2026 Fantasy Football: Early breakout candidates for each NFC North team

NFL Free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft will completely shake up the fantasy football landscape in the coming months.

Before the roster movement begins, Justin Boone is identifying one fantasy-relevant player from every team who’s most likely to break out during the 2026 season.

Early Breakout Candidates

NFC West (Jan. 15)
NFC South (Jan. 16)
AFC East (Jan. 19)
AFC North (Jan. 20)
AFC West (Jan. 21)
AFC South (Jan. 22)

Chicago Bears – Colston Loveland, TE

While some teams barely have one breakout candidate to highlight this far ahead of the season, the Bears have multiple in Loveland and wideout Luther Burden III.

Loveland was the TE18 in fantasy points per game during his rookie campaign, but over the final nine weeks of the fantasy season, he really began to assert himself by emerging as the fifth-highest scoring tight end during that span.

The 21-year-old has become a focal point of the Bears’ passing attack down the stretch, posting stat lines of 6-94-1, 10-91-1 and 8-137-0 over his last three outings, including Chicago’s Wild-Card victory. He also saw 38 targets combined in those contests.

After Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, you could make a case for Loveland being the next most valuable tight end in 2026 fantasy drafts. At worst, he should be viewed as a top-five player at the position heading into next season.

His teammate Burden also started to spread his wings late in the year, with six catches for 84 yards and eight catches for 138 yards and a score during his two appearances in the fantasy playoffs.

Though Burden has just as much upside as Loveland, he (currently) has more competition to deal with in the receiver room. Either way, I’ll be targeting both players heavily next season.

Fantasy breakout potential: ★★★★★

Detroit Lions – Isaac TeSlaa, WR

The Lions are one of those offenses that have a plethora of playmakers, which makes it tough for anyone new to emerge as a significant fantasy option.

It’s still hard not to recognize what TeSlaa did as a part-time player during his rookie season. Even in a passing attack that features Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs, the 23-year-old TeSlaa scored six touchdowns in his first campaign.

The fact that he did it on just 16 total receptions is remarkable, yet unsustainable at the same time. However, it’s clear the Lions value TeSlaa after they traded three third-round picks to move up and acquire him in last year’s draft. So, you can expect his role to grow in Year 2 beyond just being a random contested-catch specialist.

For a true fantasy breakout to occur, it’ll likely require an injury to one of the top two receivers. That makes TeSlaa a late-round target only for fantasy, but a very intriguing dynasty stash.

Fantasy breakout potential: ★★★☆☆

Green Bay Packers – Tucker Kraft, TE

Kraft was one of my favorite tight ends to draft last summer and it felt good having him in lineups during the first eight weeks of the season when he was the top-scoring fantasy tight end overall (14 fppg).

Unfortunately, an ACL tear in early November ended that party far too soon and prevented him from having a full breakout campaign.

Though his recovery will need to be monitored throughout the offseason, there’s very little doubt that a healthy Kraft will return as one of the top pass-catchers and a yards-after-catch monster in Green Bay’s offense. He’s led all tight ends in average YAC per reception each of the last two seasons.

The 25-year-old will also likely have an injury-discounted ADP in 2026 fantasy drafts, despite having top-five potential at the position.

Fantasy breakout potential: ★★★★★

Minnesota Vikings – Jordan Mason, RB

The first order of business for the Vikings will be finding some legitimate veteran competition for J.J. McCarthy at quarterback.

If Minnesota can get even average QB play, this team will go back to being a solid playoff contender and an offense fantasy managers want to be invested in.

Despite the struggles of the offense as a whole, Mason had stretches of quality production in his first year with the team. When Aaron Jones Sr. was out of the lineup for over a month early in the season (Week 3 to Week 7), Mason was the RB16 in fppg.

When Jones sat out Week 18, Mason had his second-highest yardage total of the season with 94 yards on 14 carries versus the Packers.

Jones will turn 32 next December, which is concerning for a player with his extensive injury history:

Year	Jones’ injuries
2025	Hamstring, shoulder
2024	Quad, ribs, hip
2023	MCL sprain, thigh, hamstring
2022	Ankle, knee
2021	MCL sprain, thigh, hamstring, ribs

Jones has now missed 11 games over the last three seasons and it’s entirely reasonable to question his durability moving forward.

Mason has had moments as a fantasy difference-maker over the last couple of seasons, but in 2026, we could see him actually take over the backfield in a Vikings offense that should be more dangerous if they can find a reliable starter at quarterback.

Fantasy breakout potential: ★★★★☆

Early Breakout Candidates