Each year, new breakout players emerge throughout the NFL, whether it’s a sophomore success, a player on a new team, or a veteran who finally got his chance to shine. Each week leading up to training camp, I will post an article with potential breakout players for every team, division by division.
Connect with me on X to let me know how you feel about my selections, or to announce your own breakout players. @JLSports24
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Benjamin Morrison | CB
Benjamin Morrison had a rocky rookie year after being selected 53rd overall in the 2025 NFL draft. He slid in the draft due to a hip injury he sustained during his final year at Notre Dame, which created tremendous value in round 2.
After a rough 2-year stretch of football, Morrison is healthy and penciled in as a starting cornerback for the Buccaneers in 2026. He started the final 3 games of the season in 2025, showing promise in week 17 when he allowed no receptions on 3 targets and recorded 3 tackles against the Dolphins.
Morrison has the ability to mirror receivers, disrupt at the catch point, and bring down ball carriers with sure tackling, making him a legitimate CB1 contender.
My 21st overall prospect heading into the 2025 draft is also surrounded by talent on a seemingly star-studded Buccaneers defense. Yaya Diaby, Vita Vea, and Antoine Winfield Jr. welcome Alex Anzalone, Josiah Trotter, and Rueben Bain Jr. to the fold, giving Morrison ample support to succeed in 2026.
In his second year, and fully healthy, Morrison will lock down the starting position, along with the best receivers in the NFL. His ability, paired with a seemingly fierce pass rush, will create a disruptive defensive unit that is sure to excel in 2026.
Atlanta Falcons
Xavier Watts | S
An argument can be made that Xavier Watts truly broke out last year as a rookie, but I look for him to become a household name in 2026. In 2025, the third-round pick intercepted 5 passes, which was tied for 2nd in the NFL and was the most of any rookie. He also showed that he isn’t just a ball hawk by accounting for 96 total tackles.
Although there has been a head coaching turnover in Atlanta, Jeff Ulbrich returns as the defensive coordinator, which will benefit the young unit that impressed in 2025. They finished 5th in interceptions (16) and 2nd in sacks (57) last year, large in part to the play of Watts.
Watts is a versatile safety, able to line up all over the defense with success. He logged 406 snaps at free safety, 544 in the box, and even 133 at slot corner, all while recording an overall grade of 72.4, which was 19th among all safeties per PFF.
Another season in the same scheme and with the same nucleus of young talent will benefit Watts even more. After 2026, we could be talking about him as a top 10 safety and in Pro Bowl consideration.
I invited @RollCoveragePod to contribute to this piece, as he is particularly tuned into the NFC South, being the Carolina Panthers writer for Blitz Sports Media. Here’s a look at two young receivers who could be on the rise.
New Orleans Saints
Bryce Lance | WR
Contributed by Nick, an NFL writer for Blitz Sports Media. Follow him on X for more NFL content @RollCoveragePod
The Saints drafted Bryce Lance 136th overall in the fourth round, and the value relative to his testing is the story. At a verified 6’3⅜” and 204 pounds with a 6’7½” wingspan, Lance ran a 4.34-second 40 with a 1.49-second ten-split, posted a 41.5-inch vertical and an 11’1″ broad jump, and added clean change-of-direction marks of 4.15 in the short shuttle and 7.00 in the three-cone. That is a near-complete athletic profile: elite long speed, elite explosion, above-average agility on a 6’3″ frame.
Receivers who test in that range usually come off the board on Day 2. Lance lasted to the fourth round largely because of his level of competition and the three development years he lost to redshirt and special-teams duty. For a front office, that is the definition of a value gap, because the measured athleticism and the late-career production both grade well above the draft slot.
Lance landed in arguably the best possible developmental environment for his skill set. Head coach Kellen Moore’s offense finished first in the league in situation-neutral pace in its debut season, a high-volume system that creates target opportunity through tempo alone.
Quarterback Tyler Shough enters Year 2 as the unquestioned starter after completing 67.6% of his throws with a 91.3 rating down the 2025 stretch, giving the room stable, accurate play. The departure of deep threat Rashid Shaheed left an open vertical role, precisely the job Lance’s 4.34 speed and 21.2-yard college average are built to fill.
The competition is real and worth stating plainly. Chris Olave is the established WR1, and the Saints invested significant early draft capital in fellow rookie Jordyn Tyson, who profiles as the higher-volume long-term piece. That crowds the target tree. Lance is not competing for the possession role, though. He is competing for the field-stretcher role, a distinct schematic job with less direct overlap.
In a first-in-pace offense that will run a lot of plays, a designated vertical X with his traits can produce meaningful if lumpy output even as the fourth name in the room. The path runs through high-value, low-volume usage, the deep shots and play-action shots and jet-sweep changeups he already showed on tape, rather than a 100-target role in Year 1.
The instinct to file Lance under the Saints’ great mid-round and possession receivers is understandable, and part of it fits. Marques Colston was a seventh-round small-school steal out of Hofstra who became a franchise pillar. Michael Thomas was a high-volume chain-mover who set the single-season receptions record in this same building.
Lance shares the undervalued-receiver-entering-a-productive-passing-game lineage with Colston, and he shares the size class with both. As a franchise-fit framing, it tracks. A GM should flag the mismatch anyway. Colston and Thomas were possession-first, YAC-and-volume receivers who lived between the numbers and won with route precision and reliable hands more than vertical speed.
Lance is the opposite archetype, a 4.34, 41.5-inch-vertical field-stretcher whose calling card is the 21.2-yard average and the deep ball, far closer in function to the Shaheed role he is replacing than to Thomas’s underneath target monopoly. The comp works for the story of an undervalued receiver in the right uniform in a productive offense. It misleads on the role.
If you want a production template for Lance, model him as an efficient vertical complement who could grow into more if the volume opens up, not as the next 1,400-yard possession anchor. The honest version keeps Colston and Thomas for franchise narrative and size, with a clear-eyed note that Lance’s athletic profile points to a more explosive on-field job.
Carolina Panthers
Jalen Coker | WR
Jalen Coker is a strong breakout candidate for the Carolina Panthers in 2026 due to his rapid rise, proven reliability, and favorable opportunity in a young offense. The undrafted free agent out of Holy Cross has steadily climbed from practice squad to key contributor.
In 2025, he posted 33 catches for 394 yards and 3 TDs in just 11 games as a reliable slot/WR2 option for Bryce Young, showing strong hands, YAC ability, and contested-catch skills at 6’3″, 213 lbs. In the postseason, he accounted for 9 receptions, 134 yards, and a TD vs. the Rams, highlighting his big-play potential on a national stage.
Now locked in with a three-year extension, Coker enters 2026 as the clear No. 2 behind Offensive Rookie of the Year Tetairoa McMillan. With improved depth and Young’s development, a full season could see him push for 800+ yards and double-digit TDs as a chain-moving, red-zone threat as a mainstay on the Panthers offense for the future.
