Fantasy Football: The Five Biggest Busts Of 2016

The 2016 fantasy football season is slowly approaching and it’s never to0 early to start planning a strategy. Fantasy football not only requires a lot of skill, but a little bit of luck as well. Going with your “gut instinct” is usually recommended in these instances.

The perfect example would be grabbing a player a little too early in a fantasy draft or taking a chance on a player who is known to be injury-prone. However, going with your “gut instinct” may not always work out. If the risk taken doesn’t have any reward, the player chosen is referred to as a “bust” in fantasy football terms. Here are five players who have a strong chance of being the 2016 NFL season’s fantasy football busts.

C.J. Anderson

Going into the 2015 fantasy football season, C.J. Anderson was one of the most highly touted players. Anderson had a great year for the amount of time he played in 2014 and looked as if he was going to be a very promising addition to the Denver Broncos’ offense. Things never go accordingly in the NFL and Anderson now has fantasy football bust written all over him. Anderson’s stats declined in 2015 as the full-time starter and he barely came close to the numbers he put up in 2014.

The New York Jets’ Wide Receivers

All of the wide receivers on the New York Jets are going to be hurting this season. Expect a decline across the board. This is only due to the fact that the Jets don’t have a solid starting quarterback. Of course, this will all change if Ryan Fitzpatrick does sign with the Jets prior to the start of the season.

Geno Smith will not elevate the Jets’ passing game and bring it to the same level Fitzpatrick did. Smith was given his chance to make something of the Jets’ offense and failed on multiple occasion. If Fitzpatrick doesn’t return, it’s looking like the Jets are going to rely on a running game. Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall should be avoided in all fantasy football draft formats.

DeMarco Murray

Murray didn’t do much in Chip Kelly’s high-powered offense. Usually, a player being a part of Kelly’s offense is every fantasy owner’s dream. That wasn’t the case with Murray, who struggled to really do anything at all. Murray clearly wasn’t a fit in the offense and couldn’t make anything of the time he was given. The committee running back situation didn’t help either, but even if Murray was the sole back it seems as if he just wouldn’t have produced as a Philadelphia Eagle.

Now that Murray is a Tennessee Titan, literally nothing is going to change. Murray will likely receive the bulk of the carries, but the Titans’ offensive line still needs some work. Marcus Mariota will be perfectly fine passing in the pocket or running with the ball himself. This also hurts Murray’s value because Mariota doesn’t need to lean on him. Odds are that Murray doesn’t produce with the Titan’s either.

Mark Ingram

Mark Ingram has the potential to be a monster fantasy football player, especially in PPR (points per reception) leagues. Injuries have held him back for years on the New Orleans Saints’ offense. Ingram will have a similar year in 2016 and will fail to reach his true potential.

The Saints are playing in a division that is getting increasingly tougher. The defenses Ingram has to face alone may pose an issue for him. Behind an aging Drew Brees, the Saints as a whole aren’t the fantasy football goldmine that they used to be. The only truly valuable player on the Saints is Brees himself.

Gary Barnidge

This choice is pretty much self-explanatory. The Cleveland Browns are a mess in the real world and in the fantasy football world. With Robert Griffin or Josh McCown leading the Browns’ offense, it’s hard to tell which situation is worse for Barnidge. Expect a big slump for a once very promising fantasy football player until the Browns get more stable offensively.