The 5 Biggest Fantasy Football Busts In 2026: Led By Justin Herbert And Jeremiyah Love

If you want to win your fantasy championships, you have to draft the right players. Along with selecting great players, you also have to avoid the right players as well. A bad bust can sink your whole lineup, especially if they come with a lofty draft price. These are five of the biggest busts for the 2026 fantasy football season.

QB Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

Every season, fantasy owners overvalue Herbert, and he ends up disappointing them. If you fall for it again this year, it's on you. Sure, he looks like he should be a great fantasy option. He's a big, strong-armed quarterback who looks like a prototype made in a lab. The issue is he's just not that good a quarterback.

He has a million-dollar body and a 10-cent brain, and has dating back to his days at Oregon. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is also clearly trying to build a big, physical, run-heavy ground attack.

Herbert hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards since 2022 and threw 26 touchdowns last year, which was his highest since 2021, which also came with his most interceptions since 2021 as well. At some point, we have to accept that he is who he is. Don't draft him anywhere close to his current price as the QB6.

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

McCaffrey was the top player in fantasy football last season, which is why he once again enters another fantasy season as one of the most polarizing players in fantasy football. All the red flags are there for him to be a bust this season.

Health has been an issue for McCaffrey throughout his career, and he will enter this season at 30 years old, coming off the largest workload of his career with 311 carries and 102 receptions. His efficiency also dipped last season. He rushed for just 3.9 yards per carry, down from 5.4 in 2023. This is something we have to worry about with McCaffrey most seasons, and sometimes drafting him burns you, and sometimes fading leads to massive regrets, but now he's hitting an age when it becomes even harder to bounce back.

RB Jeremiyah Love, Arizona Cardinals

This wouldn't be the first time we've seen an elite rookie running back prospect get drafted to a terrible team and not live up to the hype in recent years. Both Bijan Robinson and Ashton Jeanty failed to live up to their unreasonable expectations in their rookie seasons.

Love could be the next stud rookie back to fall victim to his own expectations. There are plenty of red flags in that Arizona backfield. They have a shaky, at best, offensive line and are projected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL. If they are losing as often as expected, they will be throwing the ball far more than they run it.

As great as Love could end up being, they also have Tyler Allgeier, James Conner, and Trey Benson in that backfield. Those guys are talented and aren't just going to disappear without seeing any touches. A low-volume rushing attack with a crowded backfield is a recipe for disaster for fantasy owners.

RB Kyren Williams, Los Angeles Rams

If you believe early offseason rumors, Williams could be looking at a near 50/50 split in carries in the Rams backfield this season. We already saw Blake Corum carve out a much more significant role in the rushing attack last season, and he's expected to make another big jump this season to turn that backfield into a full-blown committee.

In 2025, with 145 carries, Corum rushed for 746 yards and six touchdowns on 5.1 yards per carry, while Williams averaged 4.8 yards per carry, totaling 1,252 yards and 10 touchdowns on 259 carries. While we still anticipate that Williams will be the primary pass-catching back, he will lose a lot of value both on the goal line and in terms of volume.

WR Tee Higgins, Cincinnati Bengals

There is no doubt that Higgins is a great player and can win you a week on any given week. Nevertheless, he comes with a top-15 wide receiver price, and there are too many red flags that come with him. The most obvious red flag is that he's not even the WR1 on the Bengals because he plays across from Ja'Marr Chase.

However, the biggest issue could be the injury concerns. Not only is Higgins injured far too often, failing to complete a full season for five consecutive years, but his quarterback, Joe Burrow, is also hurt all the time. It's been three years since Higgins reached 1,000 yards, and he's never caught 75 passes. His price tag is too high and too risky for us.

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