Bucky Brooks’ 2026 Breakout Picks: Cam Ward, Ashton Jeanty Highlight List of 11 Offensive Players to Watch
Training camps open across the league later this month, and NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks has released his annual list of offensive players he expects to take a leap in 2026. The former NFL scout’s breakout candidates span every offensive position group, from a sophomore quarterback getting a new play-caller to a pair of massive offensive tackles who could push into Pro Bowl conversations.
Brooks’ list, published in his Scout’s Notebook column on NFL.com, leans heavily on players entering their second or third NFL seasons — a group evaluators watch closely because sustaining momentum from a strong finish is difficult, but the players who do it tend to climb league rankings fast. Here’s a breakdown of his picks and the case for each one.
Cam Ward Gets a Quarterback Whisperer in Brian Daboll
Tennessee’s second-year quarterback tops Brooks’ list, and the timing lines up. The Titans hired Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator in January after new head coach Robert Saleh brought him in, and Daboll has a track record of developing young passers — he ran Buffalo’s offense during Josh Allen’s rise and later coached Jaxson Dart in New York.
Daboll has said working with Ward was a major reason he took the Tennessee job in the first place. Ward finished his rookie year with 3,169 passing yards and 15 touchdowns against seven interceptions as the Titans went 3-14, but he closed strong, throwing 10 of those touchdowns over his final eight games before a shoulder injury ended his season.
The Titans also added weapons this offseason, taking receiver Carnell Tate at No. 4 overall and signing Wan’Dale Robinson in free agency. Brooks argues that combination — a proven quarterback developer plus fresh playmakers — puts Ward in position for a big second-year jump. Daboll has publicly praised how quickly Ward absorbs new concepts, telling reporters this spring that Ward “picks it up very quickly” when the staff installs new material.
Ashton Jeanty Could Be in Line for a Workload Overhaul
Jeanty’s rookie season looked underwhelming on the surface — 975 rushing yards on 266 carries (3.7 yards per attempt) behind a Raiders offensive line that struggled to open running lanes. But Brooks points to the arrival of new head coach Klint Kubiak and a zone-based scheme as the reason to expect a jump in year two.
The underlying numbers back up the idea that Jeanty was miscast by circumstance rather than talent. According to Next Gen Stats, he ranked among the league’s most productive backs after contact, and Raiders general manager John Spytek pushed back publicly on any notion that Jeanty underperformed, noting the sixth overall pick still broke the franchise’s rookie scrimmage-yards record with 1,321 total yards and 10 touchdowns — the most by any Raiders rookie since Marcus Allen in 1982.
Kubiak’s history of deploying backs in the passing game, similar to how Christian McCaffrey has been used in San Francisco, is the scheme fit Brooks is banking on.
Receivers on the Rise: Egbuka, Burden and TeSlaa
Three second-year receivers make Brooks’ list for different reasons. In Tampa Bay, Emeka Egbuka steps into a bigger role after Mike Evans’ offseason departure opened up snaps in new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s system. Egbuka posted 938 receiving yards and six touchdowns as a rookie; Brooks sees him pushing into top-10 receiver territory in an expanded role.
In Chicago, Luther Burden III inherits more offensive responsibility after the Bears traded DJ Moore to Buffalo. Head coach Ben Johnson has a reputation for scheming receivers open through motion and formation shifts, and Brooks expects Burden to become a focal point of the offense alongside quarterback Caleb Williams.
Detroit’s Isaac TeSlaa is a different kind of breakout case — not a leap in target share, but a leap in trust. The third-round pick from 2025 caught just 16 passes as a rookie but turned six of them into touchdowns, showing the kind of red-zone chemistry with Jared Goff that Brooks believes will translate into more opportunities as defenses key on Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams.
Trench Players: Two Massive Tackles and an Interior Line Group on the Rise
Brooks’ list isn’t limited to skill players. He singled out Dolphins left tackle Patrick Paul and Bengals right tackle Amarius Mims as offensive linemen ready for Pro Bowl-level seasons after steady development in their first two years. Both are outsized even by NFL tackle standards — Paul checks in at 6-foot-7, 326 pounds, and Mims at 6-foot-8, 350 pounds.
On the interior, Brooks highlighted 49ers guard Dominick Puni, who has started 36 consecutive games including playoffs, along with Packers guard Anthony Belton and Patriots center Jared Wilson. Wilson is moving back to center — his natural position at Georgia — after New England traded center Garrett Bradbury, following a season in which Wilson helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl playing left guard.
Why This Group Stands Out
What connects most of these names is scheme change. A new coordinator, a new head coach, or a shift in personnel usage shows up again and again as the reason Brooks expects a jump — Daboll in Tennessee, Kubiak in Las Vegas, Zac Robinson in Tampa Bay, Ben Johnson in Chicago. That’s a deliberate pattern in how evaluators like Brooks build these lists: talent alone doesn’t produce a breakout season, but talent paired with a coaching staff that knows how to use it often does.
Brooks noted this offensive list is the first half of a two-part series — he plans to release his defensive breakout candidates for 2026 in next week’s Scout’s Notebook column.