Every NFL team is getting its first look at the entire 90-man roster right now with OTAs underway around the league. There are always going to be fun breakout players on every roster each year and guys who end up making a much bigger impact than anyone expected.
Or maybe, they are meeting expectations as breakout candidates.
Whatever their situation, whether they are expected breakout players as former high draft picks or guys flying under the radar, who are the top breakout offensive weapon candidates in the AFC North for the 2025 season?
We're going to take a look at a handful of young players from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, and potential Super Bowl favorite Baltimore Ravens this coming season.
Predicting breakout offensive weapon candidates for the AFC North in 2025 NFL season
Cleveland Browns: Cedric Tillman, WR
There are a lot of rookies who are going to likely play big roles on the Cleveland Browns this year, but I don't like picking rookies as breakout player candidates. Every rookie is inherently a breakout candidate, so unless there is literally no one else to pick, we're going with guys who were already on the team last year.
With that being said, Cedric Tillman is a former third-round pick with all the talent to be a really good "X" receiver in the NFL, but he hasn't gotten the target share to really prove himself just yet. With just 93 targets in two seasons, we've caught glimpses from Tillman, but that's it.
The former Tennessee star has a chance to emerge this year if the Browns can even remotely stabilize the quarterback position. And that's a big "if" at this point. If Tillman can get 80 or so targets, which is a reasonable expectation, it's possible he could lead the team in touchdowns.
Baltimore Ravens: Tez Walker, WR
This might be a bit of a deep sleeper because the Ravens already have so many mouths to feed in that offense right now. They've got Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman occupying a large percentage of the target share at receiver already with Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely at the tight end position. We know they're going to run the ball a ton.
They also added DeAndre Hopkins this offseason to upgrade their depth at receiver.
I'm still thinking we could see something from Tez Walker, a fourth-round pick by the Ravens in the 2024 NFL Draft. Walker was a stud at North Carolina and caught one pass for Baltimore last year on just three targets: A 21-yard touchdown.
He only played 57 offensive snaps, but it's very possible we could see him break through with an increased role, especially if there's an injury or maybe he ends up just organically playing more than DeAndre Hopkins over the course of the season. Maybe I'm underestimating Hopkins at this stage of his career, but I think Walker could have a bigger role this year, and do well with it.
Cincinnati Bengals: Jermaine Burton, WR
The Cincinnati Bengals don't necessarily "need" another breakthrough receiver on their roster, but they're likely going to find ways to get Jermaine Burton more involved in the offense for 2025 after what we saw from him last season.
Burton played 131 snaps offensively for the Bengals in 2024 and contributed sparingly, but he was effective on the catches he did make. Burton caught four passes for 106 yards, averaging 26.8 yards per reception. He was the definition of a big-play threat but there was not a lot of consistency with it. The Bengals gave Burton 14 targets on the season and he obviously didn't catch a high volume of passes.
We saw Andrei Iosivas break through last year as the team's third option but the explosive Burton is going to get a chance to play a bigger role this coming season. Even if he only catches 30-40 passes, he could be a major threat when on the field and give the Bengals offense another wrinkle.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Darnell Washington, TE
The Pittsburgh Steelers may have some more obvious breakout candidates offensively like Roman Wilson at receiver, but he's talked about all the time. Darnell Washington has played a part-time role for this team over the last two seasons, and I'm still sticking to my pre-draft evaluation on this guy.
He's an absolute beast who just needs a higher volume of targets.
The Steelers haven't had a stable quarterback situation in recent years, and if Aaron Rodgers is in the mix, we could see the highest volume of pass attempts for this team that we've seen since Ben Roethlisberger was around. That should mean more targets for Washington, whose involvement has steadily increased over his first two years in the NFL.
He had 19 catches for 200 yards last season and I think he could easily double those numbers with 4-6 TDs in 2025.
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