It’s never too early to start researching and creating opinions on players for the upcoming fantasy football season. Even though that is my philosophy, it can be dangerous. The key to forming early opinions is to make sure you are willing to adjust based on new information.
As camps start up, there are going to be numerous reports on who is running with the first teams, what role each player has and what kind of offensive philosophy each team has. The trick is to sift through these reports and not just pay attention to the ones that support your opinion. As a result, with the knowledge we currently have as a fantasy football community, here are my five players I am avoiding.
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Fantasy Football Players to Avoid
Here are five players I’m avoiding in fantasy football drafts.
Tyreek Hill (WR – MIA)
What do my car and Tyreek Hill have in common? They’re both washed. Before you start thinking that a car can be washed and still be fast, let me tell you that I drive a stock Ford Focus (which is anything but fast).
In many ways, this is not the same Hill we have seen in the past. Although his legal troubles and assault allegations have persisted, his on-field ability has taken a massive step back. We saw a version of Hill last season that had lost a bit of his speed and ability to get open. Plus, this Dolphins team feels like it’s been in the sun too long. Something is happening on that team, and it doesn’t feel like it’s a good thing.
From 2023 to 2024, we saw Hill’s stats get nearly cut in half. His yardage dropped from 1,799 to 959 yards, and he went from 13 touchdowns to six. This kind of drop-off is not necessarily uncommon at the wide receiver position. For example, from 2019 to 2020, Julio Jones had a similar decline. Going from 1,394 yards to 771, and six touchdowns to three. Keenan Allen from 2023 to 2024 was also similar, dropping 500 yards from the year before despite playing more games. As of this writing, Allen still doesn’t have a team for 2025.
With these aging receivers, injuries do play a role. However, Hill played every game last season and still saw that kind of decline in production. We all know the aging wide receiver Cliff is not a fallacy; we’ve seen it too many times to ignore it. As a result, there are enough red flags that Hill has already gone over the cliff and is nowhere near worth his current average draft position (ADP) of WR14.
Brian Thomas Jr. (WR – JAX)
Yes, I completely missed the boat on Brian Thomas Jr. last season. No, I am not avoiding him because I am vengeful of my mistakes.
Thomas was incredible last season. When we see these rookies come in who are fast, big and agile, the hope is that they do what Thomas did. The issue is that athletic traits only take you so far, and we saw last season that Thomas brings the whole package. A dynamic deep threat, with a knack for getting open. He has all the skills to be a top receiver for a long time in this league.
So why am I avoiding him? This has nothing to do with Thomas individually and everything to do with his price. Travis Hunter is the real deal, and I’m talking like Shohei Ohtani, three-time MVP, kind of real deal.
Everything from this team indicates Hunter will be playing full time as a receiver, as well as mixing in on defense. Although we have never seen this at the NFL level, Hunter played on both sides all of last season and managed to be elite at both. Regardless of his defensive role, many of the industry’s best analysts had him touted as an elite wideout. If that is the case, taking Thomas at his WR8 fantasy football ADP is too rich for me.
We are all expecting this team to take a step forward offensively under new head coach Liam Coen. However, we are still stuck with Trevor Lawrence under center. Lawrence has been a solid NFL quarterback, but has failed to showcase the superstar abilities we saw at Clemson. Through his first four years, he has not surpassed 25 passing touchdowns and has barely topped 4,000 passing yards twice. Even if these numbers increase, it’ll need to be a substantial jump for both of these receivers to produce at their ADP.
The Jaguars paid a premium for a two-way player, but there is no denying Hunter’s receiving ability is worthy of a top-10 pick. If we say the Jaguars drafted another wide receiver with a top-10 pick, how far would Thomas fall? To WR12? To WR15? Whatever your answer is, that’s where I think Thomas should be ranked.
Rashee Rice (WR – KC)
Last season was an incredible breakout year for the third-year receiver. However, I’m worried Rashee Rice may be cooked this year. Some might even call him fried Rice.
