Watch: Cam Ward on video
NFL.com analyst Bucky Brooks published his 2026 All-Breakout Team this week, an 11-player offensive list of young players he expects to take a leap this fall, and two of the names play for the Tennessee Titans: quarterback Cam Ward and tight end Gunnar Helm.
Brooks’ case for Ward rests on the structure around him changing, not just the quarterback maturing. Tennessee handed the offense to new coordinator Brian Daboll this offseason and added pass catchers Carnell Tate and Wan’Dale Robinson, giving last year’s No. 1 overall pick a legitimate short-and-intermediate target tree for the first time. Helm, who caught 44 passes as a rookie despite the offense’s broader struggles, projects as one of the main beneficiaries — Brooks expects him to grow into a featured role in Daboll’s system, which has historically funneled targets to tight ends and slot receivers.
A national analyst’s July list decides nothing, and this one should be read for what it is: a projection. But it is also the second time in a week national coverage has singled out Helm — ESPN’s Ben Solak named him a 2026 breakout candidate as well — and that kind of consensus usually reflects what evaluators saw on film, not offseason narrative momentum. For a rebuild, the sequence matters: first the quarterback arrives, then the infrastructure gets built around him, then outside observers start projecting the leap. Tennessee is now on step three. Whether the leap actually happens gets decided at camp in late July and in September, but the direction of the arrow is the same one the front office has been pointing to since the Ward pick.
On the fantasy side, both players are climbing draft boards for a reason. Ward is a late-round QB2 whose rushing floor and improved weapons give him top-12 upside in superflex formats, and Helm is the kind of post-hype second-year tight end who wins leagues when the breakout hits — he can be had after the position’s top tier is gone. Tate and Robinson complicate the target math for each other, but the tight end lane in a Daboll offense is historically the safest bet of the three.
