3 unexpected standouts from training camp who could breakout in 2024

NFL training camps are often a great insight into what the fantasy season may hold but it is often difficult to tell what information is worth noting.

The 2024 offseason was no different with several stars making headlines for holding out due to contract negotiations while onlooking reporters claimed every young talent on their team will have a breakout year. Yet, amongst all the noise, three players stand out to potentially gain an increased role during the upcoming season that could make themselves fantasy-relevant for the first time in their careers.

This is not about the players already on fantasy radars with proven careers or rookies highly touted to make an immediate impact. This is about three players who have never been more than a handcuff throughout their respective careers but for one reason or another have showed signs of potentially breaking through.

Isaiah Likely

Likely has been on the back end of fantasy rankings for nearly his entire career despite never becoming a full-time starter. Part of that has to do with the listless state of his position and part of it is a product of Baltimore's offense that often features two tight end sets.

Even as the backup to Mark Andrews, Likely still is worth a late-round flier as a high-upside handcuff but the 24-year-old has given reason to believe he will have an increased role in 2024. Likely would call himself a "chess piece" to the media during training camp, saying he expects to be fully unleashed in the upcoming season as a positionless player.

Likely further teased his role by saying the team was having him take snaps in the slot and even out wide and in the backfield. Should the third-year tight end see that usage during the regular season, he could force his way to being a weekly starter, even with Andrews active.

Tyjae Spears

Once the Titans used a third-round pick on Tyjae Spears in the 2023 NFL Draft, the writing was on the wall signaling the end of the Derrick Henry era in Tennessee. However, many did not see how quickly Spears would make an impact on the offense as by the end of the year, he finished with the same amount of snaps — 558 — as Henry.

With Henry now in Baltimore, Spears faces new competition for playing time with free agent acquisition Tony Pollard listed as the starting running back. But regardless of what the depth chart says, head coach Brian Callahan says he views both Pollard and Spears as his "two starters."

"Maybe [Spears and Pollard] both play at the same time, maybe one gets hot and you let him run, maybe we just rotate back and forth," Callahan told the media ahead of training camp. "I don't know what that's going to look like yet. But they are both going to play quite a bit of football for us. They are both starting players to me."

Whether or not Spears can beat out Pollard for the starting job remains to be seen but the Tulane product is much closer to making a true impact than many bargained for. Even if Pollard takes the early edge, Callahan would appear to have him on a short leash, particularly with his underwhelming 2023 season with Dallas.

However the situation ends up playing itself out, the initial word lifts the early fantasy value of Spears and significantly lowers the ceiling of Pollard.

Jalin Hyatt

The second year has been historically significant for wide receivers in the NFL and Hyatt will be heavily relied on by the New York Giants for a sophomore leap. The former third-round pick is not currently projected to be a starter on the team's unofficial depth chart but is expected to push one of either Darius Slayton or Wan'Dale Robinson for their roles before Week 1.

Hyatt may not be as crisp of a route runner as Robinson or as experienced as Slayton but has a case to be the team's second-best playmaker with the ball in his hands behind rookie Malik Nabers. As a former Biletnikoff Award winner at Tennessee, Hyatt was consistently getting behind the Giants' secondary early in training camp and turning heads by catching deep lobs from Daniel Jones.

Assuming Jones can return to the form he showed in 2022 before going down with an injury behind an improved offensive line on paper, Hyatt has a legitimate chance to break onto fantasy radars as a big-play threat. Nobody will mistake Jones for Patrick Mahomes and on all accounts, Nabers is clearly the most skilled receiver of the group. Regardless, this is a team desperate for playmakers and Hyatt is one of the few explosive athletes on the roster.