Fantasy Football: Potential RB busts that won't outperform their ADP
The quickest way to sink your fantasy football season from the get-go is to draft players who don't play up to expectations.
Players within the first five or so rounds need to be difference makers for your teams throughout the whole season. If they don't perform, you could get stuck in a loop of starting them every week in hopes of a breakout occurring that never actually comes.
Every year there will be players to avoid in fantasy football drafts due to various factors. Here are some of the players you may want to think twice about.
J.K. Dobbins: 3.06 ADP
Dobbins is supremely talented. No one doubts that. The biggest question surrounding Dobbins has always been about his health. Dobbins tore his ACL during the 2021 preseason and missed the entire season.
His injury was complicated, forcing him to miss the first two games of 2022 before he underwent another knee procedure that kept him out until Week 13. Dobbins was great in his final four regular season games and the sole Baltimore Ravens playoff game, and drafters have taken note of that.
But Dobbins is not even practicing at the moment as the Ravens have put him on the PUP list. No one knows whether he is nursing an injury or posturing for a new contract. Meanwhile, the Ravens signed veteran Melvin Gordon and have Gus Edwards and Justice Hill to get touches. Given Dobbins' injury history and uncertain current situation, he's a clear avoid at this moment in time.
Cam Akers: 4.03 ADP
Akers, like Dobbins, had a major injury affect his young career. A torn achilles in 2020 saw Akers miss almost all of the 2021 season before he returned to help the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl. "Help" might not be the right word, as he was woefully inefficient in the playoffs (2.57 yards per carry on 67 attempts).
That concerning postseason performance lingered into 2022, as he struggled mightily for the first 10 weeks of the season, two of which he was absent for due to disagreements with the coaching staff. Akers returned to the team motivated and went on a very solid stretch from Week 11 through the end of the season, where he gained 610 yards while averaging 4.84 yards per carry and scoring six touchdowns.
Drafters are clinging on to that final stretch in terms of his 2023 outlook, but it's hard to forget about Akers' brutal inefficiency before those final eight weeks. The Rams' season was already over and the team didn't have much else to play for other than giving Akers a chance at redemption and to prove himself. He certainly was up to the task, but his price tag is getting too lofty when you consider we have seen his very low floor.
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