14 Second-Year Running Backs & Wide Receivers to Target in Fantasy Football

Jul 30, 2024

Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

I’m baffled by the roots of the term Sophomore Slump since most college freshmen party too hard their first year and make an attempt to get it together by the time their second year comes around, but maybe way back when it was the opposite.

In the sports world and for our fantasy football purposes, this term refers to players who come into the league hot and maybe fizzle out a bit and regress in Year 2. However, this article is not about those guys and will focus on the second-year running backs and receivers we should be targeting in our 2024 drafts. Thanks to a talented 2023 draft class, there are plenty to choose from.

Running Backs

The freshman RB class held their own in 2023, as three landed among the top 20 in half-PPR points per game. Those three (Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and De’Von Achane) won’t appear in this article as they’ve clearly broken out, and drafters don’t need convincing to select them in the first few rounds of 2024.

Tyjae Spears, Titans

While it may not be the breakout we were anticipating before the Titans signed Tony Pollard, Tyjae Spears is still a solid choice at current ADP. With Derrick Henry in the mix last season, Spears ranked fifth in rushing yards over expected (3.66) and 14th in yards before contact per carry among RBs with at least 50 rushing attempts. He proved his third-down prowess as well, ranking 11th in both target share and yards after the catch in his rookie campaign.

King Henry is now in Baltimore, and the Titans are projecting to use a committee approach at RB with Spears and Pollard. If Will Levis and Tennessee take a step forward and can maintain an above-average neutral run rate, and Spears remains efficient, the second-year RB can outproduce his current RB32, ninth-round pricetag.

Chase Brown, Bengals

His first year as a pro started rough, as Chase Brown missed some time with a hamstring injury and didn't see much action when dressed. Things turned around from Week 13 on, as he averaged 8.8 touches and 53.7 combined yards per game. Joe Mixon has been replaced by Zack Moss, who was an admirable fill-in for Jonathan Taylor last season in Indy, but has never handled more than 210 touches in a season, and hasn’t been much of a receiving threat in the past.

It is still early, but Brown has been taking the majority of the first-team reps at camp, so that is something to monitor. The sophomore’s ADP is currently in fantasy RB4 territory—RB38 as a 10th-rounder—and if he gets more groundwork in this efficient offense, there’s a path to an RB3 or even RB2 finish.