Fantasy Football: Top 5 breakout candidates for 2019

Fantasy football leagues were won last year by Patrick Mahomes’ breakout season, so who is primed to break out in the 2019 NFL season?

Identifying breakout candidates is critical to fantasy football success. Any novice can look at rankings and find the top players at each position. However, finding the player that can provide immense value based on where he’s drafted in relation to his peers at the position and the scoring he produces.

A breakout candidate is any player that may not be majorly on the radar of fans and owners but exceeds expectations and makes it to the forefront of fantasy football (and real football). For example, some of last year’s breakout stars were Patrick Mahomes, James Conner and Saquon Barkley, all three of whom helped owners win their fantasy football leagues.

Every player has the potential to break out, no matter how big or small the breakout season is. With that, I’m going to predict five fantasy football breakout candidates for the 2019 season.

5. Kyler Murray, QB, Arizona Cardinals

While only a rookie, Kyler Murray has been handed the keys to new head coach Kliff Kingsbury‘s pass-heavy offense. You should expect nothing less than great things from the No. 1 overall pick in 2019 this season.

The Cardinals defense ranked 20th in the league last year, giving up 26.6 points per game. The front office didn’t make a number of big moves to improve the defense either. Therefore, Murray and the offense could be throwing a lot as they play from behind — which means a ton of fantasy football production.

With Hall of Fame wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald coming back for one last ride and former All-Pro running back David Johnson at full strength, Murray is not short on explosive weapons. Looking at his 42 touchdowns and 4,361 passing yards in his final season at Oklahoma, Murray has the talent to be a budding NFL superstar on his way to capturing Offensive Rookie of the Year.