Banking on 2022 Fantasy football rookies can be a mixed bag, as some could turn out like Ja'Marr Chase, while others could end up like D'Wayne Eskridge or Tutu Atwell. Wide receivers can be particularly volatile, but can offer plenty of upside in the 2022 Fantasy football rankings. Your 2022 Fantasy football draft prep should certainly account for the rookie pass-catchers that could become one of the 2022 Fantasy football breakouts. Typically, you can at least count on first-round picks to have some measure of guaranteed volume in their team's passing attack, but the challenge is determining how much of that volume translates into Fantasy production. Before putting together your 2022 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2022 Fantasy football cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, SportsLine's model accurately predicted that Dolphins rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle was being dramatically undervalued. He was being drafted around the same time as receivers such as Corey Davis, Tyler Boyd and Will Fuller, but the model predicted that Waddle would outproduce all of them and be a key breakout for Fantasy football lineups. The result: Waddle put together a strong 104-1015-6 receiving line and was a top-20 Fantasy receiver.
The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, also identifying A.J. Brown as a sleeper in 2020 and players like Julio Jones and JuJu Smith-Schuster as Fantasy football busts last season. Additionally, it's called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017. Anybody who banked on players like those made a run at their league title.
The model is powered by the same people who generated projections for all three major Fantasy sites, and it beat human experts last season when there was a big difference in ranking. The projections update multiple times daily, so you're always getting the best Fantasy football advice.
Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest Fantasy football rankings 2022, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2022 Fantasy football breakouts
One of the 2022 Fantasy football breakouts the model is predicting: Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney. The Bears averaged just 188.6 passing yards per game last season, which ranked 30th in the NFL. Despite those pedestrian numbers, Mooney still managed to rack up 81 receptions for 1,055 receiving yards.
Mooney finished with the 15th-most targets per game and an impressive 26.7 percent team target share last season. Mooney's rapport with quarterback Justin Fields has led him to be Chicago's clear-cut No. 1 option in the passing game, which bodes well for his Fantasy value heading into the 2022 NFL season. In fact, SportsLine's model has Mooney, who's being drafted in the 10th round on average, ranked ahead of wideouts like JuJu Smith-Schuster (eighth-round ADP) and Allen Lazard (ninth).
Another breakout that SportsLine's Fantasy football rankings 2022 have identified: Falcons wide receiver Drake London. He was the first wide receiver taken in the NFL Draft this year, but he only made a brief appearance in the preseason. To his credit, he turned his lone catch in his only exhibition game into 24 yards.
There is concern about how effective the Falcons' offense will be overall, but outside of tight end Kyle Pitts, there aren't many other options in the passing attack. London wrapped up his career at USC with 88 catches for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior last season, and Atlanta's offensive success may be more reliant on splash plays than deliberate, long drives down the field. As one of the centerpieces of Atlanta's youth movement, the model projects London's Fantasy production will be equal to or better than others commonly drafted ahead of him like Brandon Aiyuk, Hunter Renfow and DeAndre Hopkins. See which other Fantasy football breakouts 2022 to target here.
How to find proven 2022 Fantasy football rankings
SportsLine is also extremely high on a surprising quarterback you aren't even thinking about being taken in the middle rounds of 2022 Fantasy football drafts. This quarterback is listed as a shocking top-five option ahead of superstars like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. You can only see who it is, and the 2022 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.
So which 2022 Fantasy Football breakouts should you be targeting? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Visit SportsLine now to get 2022 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jaylen Waddle's huge season, and find out.
