NFL Trade Rumors
As training camps get underway in earnest across the league this week, we’re going to be hearing a lot about surprise and standout players. Who’s come back and looks like a completely different player? Who came out of nowhere to make a push for a starting role?
Today, I’m taking a look at one breakout candidate for each team. I focused mostly on second-year players, as they often have the easiest path to a breakout. Some teams didn’t have any obvious candidates among their sophomores or had other clear choices, so these aren’t all Year 2 guys.
Let’s dive right in:
The 2025 No. 16 overall pick got off to an inauspicious start as a rookie, playing in just six games and seeing meaningful snaps in a mere four. Injuries significantly hampered him last year, but even so, he flashed serious upside when he saw the field. Nolen had two sacks and a pass rush win rate of 15 percent as a rookie — imagine what he could do with a fully healthy season ahead of him.
With the caveat that advanced metrics can be unreliable in such small sample sizes, Nolen’s potential as a penetrating interior pass rusher was tremendous coming out of college. The Cardinals are starving for stars on defense, and Nolen just might be that guy.
Is it fair to call a guy entering his sixth season a breakout candidate? Pitts looked like the league’s next star at tight end after topping 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, but the next three seasons were extremely forgettable, for reasons not entirely all his fault. Last season, Pitts bounced back with career highs in catches, touchdowns and first downs, with a threat rate (targets per route run) of nearly 21 percent.
It’s a new offense, but Pitts was finally used in the intermediate game last year to great success. If Tua Tagovailoa wins Atlanta’s starting quarterback job as expected, he’ll need a target to feast over the middle. That might be Pitts, and we could see him used as the high-volume passing target at tight end he was supposed to be coming into the league.
It’s now or never for Walker. The Ravens selected two receivers in the middle rounds of this past draft: Ja’Kobi Lane and Elijah Sarratt. They’ll be battling third-year receiver Walker for the third starting receiver spot behind Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman.
Walker was targeted just eight times in 2025, but three of those targets went for touchdowns. He provides Baltimore with a field-stretching option on the outside. That’s a skill set Lane and Sarratt don’t really possess, so there’s a chance Walker just fits what the Ravens need at that spot more than the competition. If he doesn’t break out this year, though, his opportunity will likely pass him by.
I’m grouping these two...
