Every year, there are NFL players from just about every team that burst onto the scene and become household names. For a lot of these players, NFL teams around the league are banking on their progression. Others are simply pleasant surprises. NFL breakout players can make or break a team’s championship chances and they can also potentially spark something for rebuilding teams, pushing them ever closer to contention.
What players are the top NFL breakout player candidates for the 2022 season? There are certainly many candidates, but some stand out more than the rest. In order to qualify for this distinction, however, a player cannot already have had a true “breakout” season. They can’t already be an established player that has proven themselves for multiple years.
Not that every NFL breakout player candidate has to be a rookie or have had no prior success, but these are players that are essentially going from guys fans of the team love to guys every NFL fan will know by the end of the season. Some candidates will be more obvious than others, but these young players are poised for huge success in the 2022 NFL season.
10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jaguars
We’ll start with some of the lowest-hanging fruit there is in this particular category. When looking around the league at possible breakout players, Trevor Lawrence certainly stands out as one of the most obvious, doesn’t he? The former number one overall pick had an underwhelming rookie year, but can you really blame him? Even though Lawrence put some good things on tape, the Jacksonville Jaguars were an absolute mess.
With Urban Meyer being replaced by Doug Pederson, I have a sneaking suspicion that Lawrence is going to be in a much better position to succeed as a second-year player in the NFL than he was as a rookie. Not to mention, just being on the job and taking his lumps as a rookie, Lawrence has undoubtedly learned a ton.
Even though I don’t necessarily love Lawrence’s receivers and supporting cast with the Jaguars — the team added Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, and Evan Engram along with Travis Etienne coming back from injury — I think he’s going to be so much better in year two. We should see him establish himself as one of the top 15 quarterbacks in the NFL this season, easily.