The Top Fantasy Football Early-Round Busts To Avoid In 2026: Josh Jacobs Is A Bust But Not Our Biggest Bust

The top early-down busts you should be avoiding in fantasy football this season.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs (8) participates in a drill during the fifth day of training camp on Aug. 3, 2026, at Ray Nitschke Field in Ashwaubenon, Wis. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Nothing can derail a fantasy football season quicker than drafting busts in the early rounds of your fantasy drafts. We are here to help you avoid that crucial mistake. These are the top early-round busts you should be avoiding in your fantasy drafts.

Top Early-Round Busts To Avoid In 2026

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

In just about every bust list I have written this offseason, there has been one common player, and it's CMC. There is no way you should be drafting him this season at his ADP of the fifth-overall pick. We don't even like him as the 15th-overall pick.

McCaffrey has an extensive injury history and is now 30 years old. Last season, he saw his yards per carry drop from 5.4 in 2023 to 3.9 in 2025 after being limited to just 50 carries due to injury in 2024.

Along with that steep decline in efficiency came the largest workload of his career. CMC carried the ball 311 times and caught 102 of 129 targets. That is a brutal amount of work to try to bounce back from at 30 years old.

If you still needed more convincing, he is currently sidelined with tightness. In 2024, he was also suddenly sidelined with calf tightness in August, which the team wrote off as no big deal.

He subsequently missed the first 10 games of the season and was limited to just four games before getting injured again early in that fourth appearance. This is going to be a terrible situation for fantasy owners.

RB Josh Jacobs, Green Bay Packers

Jacobs has had a less-than-ideal offseason, which could result in a potential suspension. So we are already starting off on the wrong foot with him; however, the numbers from last season combined with his age and workload are even more concerning from a fantasy perspective.

He enters this season at 28 years old, with over 1,800 carries and over 2,100 touches on his body. Last season, he dealt with injuries that caused him to miss two games, which makes sense why his overall numbers fell off; however, his efficiency also saw a significant drop-off as well.

In 2025, he saw his yards per carry drop from 4.4 in 2024 to 4.0 and his yards per catch go from 9.5 to 7.8. Those are alarming numbers and a trend that doesn't usually tend to reverse itself for a 28-year-old running back.

There is no way that we are drafting Jacobs in the third round as the RB17 this season. That's in the upper half of RB2s. There are a ton of players being drafted after him that we'd much rather have.

WR Garrett Wilson, New York Jets

Wilson is one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL, but unfortunately, he plays for the Jets. That team is holding him back and derailing his production. On an average team, Wilson has high-end WR1 talent.

That's just not the case with the Jets. They went from Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor to a declining Geno Smith, who will turn 36 years old in early October. At best, that's a lateral move.

To make matters worse, the team added a bunch of target competition for Wilson. Since the start of last season, the Jets have acquired Adonai Mitchell, Kenyon Sadiq, Omar Cooper Jr, and Tim Patrick.

Last season, Smith managed to throw for 3,025 yards and 19 touchdowns. There isn't going to be enough passing production for any of the fantasy options to thrive in New York. The only player with any hope is Breece Hall, and we are shaky at best on him.

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