2020 POTENTIAL BREAKOUT STARS: AFC NORTH PART 1

BY ADAM GREENE

We’re continuing our look at players potentially headed for a breakout season, so adjust your fantasy roster (both daily and yearly) accordingly.

Today, we settle our eyes on the AFC North.

BALTIMORE RAVENS

Running Back J.K. Dobbins

(Rookie)

Last season the Ravens boasted the NFL’s top rushing attack and it wasn’t even close. Baltimore, as a team, rushed for 3,296 total yards and averaged 206 yards per game. The next best rushing team, the San Francisco 49ers, was nearly a thousand yards behind them in total rushing yards and 62 yards per game in their rearview. The Ravens took NFL rushing offenses to a whole new level.

Along the way they put two people in the 1,000 yard club. One, of course, was NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, who also happens to play quarterback and was recently named the NFL Network Player’s selection as the league’s No. 1 player. The other was another former Heisman Trophy winner in running back Mark Ingram, who gained 1,018 yards and scored 10 touchdowns, averaging 5.0 yards per carry.

So why do I think Dobbins will have a break out impact on a team with those two guys toting the ball. Because there was a third guy, Gus Edwards, and he racked up 711 yards and scored two touchdowns of his own. Dobbins is better than Edwards. My guess is he’s better than Ingram too, an RB entering his 10^th season. That’s long in the tooth for a runner in the NFL and, make no mistake, that’s exactly why the Ravens spent a second round pick on the guy I thought was the second best running back in the draft.

Dobbins will take pretty much all of Edwards’ carries a month into the season and eat into Ingram’s too before the year’s out. This is a guy that, in three years at Ohio State, rushed for 4,459 yards, averaging 6.2 yards per carry and scored 43 total touchdowns.

CINCINNATI BENGALS

Quarterback Joe Burrow

(Rookie)

Of all the potential break out stars, picking the quarterback taken No. 1 overall has to be a slam dunk. Burrow might be the best QB prospect to come along since Andrew Luck and has more hardware to prove it, taking the Heisman Trophy and National Championship in the same season.

That senior campaign, where he won pretty much everything, was historic across the board. Burrow completed 76.3 percent of his passes for 5,671 yards and 60 (yes, 60!) touchdowns. All with just six interceptions. He rushed for 368 yards and five more scores if anyone cares and, trust me, they don’t.

In spite of the Bengals going 2-14 last season, this is a squad with some real talent. They have a decent offensive line and a tremendous set of skill players, led by wide receiver A.J. Green (who has struggled to stay healthy) and running back Joe Mixon, who is a dual threat as a runner and receiver.

Cincy probably won’t win more than five or six games this season, but Burrow will put on a show each week, enjoying actual NFL level offensive coaching under head coach Zac Taylor.  There will be no QB battle or controversy, as the team saw fit to cut Andy Dalton loose in the offseason. Burrow will get all the reps in training camp and all the prep as he drags this team back to relevance.

To be continued in Part 2.

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