7 Second-Half Fantasy Football Breakouts - Risers and Trade Targets

Ryan's fantasy football breakouts, risers, trade targets to acquire for the second half of 2025. These players are primed for breakouts over the next few weeks.

Fantasy football is also about calling your shot. Starting a player you have a gut feeling about, or trading for one that has underperformed but potentially has brighter days ahead. It can be tough to make those decisions, but sometimes it's the difference between winning a fantasy championship and missing the playoffs. The NFL season is 18 weeks, but the fantasy regular season (for most) only runs through week 14, which means it is already more than halfway through!

Now is the time to call your shot. Even if you are sitting at below 10% playoff odds at 2-6 or even 1-7, do not give up! There are thousands of instances every year where teams go from worst to first. All it takes is a few key strategic moves plus some luck, and you're there.

Here we identify a few players who have some breakout potential in the second half of the season. These are guys who may have underperformed or been irrelevant to some degree over the course of the season thus far, but a mix of different factors points towards a strong finish.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Chase Brown, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

Sometimes, great organizations can weather the storm of losing a perennial MVP candidate QB, but early on, the Bengals were not proving they were one of these organizations. When Jake Browning took the reins of the offense after Joe Burrow was ruled out for three months due to turf toe, he basically rendered every Bengals skill position player unstartable in fantasy football for a solid three-week stretch that saw Cincinnati go 0-3. Especially Chase Brown.

The popular second to third round pick in drafts this offseason was the RB47, 38, and 28 while putting up 2.6 YPC with Browning at the helm. The Bengals' already ineffective offensive line was under siege when defenses quickly realized that the opposing QB couldn't even produce with two of the best wideouts in the game at his disposal.

The franchise then acquired Joe Flacco from their divisional rival in Cleveland. The 40-year-old gunslinger has been a human EpiPen for this offense, injecting fantasy life into all of their studs, including Brown. He's been the RB 20, 17, and five with Flacco under center, as the Bengals' offensive output has ballooned to 30 points per game, up from 12.3 with Browning.

Not only has Flacco completely turned around the outlook of this offense, but the schedule against fantasy running backs could not be more favorable for Brown, ranking as the #1 easiest rest of season. People may still be down on Brown based on his horrific output in those Browning weeks, plus tough sledding in Week 5 against the Packers' NFL-leading rush defense, and if that is the case, I would not hesitate to acquire him. If Flacco stays healthy, I like Brown to finish as a top-12 back for the rest of the season.

Chase Brown in his last two games:

28 touches
205 total yards
2 TD
7.87 yards per carry
37.5 fantasy points (PPR) pic.twitter.com/OsKsiv0gtz

— SleeperBengals (@SleeperBengals) October 28, 2025

Rico Dowdle, RB, Carolina Panthers

This will be me in 50 years when my great-grandson asks about the Rico Dowdle two-week stretch in 2025.

With starter Chuba Hubbard out with a calf injury in Weeks 5 and 6, Dowdle absolutely dominated on an almost unprecedented scale. Was he facing maybe the two worst rush defenses in the league in Miami and Dallas? Maybe so, but no one has put up those numbers even against the laughingstock of NFL defenses. The former Cowboy put up back-to-back RB1 weekly finishes, rushing for 389 yards and a score, adding 84 yards through the air and another score in only two games.

After these monstrous performances, the big question then loomed. How would the backfield split work out when Hubbard returned? Dowdle clearly earned more opportunity with his play, but Hubbard had also played well before the injury, even if it wasn't otherworldly like his backfield mate. Two weeks in, the answer wasn't necessarily what Dowdle managers had hoped for, as he played less than 50% of snaps in both contests and finished outside the top-20 running backs.

There were some silver linings to be had, though. Dowdle still managed to get 17 carries in the Week 7 game against the Jets while only playing 33 snaps (46%), and was much more efficient with his touches - 4.7 per carry vs. Hubbard's 2.2. A similar situation played out efficiency-wise last week, as Dowdle took eight totes for 54 yards (6.8 YPC) with Hubbard again producing a paltry 2.8.

This noticeable gap in rushing success has led to head coach Dave Canales hinting at a backfield takeover.

Panthers HC Dave Canales on the Panthers RBs:

"We wanted to give [Chuba Hubbard] an opportunity following his calf injury. But we can’t ignore the fact that Rico [Dowdle] has been exceptional."

Chuba Hubbard has averaged 3.57 YPC while Rico Dowdle has averaged 5.71 YPC. pic.twitter.com/TAearUA8GA

— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) October 27, 2025

If you were able to scoop up Dowdle off waivers before the breakout, great, but if not, now is the time you can potentially buy low after only receiving eight carries last week and also facing an extremely tough rushing defense in the Green Bay Packers this Sunday. Rico should be a firm RB2 the rest of the season if Canales stays true to this word, but is valued as a mid-level flex at the moment.

Jaylen Warren, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers

One of the first fantasy football articles I wrote a few years ago was a sleeper piece on Warren. I fell in love with his explosiveness, ability to shed tacklers, and his fearlessness in blitz pickup in the limited opportunities he received.  I could not stand to see Najee Harris plod forward for two to three yards per carry 20 times a game any longer.

