; if he’d kept at that pace over 17 games, he would have finished with the seventh-most fantasy points among QBs. He could potentially exceed that in the Jets’ offense this year.

Williams was the big winner of the offseason. The Bears rebuilt the interior of their offensive line, acquiring   Joe Thuney   ,   Drew Dalman   and   Jonah Jackson   . They added one of the best play-callers around, new head coach Ben Johnson. And they brough in more weapons (rookies   Colston Loveland   and   Luther Burden III   ) to join   DJ Moore   ,   Rome Odunze   and   D’Andre Swift   . A similar build in Detroit helped take   Jared Goff   to new heights, both in real life and as a fantasy QB, and Williams is just one year removed from being drafted first overall and dubbed a generational prospect. He still brings a ton of upside and should become the first Bears QB to top 4,000 passing yards in a season this year. Plus, he is a sneaky good runner, having tallied nearly 500 yards on the ground in 2024.

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