Fantasy Football: Early Busts

 

 
Fantasy Football season is here and we cannot have top 5 sleepers list without a top 5 busts list! Let’s take a look on who you should pass on for your draft: 

Busts

Adrian Peterson

How can you trust a 30 year old running back who has been out of football a year, is notoriously known for being a power back and has been pretty vocal on his views of NFL front offices (see Peterson’s Twitter rant)? Well right now the consensus opinions on the topic is that “He’s AP, he’s fine”. While that isn’t a terrible argument, when you look back at the historically great player that is Adrian Peterson, I don’t think it makes sense for this season. I don’t think Peterson should be a top-5 pick in fantasy drafts this year and should be seen as a “high risk” player and potential bust.

Arian Foster
This will be an unpopular opinion. Arian Foster is too injury prone to be left off of this busts list. Since 2013, Foster has missed 11 games due to injury and by the start of the 2015 NFL season, he will be 29 years old. You can argue with all of his great stats he’s put up but in the end a 29 year old who’s extremely injury prone, should not be taken with a top 6 pick. I think fosters draft position last year of mid-second round is much more fitting. Don’t be surprised if you pick Foster 6th overall and you only get only 10 games of a clearly aging running back. He’s got the potential to bust.

Jeremy Maclin

Jeremy Maclin was ranked 9th in PRK at the end of last season. But if you pick Maclin as a top 10 wide receiver this year, prepare to be disappointed. Maclin’s decline in fantasy value comes mainly from his offseason move to Kansas City. A pretty well known fact around the fantasy football world is that a Kansas City wide receiver did not catch a touchdown in 2014. That’s cause for worry in Maclin’s case. 

Putting the move aside, Maclin was already one of the most inconsistent receivers in the league last year. In exactly half of his games last year, he failed to put up double digit fantasy points in standard non-ppr leagues. Sorry to say, but Maclin will be a 2015 bust and is not worth a starting spot on your roster.

Julius Thomas

Going from Peyton Manning to Blake Bortles is an astronomical change. Bortles had just about as poor of a rookie season as a quarterback can have. On top of the change in quarterbacks, Thomas is a very injury prone player that relies on touchdowns to rack up fantasy points. It is just not possible for him to get as many targets this year as he did last year with Manning. Expect Thomas to be a huge bust if taken as a top tight end.

Drew Brees

Don’t get me wrong, Drew Brees is a great quarterback. I just don’t think he is worthy of a top 5 fantasy quarterback ranking this year. Jimmy Graham is gone, and Brees now has to rely heavily on very young wide receivers. His age does not bother me much, but regardless, he isn’t the same player he was a few years ago. If you can get Brees late in the draft, maybe as a 8th or 9th QB taken go for it. However, if you reach for Brees, you will be disappointed.