Top Fantasy Football Busts To Avoid At Each Position: You Should Be Fading Potential Duds Like Garrett Wilson

Everyone is looking to identify and fade the busts in their fantasy football draft, but that's not always a simple task. These players are busts because many fantasy owners have raised their value and expectations far above where they should be selected in fantasy drafts. We are going to give you the biggest bust at each position this season so you can avoid them.

QB Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

I have personally seen Justin Herbert go as high as the QB4 this draft season, and it's not rare to see him go as the QB5 or QB6. It feels like we go through this every season with this guy, and he always lets fantasy owners down. Not only over the course of the season but in the biggest moments as well.

He hasn't thrown for 4,000 yards since 2022, maxing out at 3,870 yards in 2024, and he hasn't topped 26 touchdowns since 2021. The big selling point is that Mike McDaniel is his offensive coordinator now, and if Tua Tagovailoa could be successful in his system, Herbert has to be great. That is flawed logic if we've ever heard it.

The Chargers are clearly built to run the ball and play defense with both a head coach and coordinator who love to run the ball. Herbert isn't going to suddenly see a huge spike in volume. This team continues to invest in running backs, offensive line, and defense. It's clear what Jim Harbaugh wants to do.

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

McCaffrey being drafted as the RB3 overall comes with far too much risk for us. However, unlike with Herbert, we understand the upside argument. We are just on the other side of it.

Last season, CMC saw the largest workload of his career, carrying the ball 311 times and catching 102 of 129 targets. That workload also came with a steep decline in efficiency from 2023, when he averaged 5.4 yards per carry. In 2025, he averaged just 3.9 yards per carry, which was his lowest average since his rookie year back in 2017.

We just can't invest that kind of draft capital into an oft-injured 30-year-old back coming off that kind of workload with his metrics declining across the board. To make matters worse, the 49ers offense is already decimated by injuries and could be a bit of a mess this year with all their injured and aging players.

WR Garrett Wilson, New York Jets

This is us just being out on the Jets' passing attack. Wilson has been a volume machine, which has made him a viable yet still inconsistent fantasy option in the consistently bad Jets' offense. However, all of a sudden they have a ton of targets to throw to, but still lack a competent quarterback.

We don't view Geno Smith as a significant upgrade and don't expect him to throw for much more than 3,000 yards this season. His passing yards now have to be divided between Wilson, Breece Hall, Omar Cooper Jr, Adonai Mitchell, Kenyon Sadiq, and Mason Taylor. There just aren't enough yards to go around to justify us taking Wilson at his ADP, which is as the WR17.

TE Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions

We do not feel comfortable drafting LaPorta as the TE8 this season. His fantasy value has declined in each of his three NFL seasons, and now he's trying to return from season-ending back surgery. To make matters worse, he is now also dealing with a hip injury.

There are just too many red flags. The Lions' offense did not look the same last year without Ben Johnson running it, and we don't know that it will get back to that level.

Aside from our immediate concerns with LaPorta, we just wouldn't be drafting the TE8 regardless. If you miss out on those top six tight ends, you might as well wait a while and find value later because there isn't much of a drop-off if any.

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