Top 10 NFL breakout players to watch out for during the 2022 season

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.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Kwity Paye, EDGE, Colts

We saw Indianapolis Colts pass rusher Kwity Paye really come along during the second half of his rookie season in 2021. The former first-round pick out of Michigan racked up all 10 of his quarterback hits and all four of his sacks as a rookie from Week 9 to the end of the season. Paye has tremendous talent, and heading into his second NFL season, the pressure is really on for him to be a key every-down player in one of the league’s more underrated defenses.

Yannick Ngakoue was acquired by the Colts in a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders this past offseason. Considering Ngakoue is the more proven pass rusher with the Colts, he’s likely to receive a lot of attention from opposing offenses, at least early on. That could lead to a lot of favorable matchups for Paye, who can feast if given one-on-one chances.

I smell a double-digit sack type of season from the former Michigan star.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Jeff Okudah, CB, Lions

The Detroit Lions are pretty loaded with breakout player candidates this season. It doesn’t matter what side of the ball you look at, this team has every reason to be optimistic heading into a season in which it feels like they are playing with house money. Head coach Dan Campbell has as high of an approval rating as you’ll ever see from a Lions coach. Nobody expects a ton out of the Lions but most agree this is a talented team.

Jeff Okudah is part of that equation, even coming off of two season-ending injuries that have derailed his pro career. Okudah was supposed to be the next great NFL cornerback coming out of Ohio State, but now he finds himself in something of a make-or-break year with the Lions. I tend to believe he’s going to break out in a big way.

We’ve seen him stay healthy throughout the preseason and make some nice plays, but now is the time for Okudah to prove week in and week out that he truly can be a CB1 at the NFL level. If he’s able to stay healthy, he could help take a talented Lions defense to the next level.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Joe Noteboom, OT, Rams

There’s really no reason to expect the Los Angeles Rams‘ offense to take a step back in 2022, unless you’re really worried about Matthew Stafford’s arm issue that has come up over the course of the offseason. In all likelihood, this group will be humming once again in 2022 and they are going to need this breakout player candidate to go out there and do his thing right away.

Joe Noteboom was once a third-round pick by the Rams who has mostly played a reserve role throughout his first four NFL seasons. As a spot-starter with positional versatility, Noteboom proved his worth to the Rams and if you want evidence that the team itself believes in him as a breakout candidate, the Rams paid Noteboom $40 million total, $25 million guaranteed over the next three years despite only having 17 regular season starts to his name.

Noteboom is taking over for grizzled veteran Andrew Whitworth, and the Rams obviously think he’s ready to become a top-flight left tackle as the heir to Whitworth’s throne.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Trey Lance, QB, 49ers

Out of all the potential NFL breakout players in 2022, Trey Lance of the 49ers might be the easiest one to project.

The 49ers have one of the best coaches in the NFL and certainly one of the best offensive minds in the league in Kyle Shanahan. With Shanahan running the show, Lance is already in a great position to succeed. Aside from that, the 49ers also have one of the top offensive lines in the league, some of the best weapons, and a tremendous defense.

This team made it to the NFL’s final four last year with Jimmy Garoppolo at the helm. Now, to this innovative and balanced offensive attack, you add a quarterback that has unreal athletic gifts for the position and elite arm talent. This is the most obvious recipe for a breakout in 2022 that you will find.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Rashod Bateman, WR, Ravens

One player you will see on just about everybody’s NFL breakout players list is Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Rashod Bateman. There are a variety of reasons for that.

• Other than Mark Andrews, who is stealing targets from Bateman in 2022?
• Lamar Jackson’s revenge tour is on
• Marquise Brown’s vacated 146 targets

Bateman is a former first-round pick whose involvement in the Ravens’ offense is about to increase by close to triple what it was a season ago. As long as he can stay healthy, there’s every reason to believe that Bateman is going to emerge as the Ravens’ clear WR1 and a true all-around threat at the position who is making a substantial impact week after week.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Jerry Jeudy, WR, Broncos

Based on what we saw from him at Alabama, it’s hard to believe we’re entering the third year of Jerry Jeudy’s NFL career and we’ve yet to see him truly break out as an NFL player. Jeudy has remained one of the best wide receivers in all of football when it comes to creating separation, getting himself open, and making himself available to the quarterback. Unfortunately, there have been a couple of significant roadblocks in his first two NFL seasons.

