Fantasy Football Fix: 2016’s top bust candidates
Published 12:26 pm Friday, July 15, 2016
Want to get a jump on your fantasy football team? Here’s the third part of a series to help you get ready for your fantasy football draft.
In the third edition of Fantasy Football Fix, I’ll be tossing up some stop signs. Well, maybe not stop signs, let’s go with yield signs instead, because I’m not declaring that these players are bad and you should completely avoid them. I’m just advising that you draft them responsibly.
Based on their ADP (average draft position) at this point, here are five players to avoid on draft night.
Blake Bortles
Jacksonville QB
The second-year quarterback had a great rookie season and his future looks bright, but his cost has gone too high. His ADP is currently 58th overall, placing him ahead of proven fantasy quarterbacks Drew Breese and Tom Brady. If you draft this sophomore (who plays in Jacksonville, by the way) in the fourth round, that’s on you.
Although he threw for 4,428 yards and 35 touchdowns in his first season, Bortles also went for a league-high 18 interceptions in 2015. To me, that on its own is a big enough question mark to keep him off my draft board until Round 7.
Devonta Freeman
Atlanta RB
Freeman matched the league high with 11 rushing scores last year and added three more as a receiver for the Falcons. What are the chances he matches those 14 touchdowns this time around? Not great. At least not great enough to draft him in front of Green Bay wideout Jordy Nelson, who currently sits behind Freeman in the mid-summer ADP results.
The breakout player of 2015 did the bulk of his damage in the middle of the season, churning up 667 yards and 9 scores over a six-game stretch that ended on Nov. 1. After that, Freeman never eclipsed 81 yards rushing in any of his remaining seven games that resulted in only two rushing touchdowns. He only broke 50 rushing yards in three of those contests.
Let someone else take the risk.
C.J. Anderson
Denver RB
Anderson is going early in the fourth round and I’m not sure why. I mean, he broke 100 yards rushing two times last season and has 13 career touchdowns to his name. That doesn’t sound like an early-fourth-round selection I’ll be making, ever.
Tennessee running back DeMarco Murray, a man that’s two years removed from a top-ranked fantasy season in 2014, is falling in the fifth round. Anderson, unlike Freeman who I roughed up before, gives fantasy owners no reason for excitement entering his fourth season as a pro.
Listen to the facts and save Anderson for the seventh round, or something like that.
Allen Robinson
Jacksonville WR
Am I being a Jaguars hater this week? Maybe a little bit.
A dynamic passing game isn’t often seen in Jacksonville and this season won’t be any different. The last time Jacksonville finished in the top 12 in passing yards per game was 2007. Robinson is just limited by an organization that doesn’t air it out with the likes of New England or Green Bay.
He’s a good player that found the end zone 14 times last fall, but can he really keep that pace up in 2016? I’m certainly not sure enough to draft him in the opening round, which is where he’s going right now. My advice: Wait it out and buy him on the clearance rack. If he’s already gone, who cares?
Frank Gore
Indianapolis RB
As a Gore owner for multiple years, it pains me to do this.
But at the age of 33, his NFL carries have to be numbered. His next attempt will be his 2,703rd. Lacking that big-play burst, Gore’s season will rely heavily on how many touchdowns he can find in this his 12th season out of Miami.
After rushing for 967 yards and six scores last year, Gore’s ADP is presently landing him in Round 6, which is at least two rounds too rich for my blood.
Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.