Brendan Pignataro and Mark Morales-Smith will be debating a different topic each weekend. This week will feature a debate to distinguish the second year breakout stars at each skill position for the 2016 season.
Mark is still getting over last week’s loss, but has agreed to debate who will be the breakout second year star at wide receiver, running back and tight end. It would be easy to choose guys like Thomas Rawls or Amari Cooper, however I believe they already have broken out. Let’s take a look at three less obvious sophomore options who are in store for huge seasons.
Related Story: Mark's Second-Year Breakout Stars
Wide Receiver– Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks
Despite his highly productive career at Kansas State, Tyler Lockett fell to the third round of last year’s draft. He ended up 3rd in receiving yards for rookies with 664 yards, and tied Cooper for 1st with 6 touchdowns. I expect his yards to exceed 1,000 in 2016. Lockett has incredible quickness and game speed (see GIF below). Despite his lack of size, he can be productive in the slot or on the outside in the NFL.
Opposing defenses will initially focus on Doug Baldwin and Jimmy Graham. This will leave many favorable matchups for Lockett. Although Thomas Rawls will be a productive player, he is not Marshawn Lynch. This team is now a pass heavy offense. The most impressive outing for Lockett last season was his 104 yards and 2 touchdown game on the road in week 14 vs Baltimore. We’ll see many more games like that.
Between weeks 13 -16, Lockett was targeted 28 times. Russell Wilson was clearly growing more and more confident in Lockett’s ability. Given another offseason to build on their chemistry, Lockett has the chance to pass Baldwin for the most targets in the Seahawks offense. He has the potential to be a Jarvis Landry/Danny Amendola type of productive receiver, with a little more explosion. Lock-ett up!
Running Back– Melvin Gordon, San Diego Chargers
In 2013, Ken Whisenhunt was the offensive coordinator when Chargers finished fifth in the league in yards per game (393.3). He’s back in the same role. That year, Ryan Matthews ran for 1,255 yards which was good enough for 7th at the position. Melvin Gordon has more talent than Matthews, and will greatly benefit from Whisenhunt’s system.
Danny Woodhead is now 31 years old, and the Chargers will be looking to feature Gordon as the lead running back. Woodhead will still get some receiving targets, but Gordon already had a role in the passing game with 33 receptions in just 14 games in his rookie year. The confidence the Chargers showed in keeping Gordon on the field on some third down plays is promising.
San Diego’s offense has gotten better this offseason. Travis Benjamin was a vastly underrated signing. Opposing defenses won’t be able to stack the box anymore if Keenan Allen & Benjamin can stay healthy. The Chargers also have early draft picks where they can get a good offensive lineman on day 1 or 2. I expect around 900 rushing yards, 475 receiving, and 7 touchdowns for his breakout year.
Tight End– Will Tye, New York Giants
Will Tye came out of nowhere when teammate Larry Donnell went down with a neck injury. The undrafted rookie racked up 32 receptions for 368 yards and three touchdowns over the final seven games. Out of those seven games, Tye had 5 or more receptions five times.
“We expect for him to continue to develop and grow and be a big piece for us at that position.” General Manager Jerry Reese
If the Giants give him a full season as a starter, he will put up big numbers for a tight end. With the loss of Reuben Randle, and the uncertainty of Victor Cruz, the tight end position should continue to get a lot of targets in this offense.
Giants General Manager Jerry Reese told Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, “Will Tye who came out — he was on the practice squad and we brought him up — he did a nice job for us. We expect for him to continue to develop and grow and be a big piece for us at that position.”
Mark’s Choices– DeVante Parker (Miami Dolphins), David Johnson (Arizona Cardinals), Clive Walford (Oakland Raiders)
Parker is going to be pretty good. However, he’s the second best wide receiver on the team behind Landry and will receive far less targets. The Dolphins 26th ranked offense could be even worse this year (how you can let Lamar Miller walk is beyond me). In addition, Parker has been injury prone since breaking his foot at Louisville. Foot problems are nothing to turn a blind eye too.
D. Johnson played very well for three games once Chris Johnson went down, but had awful rushing stats in the last two regular season games and playoffs. On 30 rushes in the playoffs he only gained 90 yards at a lowly 3.2 YPC. C. Johnson has signed back (proved last year he was great for the Cardinals offense), and Andre Ellington is still around. D. Johnson may not get as many carries as experts are predicting.
Walford played in three more games than Tye, yet had less yards and receptions, and the same amount of touchdowns. He has proven to be a solid tight end, but I don’t see many pro bowl appearances in his future.
More nfl spin zone: Sunday Debate: Odell Beckham is the Best Wide Receiver in the NFL
Please also check out Mark’s article, although your face may end up like this after reading…
Thanks for reading and feel free to join the debate below, or add your own players to the mix.