Without sugarcoating anything, the two primary roadblocks have obviously been the Broncos’ quarterbacks and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, who had Jeudy running in motion behind the line of scrimmage seemingly more than he had him running actual routes in 2022.

With Russell Wilson at the helm and Tim Patrick out for the season with a torn ACL — not to mention Noah Fant and his team-leading 68 receptions out the door — there’s a clear path for a massive role in this offense for Jeudy, who has been working great with Wilson all offseason.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Greg Rousseau, DE, Bills

Although Greg Rousseau dropped a little bit in the pre-draft process last year, he still wound up being one of the biggest impact rookies in the NFL for any team. Rousseau started all 17 games last year for one of the best teams in the entire NFL, and he was productive.

He finished with 10 QB hits, 8 tackles for loss, four sacks, a forced fumble, and four batted passes. Now, he’s got one of the best pass rushers of all-time playing with him — former Denver Broncos superstar Von Miller.

Rousseau now has the benefit of learning from one of the best to ever do it and really completing his game. The Bills just have an outstanding defensive front, in general, but Rousseau should be expected to progress and become one of this team’s best players defensively in 2022.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: KaVontae Turpin, WR/RS, Cowboys

Let’s go a little off the wall for this one, shall we?

Regardless of whether or not he actually becomes one of the top NFL breakout players in 2022, KaVontae Turpin’s story is worth watching unfold all year long. The former USFL star got a shot with the Cowboys in training camp and the preseason, and he showed his incredible speed and vision in the return game with a kickoff return touchdown as well as a punt return touchdown.

There’s a path to regular season snaps at the wide receiver position with the Cowboys as well for Turpin. He may not be the WR2 or anything like that, but with the Cowboys trading away Amari Cooper as well as Michael Gallup still being on the mend, Turpin could be in line for more targets than we might think. Of course, the Cowboys still have Dalton Schultz and their running backs Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard. On top of that, CeeDee Lamb figures to be a heavily targeted WR1.

Still, Turpin’s speed and upside make him an intriguing breakout player to watch, even if it’s just as a special teams star in the return game, which the Cowboys desperately need.

10 NFL Breakout Players to watch in 2022: Allen Lazard, WR, Packers

There may not be a bigger NFL breakout player candidate in 2022 than Green Bay Packers wide receiver Allen Lazard. Let’s examine this one a little closer, shall we?

In four NFL seasons, Lazard just crossed 500 yards receiving in 2021. He’s been a complementary target for Aaron Rodgers while Davante Adams received the lion’s share of targets. Lazard did quite a bit with the number of targets he was given, though. He scored eight touchdowns last season and he’s caught at least two-thirds or better of his targets since getting onto the field really for the first time in 2019.

Entering his fifth NFL season, Lazard is poised to become the Green Bay Packers’ WR1. Does he really have any other choice?

The Packers shipped off Davante Adams to the Las Vegas Raiders to be paid one of the richest wide receiver contracts in NFL history. How did they replace him?

• Journeyman Sammy Watkins
• 2nd-round pick Christian Watson
• 4th-round pick Romeo Doubs

The pressure is very clearly on Lazard to show up and show out in a big way. Luckily for him, catching eight touchdown passes a season ago, Lazard has already proven he’s got the trust of Aaron Rodgers, especially in red zone work. Lazard had 14 targets in the red zone last season and five of them went for touchdowns. Those 14 targets were third on the team behind Adams and running back Aaron Jones, whose role in this offense will continue to increase as well.

Lazard’s previous career-high in total targets is 60. His previous career-high in receptions is 40 (both of those career bests came last season). There’s no doubt he’s going to blow those numbers out of the water in 2022 with the reigning back-to-back MVP throwing him the rock more than he’s seen it since he was at Iowa State.