Breece Hall and 2 Other Projected Top-30 Fantasy Football Draft Picks To Avoid

A few fantasy football players who are projected to be within the top 30 picks in 2026 fantasy drafts to avoid taking at their projected ADP.

Oct 26, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; New York Jets running back Breece Hall (20) runs with the ball during the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Missing on your first two picks in fantasy drafts can automatically spell your season to be unsuccessful. With that, here are four players projected to go off fantasy draft boards within the top 30 picks to avoid taking near their ADP.

Breece Hall

Dec 14, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; New York Jets running back Breece Hall (20) runs with the ball during the first quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ESPN 2026 Fantasy Draft Ranking: #23

This rank for the New York Jets RB1, Breece Hall, is way too high. In 2025, he rushed for 1,065 rushing yards, had 350 receiving yards, and had five total TDs. That led him to be RB19 in  PPR fantasy football formats, and ESPN currently has him as the #23 best player available and RB14 for the 2026 season.  

With the Jets nowhere near ready to compete and their QB situation being as unstable as ever, there is a high chance the run game gets taken out of their game schemes early in contests, and they are then forced to have a pass-heavy offense. That combined with the fact that Hall is coming into 2026 with poor momentum–had under 60 rushing yards in three of his last four games–gives enough reasoning to pass on Hall and go another way in fantasy drafts.

Jeremiyah Love

Apr 24, 2026; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals first-round draft pick Jeremiyah Love talks to media during a press conference at Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ESPN 2026 Fantasy Draft Ranking: #12

Jeremiyah Love has all the talent in the world to be the fantasy football RB1 one day, just not this season. The first RB  taken in the 2026 draft and his team, the Arizona Cardinals, are coming into the season with a below-average offensive line. Almost the same script as the first RB taken in the 2025 NFL Draft had, Las Vegas Raiders RB1 Ashton Jeanty. He severely played below his ADP in 2025.

ESPN had Jeanty as the #10 best player available in PPR formats coming into the 2025 NFL season and as RB5. Jeanty with the Raiders in 2025 rushed for 975 rushing yards, had 346 receiving yards, and five TDs, which resulted in him being RB11 in PPR formats.

The outlook for Love to be an elite RB in fantasy football looks even more shady with the Cardinals' schedule. Many online publications have Arizona ranked inside the top five for teams with the hardest schedules in 2026. Their opponents are the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers, the Seattle Seahawks, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Commanders, the Detroit Lions, the Denver Broncos, the Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Jets, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Dallas Cowboys, and the New York Giants.

With such a tough schedule, there will be games in which Love will have limited use in the run game. 

One last factor working against Love is the Cardinals' RB depth behind him. James Conner and Tyler Allgier will have some sort of workload every game, which lowers the fantasy ceiling for Love.

Trey McBride

Sep 7, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) at Caesars Superdome. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

ESPN 2026 Fantasy Draft Ranking: #16

Another Arizona Cardinal, TE Trey McBride, should play below his ADP in fantasy football. He is coming off a season where he finished as TE1 in fantasy football PPR formats. He had 126 receptions for 1,239 receiving yards and 11 TDs. He should not have as much success given the strength of Arizona’s schedule, and possibly due to the shaky QB situation they have.

If Arizona’s starting QB is not Jacoby Brissett but rather Carson Beck at the start of the 2026 season, McBride is likely to take a big negative hit in fantasy.