While we’re months away from Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, that doesn’t mean we can’t do our best to predict the future. We’ve already got quite a bit of information that helps us with coaching hires and transactions that point us in the direction of some of the breakout performers, as well as some bounceback candidates for the upcoming season.
In this article, we’ll take a look at breakout candidates and bounceback players for fantasy football who may have a tough runout in 2025 but are poised to rebound in 2026.
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Fantasy Football Breakouts & Bouncebacks
Harold Fannin Jr. (TE – CLE)
No tight end impacted the position more than the rest of the rookies impacted their positions quite like Harold Fannin Jr. did. It was a bit of a lackluster year for immediately impactful players, yet Fannin was picked up from the waiver wire in the first couple of weeks of last season when he was getting over 60% of the routes each game. He finished in the top-12 of tight ends in both weeks. Fannin was a force at the tight end position, but there’s a lot of meat on the bone.
Fannin led all NFL tight ends in targets per route run, as he was targeted on one of almost every four routes he ran (23.8%) in 2025. He trailed only Trey McBride in first-read target rate as well, so plays are being drawn up with him in mind as the first target in the offense. It was not his fault the Browns rolled out two bottom-five quarterbacks (Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders) in expected points added (EPA) per play this past season.
Fannin is going off draft boards in the seventh round right now in early best ball drafts, but any meaningful quarterback upgrade is going to be a net positive for the second-year tight end. We already got the first piece of good news for Fannin, as David Njoku is unlikely to return to the Browns.
Frankly, the quarterback play can’t get much worse than what Fannin had to endure in his rookie season. Any tight end who can put up 72-731-6 on 104 targets with that grotesque level of quarterbacking is on my radar moving forward. Fannin’s runway toward a difference-making breakout is wide open in 2026.
Omarion Hampton (RB – LAC)
The addition of new Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel to what was a pass-centric offense under previous coordinator Greg Roman last season should lead this offense to become a bit more balanced in 2026. While Hampton was a large part of what the Chargers did on the ground, especially late in the 2025 season, getting more attempts and utilization under his belt will only help Hampton in his second season.
After missing a seven-game stretch in the middle of his rookie season, Hampton returned to action in Week 14 to average a solid 14.7 fantasy points per game from Week 14 through Week 17. As the bell-cow back of this offense, with McDaniel calling plays and a healthy offensive line with healthy bookend tackles Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater, Hampton should take the next step to becoming a fantasy force in 2026.
When drafting players in the second through fifth rounds, I look for players that I can see being drafted a round or two (or more) higher in the following season. Hampton is the perfect case for a player you can see having to spend a top-12 overall pick on next season. Get in on the breakout now, while the price is still very much affordable.
Ladd McConkey (WR – LAC)
Is it possible to be both a breakout and a bounceback player? Fantasy managers and Ladd McConkey himself will surely find out in 2026. McConkey was a rookie revelation in 2024, with 1,149 yards, seven touchdowns and a robust 2.38 yards per route run.
However, 2025 saw McConkey take major dips in Greg Roman’s offense, as quarterback Justin Herbert managed multiple receiving targets in the offense like Quentin Johnston, a returning Keenan Allen and rookies Oronde Gadsden II and Tre’ Harris.
At times last season, McConkey would get lost in the shuffle, especially later in the season. After Week 9, McConkey never earned more than six targets in a game in the regular season. In fact, his first-read target percentage dropped significantly.
(Data via Fantasy Points Data Suite)
| Week 1-8 (2025) | First-Read Target % | Week 9-18 (2025) | First-Read Target % |
| Keenan Allen | 25% | Keenan Allen | 23.7% |
| Ladd McConkey | 25% | Quentin Johnston | 21% |
| Quentin Johnston | 21.4% | Ladd McConkey | 14.4% |
| Oronde Gadsden II | 15% | Tre’ Harris | 14.1% |
| Tre’ Harris | 4.2% | Oronde Gadsden II | 13.6% |
Not great. Clearly, the team’s decision to bring in Allen in August during the preseason hurt McConkey’s bottom line in 2025. But what to make of this passing game in 2026?
Well, out is Greg Roman and in is Mike McDaniel, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, as the new offensive coordinator of the Chargers. In terms of offensive scheming and putting his players in the best position for success, I would take McDaniel over every single coach in the NFL, except for Sean McVay.
McDaniel typically condensed the personnel down to core players and was able to get them the ball. Tyreek Hill had the second-highest yards per route run season since that data was charted, going back to 2006 under McDaniel’s direction. Jaylen Waddle has had five seasons of incredible success thanks to the coaching of McDaniel.
UPDATE!
Best YPRR seasons since ’06:
(min 200 routes)Steve Smith (2008) – 3.87
Tyreek Hill (2023) – 3.82
*PUKA NACUA (2025) – 3.81*
*JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA (2025) – 3.66*
Puka Nacua (2024) – 3.56
Andre Johnson (2007) – 3.21
Tyreek Hill (2022) – 3.20
Julio Jones (2016) – 3.12
Cooper Kupp (2021) – 3.12— Kevin Tompkins (@ktompkinsii.bsky.social) January 1, 2026 at 2:41 PM
The Chargers under McDaniel could be a bit more condensed in 2026. With McConkey, Gadsden, Johnston and Harris, bringing back 33-year-old free agent Allen may not be in the cards. In terms of the dynamism that McDaniel has worked with in the past, McConkey fits that bill moreso than any other receiver currently on the Chargers’ roster.
With young players like this, we tend to swing so far in the current direction with our line of thinking. Did a player have a bad rookie season and then a great second season? He’s now a superstar in the public perception.
The opposite is also true. Did a player have a great rookie season and then backslide into a slightly below-average sophomore season? He’s playing himself out of the league. As the kids say, “It’s Joever.”
It’s incredibly hard to ignore what we saw in McConkey’s rookie season, but there are also reasons why McConkey’s second season wasn’t as good as his first. Players like this don’t become bad all of a sudden. With a new play-caller and offensive coordinator, this Chargers’ offense may be a bit more balanced in terms of run versus the pass.
In terms of who is getting the ball, McConkey looks to be at the head of the pack when it comes to who can balloon his production in his third season. I’ll make that bet any day.
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Kevin Tompkins is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Kevin, check out his profile and follow him on Bluesky @ktompkinsii.bsky.social