Fantasy Football Rankings: 5 Players To Avoid In 2016 Fantasy Football Drafts

There are only nine days left until opening night of the 2016 NFL Season when the Carolina Panthers will travel to Colorado to take on the Denver Broncos in a Super Bowl 51 rematch. Over those nine days, fantasy football players will be lost in the fantasy football draft world which features rankings, busts, sleepers and potential breakout stars.

In this article, I’m going to present to you five players that are currently going inside the top 30 of fantasy football drafts that you should stay away from if you’re drafting over the next nine days. If your draft has already happened and one or more of these players are already on your team, then I’m sorry, it’s too late, your season is over. I kid, I kid.

Anyways, here are five players you must avoid in your 2016 fantasy football drafts.

1. RB Le’Veon Bell, Pittsburgh Steelers

I’m not saying that Bell isn’t a great talent and doesn’t have the potential to have a decent season, but I wouldn’t take him at No. 12 where he’s currently be drafted. In most leagues, playoffs begin in Week 15 and Bell is going to miss four of the first 14 games of the season with a three-game suspension and the Steelers’ bye in Week 8. Unless he falls to the third round, I wouldn’t touch Le’Veon Bell, no matter how talented he is.

2. WR Dez Bryant, Dallas Cowboys

Currently, it would take a first-round pick in 12-team fantasy football leagues to get Bryant on your team. That’s a hefty price to pay for a guy that’s coming off of a broken foot and who will be playing with a rookie quarterback for likely half the season. It’s entirely possible that Bryant puts up solid numbers with Dak Prescott at quarterback, but it’s a big risk to take in the first round.

3. RB Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs

Charles isn’t quite as expensive as the first two guys on this list, but he’s still going at an average of No. 16 overall in fantasy football drafts. While Charles has been one of the most explosive running backs in the NFL when healthy, he is coming off of a torn ACL in his right knee and will turn 30 years old in December. With promising backups Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West there to vulture carries, the risk is too great to take Charles at No. 16.

4. QB Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers

Yes, it’s true that Newton was the highest scorer in standard fantasy football leagues in 2015. And yes, it’s true that Newton won the 2015 NFL MVP, but that doesn’t justify taking a quarterback in the second round of a fantasy football draft. Quarterback is by far the deepest position in fantasy football, and you’re killing your team if you skip out on an elite receiver or running back in the second round to take Newton. Don’t do it.

5. RB Doug Martin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Martin finished 2015 as the No. 3 running back in fantasy football after he amassed 1,402 yards and six touchdowns on the ground and added 33 catches for 271 yards through the air with another score. Those numbers have given him an average ADP of 22.4 to this point in 2016 fantasy drafts, and there’s almost zero chance of him repeating with Charles Sims playing behind him. Sims averaged 4.9 YPC in 2015 and registered 51 catches out of the backfield. Expect his role to grow even larger in 2016 which certainly would hinder Martin’s production.

It would be a good idea to avoid these five players in your fantasy football drafts this year. At the very least, don’t draft them at their current average draft positions.

[Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images]