The undrafted free agent is finally getting the full gamut of opportunity he so rightfully deserves, and has been quite effective thus far when he has been able to stay on the field. Warren has missed almost two full games with a knee injury and has faced some tough rush defenses.

Even with these roadblocks, he's provided a nice floor for fantasy managers in 2025, scoring at least 8.5 half-PPR points in 5/6 games. Warren sits at RB24 in half-PPR (with a bye week included), but is slightly better in points per game at 19th, meaning he has produced as a sound flex option to start the season.

Warren now appears fully healthy, and the schedule opens up quite a bit down the stretch. Weeks 10-15 present five straight smash matchups in Cincinnati (32nd), Chicago (27th), Buffalo (28th), Baltimore (29th), and Miami (24th). He has also stayed a trusted option in the passing game for veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Warren has a command of about a 12% target share, which ranks 11th league-wide at his position, and has been uber-efficient with his receptions at 10.6 yards per catch (#6 among running backs). He has also posted 2.32 yards per route run, which puts him in the elite tier of RBs, only behind Christian McCaffrey and Bijan Robinson.

With his opportunity share locked in (> 60% of Steelers RB opportunities), and a lineup of swizz cheese rush defenses coming up, I like Warren to challenge for a top-10 running back spot over the second half of the year. He's a true three-down back that is going to light it up heading into the fantasy playoffs.

A guy popping in @MikeClayNFL's rest of season projections ➡️ Jaylen Warren

- no TD's since Week 1
- 4.5 yards per carry, 8.9 per target
- averaging 94 yards per game 😯
- 6th easiest RB schedule remaining pic.twitter.com/2ovnSo8kV8

— Fantasy Focus Live (@fantasyfocus) October 29, 2025

Tyjae Spears, RB, Tennessee Titans

Calling the Titans' season a dumpster fire thus far would be putting it much too lightly. This team has looked utterly incompetent in all facets of the game, making it nearly impossible for their rookie quarterback, Cam Ward, to succeed. Many were touting them to be a fun surprise team this year, but the Colts seemed to have completely sucked all that magic out of the organization, Space Jam style.

Enough about how bad the Titans are, or have been. They don't have playoff hopes, but what they do have is an explosive young back in Spears, who has been getting worked into the offense more and more after coming back from an IR stint to start the year. The Tulane product has seen > 50% snap share in 2/3 weeks, and posted 82 scrimmage yards with a score this past week against Indy. Week 8 also marked the first time that Spears bested Pollard in the percentage of running back opportunities, taking over 50% of the slice for the first time this season.

Pollard is still a fine player and will not be conceding the job fully, but it's clear on tape and in his efficiency metrics that Spears has more juice and should be given an increasingly greater share of the opportunities in this offense that is in dire need of a spark. It's also worth noting that Pollard has been in numerous trade rumors for the past few days. If the Titans do decide to deal him, Spears' workload would drastically increase, putting him in the RB2 tier moving forward, a far cry from where he was a mere two weeks ago.

I've been extremely impressed by #Titans RB Tyjae Spears since his return. Medicals are obviously still a concern and it's a limited sample size, but I'd be comfortable trading Pollard and handing Spears the keys https://t.co/uMbrQQ4oKz pic.twitter.com/zfxCmDuj2C

— Drew Beatty (@IronCityFilm) October 28, 2025

Honorable  Mentions

Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Kittle is back, but the WR room is still in dire need of a boost. Kendrick Bourne, Demarcus Robinson, and Jauan Jennings are not getting it done. Pearsall was averaging almost 100 yards per game before he exited the week 4 matchup vs. Jacksonville early. He's currently trending to miss another week, but if Pearsall can get back out there, he will produce.

Darius Slayton, WR, New York Giants

If you thought the WR corps for the Niners was gimpy, enter the New York Giants, who have been taking the field every week with Wan'Dale Robinson as their de facto #1 pass-catcher. It's a small miracle that Jaxson Dart has had this level of success with the weapons they have.

Slayton returned this past week and only managed 26 yards on two receptions, but did have a long touchdown called back on a horrible offensive pass interference call. If that stood, the discussion around Slayton would be completely different. He's likely not going to be a super consistent producer week-to-week, but with how good Dart has looked, Slayton could absolutely morph into a weekly flex option with upside. The Giants also have a top-10 easiest schedule for wideouts the rest of the way.

Jameson Williams, WR, Detroit Lions

The Jamo stock could not be lower at the moment. Williams has quietly been one of the bigger busts in fantasy this season, sitting at the WR48 with four finishes outside the top 55 WRs for the week.

He's coming off a two-target, zero-reception game, which has caused the Lions to look inward at their passing attack. Offensive coordinator John Morton has said on record that he "failed" Jameson Williams in terms of getting the ball in the receivers' hands, according to Eric Woodyard at ESPN, and that he "looked at everything," adding, "I'm going to do a better job with that."

There's no guarantee here, but the Lions are a smart and trustworthy franchise that just paid a ton of money to Williams this offseason. He simply has to get the ball more. I'd bet on the talent and coaching staff here.

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