Every season, there’s a handful of players that just ruin your fantasy experience. Players that you wasted high picks to make your team a legit contender, but ended up making you the laughing stock of your league and with a few weeks left in the NFL, I wanted to point out the few fantasy busts this season and what to expect next few weeks from these guys.
Top-10 Fantasy Busts of 2013:
10.Tom Brady, Quarterback for New England Patriots – Sure, I have never loved Brady, but I have to respect his production over the years. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer and arguably the best quarterback over the past decade. Of course, not all his struggles this season have been on him, when you work with no name receivers, an injury-prone Danny Amendola and are missing your all-pro tight end, it’s easy to see why he has had an off year. Other than his stud performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brady has had a mediocre fantasy season. There’s hope, though. With Amendola and Rob Gronkowski back in the mix, Brady should see his numbers improve, especially against a weak remaining schedule.
9. New York Giants Running Backs – A rough season running the ball for Big Blue. Gone are the days of the three-headed monster the Giants featured from 2007-09, as the NFC East underdogs have had a tough time developing it’s run game. New York is ranked 28th in running offense and the stat line for the Giants’ best running back – 49 carries, 163 rushing yards and four touchdowns with a long of 16 (Brandon Jacobs). Wow.
8. Steven Jackson, Running back for Atlanta Falcons – This one is hard. Jackson was a workhorse in St. Louis, accumulating eight consecutive 1,000 yard seasons, but the 30-year-old has shown signs that he is in the twilight stage of his illustrious career. The veteran has struggled getting touches and gaining anything for the failing Falcons with Jackson has only scoring one receiving touchdowns in six games. On the upside, his carries are steadily improving and games coming up against Buffalo and Green Bay.
7. Eddie Royal, Wide Receiver for San Diego Chargers – The Virginia Tech alum opened the 2013 season catching five touchdown passes in two games. Owners freaked out and after that, Royal was picked up on waiver wires faster than Lord Dark Helmet could go at ‘Ludacris Speed’ in the cult classic “Spaceballs”. Royal is your prototypical fantasy one hit wonder, as after week two, the Chargers wide out has only scored 35 points in eight weeks. With the arrival of Keenan Allen, Royal has stepped down and probably won’t find fantasy glory again.
6. Justin Blackmon, Wide Receiver for Jacksonville Jaguars – Ah, Blackmon. The receiver had so much potential. After serving a four-game suspension, he scored 19 fantasy points in back-to-back weeks. Everything looked fine until Blackmon was suspended for the rest of the season. Maybe next year, fantasy owners.
5. Denver Broncos Defense – After the loss of Elvis Dumervil, the absence of Von Miller and the injury of Champ Bailey, the Denver defense has been a bust. Its rush defense has been top-5 in the league, but that’s also because teams have been trying to play catch up against Peyton Manning. Projected to be a top-tier defense, the Broncos passing defense has been miserable and given a lot of points. The defense has only scored two touchdowns and will look to improve in the last quarter of the season, but it has failed to maintain a consistent fantasy line for owners.
4. Dwanye Bowe, Wide Receiver for Kansas City Chiefs – It was just a few years ago Bowe had 15 touchdown catches, but ever since, the wideout’s numbers have dropped tremendously. With the arrival of Alex Smith, fantasy owners speculated that the previous number one overall draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers would boost Bowe’s production rate. It has all but diminished Bowe’s value. The Chief’s receiver did post 11 points for owners last week, but that has been a rare sighting for fantast owners this year.
3. Trent Richardson, Running Back for Indianapolis Colts – This one could be ranked much higher by season’s end. If you were like me and wasted a first round pick on Richardson, then you can totally understand my frustration. After breaking Jim Brown’s rookie season touchdown record, the former third-overall pick was projected to workhorse the Browns into contention. Neither happened. After being shipped to the Colts in the middle of the season, Richardson has failed to accumulate any sort of success other than scoring more than 10 points once this season for owners. Richardson will have only a few weeks to produce more for owners or it may be the end of T-Rich.
2. Ray Rice, Running Back for Baltimore Ravens – Rice has usually been a fantasy gem for owners, producing on the ground and in the air in previous years. In all honesty, the only reason why Rice is so high on the list is not because he’s actually a “bust” but because he just hasn’t reached expectations. He’s shown signs of life against the Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears, posting 20 points for each, but his season totals have been awful.
1. CJ Spiller, Running Back for Buffalo Bills – This one should be no surprise. Owners were told he was going to be “ran until he pukes” by offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, but instead Spiller was the one making owners sick. Last year, Spiller was dominant on the field, scoring eight total touchdowns and gaining 1,700 total yards. This year, he has been a fluke, gaining not even half of that.
@Lukeoroark