Bad jokes aside, Rice was schemed up perfectly in this offense. With a coach like Andy Reid, this isn’t surprising, but it takes great chemistry with the quarterback to average six receptions, 77 yards and 0.5 touchdowns per game. Unfortunately, that quarterback was the same one who took out his legs and tore his LCL and damaged his hamstring. Although the LCL isn’t as prolific as the ACL or MCL, Rice also had a procedure done on his hamstring tendon. That’s the one that concerns me.
Hamstring injuries are a different beast. Even though we usually hear about them being sprained and recurring throughout the season, an injury to the tendon is a different story. The three muscles that make up the hamstrings are responsible for the force it takes to bend your knee. These muscles apply a lot of force and rely on the tendons to pull the joint. If that tendon is not completely healed, these muscles can easily do more damage. Additionally, these movements are essential to running and breaking in and out of routes.
I am not a specialist, but I have read enough reports to be concerned about Rice’s recovery this year. I expect he will be back to his fully healthy self in 2026, and likely a draft target then. However, as the WR21 in 2025, this injury is too severe for me to want to bet on him at that price.
Bucky Irving (RB – TB)
Another fantasy football favorite from last year that I’m putting on this list. I was not a huge Bucky Irving fan going into last year, but he proved me wrong. He is a complete anomaly of a smaller back being a beast at running downhill. His vision and physicality are incredible and showcase that he could become one of the league’s best pure rushers.
The reason he makes this list has everything to do with the team rather than the player. The Buccaneers have been running way too hot over the last two seasons. Considering each of their last two offensive coordinators was hired as head coaches the following seasons, there must be something in the water. This year, they replaced Liam Coen with Josh Grizzard, formerly their passing game coordinator. Having worked under Coen, there is continuity for this team, however, it’s hard to see them maintain what they did last year.
The team also has pass-catching specialist Rachaad White as well as breakout rusher Sean Tucker. With White locked in for pass-catching duties, Irving will likely be their early-down rusher with goal-line upside. Even in this split, Irving managed to end the season on fire with seven of his final eight games in the top 20 at the position, and five games in the top 10 over that stretch.
Out of all the players on this list, Irving is my least confident player to avoid. If he can continue what he did at the end of last season, RB8 is a fair spot. Unless the Buccaneers keep eating their Lucky Charms and finding top-tier offensive coordinators, this team is due for a step back. With that in mind, two players going after Irving I am selecting are Josh Jacobs and Kyren Williams. Both these veterans have locked in roles and are on surefire offenses, and I believe they are safer with similar upside.
Bo Nix (QB – DEN)
Since I have selected a few players with die-hard fans, why not keep the trend going with this pick? I’m joking, I didn’t select any of these players to be contrarian, I genuinely believe QB8 is way too high for Bo Nix.
Nix was viewed to be one of the safer rookie quarterbacks to come out of last year’s draft. With nearly 20 years of college football experience (it was seven seasons), he had the experience to command a team at the next level.
That’s exactly what he did under Sean Payton after being selected with the 12th pick. Nix had his struggles at the start of the season. Unfortunately, I can’t forget the Thursday Night Football matchup against the Spencer Rattler-led Saints. In that Week 7 matchup, Nix had 16 completions for 164 yards and zero touchdowns. However, his fantasy performance was saved with 10 rushes for 75 yards.
His rushing ability is the part of Nix’s game I discounted as a prospect — he can move. Even with his rushing ability, I am concerned that last season’s rushing metrics might be more of an anomaly than what we can expect every year. Last season, Nix was fifth at the position in rushing attempts but eighth in rushing yards. In contrast to Nix’s inefficiency, Drake Maye had nine fewer rushing yards on 38 fewer attempts.
This offseason, the Broncos retooled their offense, signing joker tight end Evan Engram and drafting both RJ Harvey and Pat Bryant. Harvey should be a massive addition to this offense and continue to share the load with Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime. Payton has always had a running back by committee, and this year’s should be substantially more effective than 2024.
Last year’s lead back, Javonte Williams, also split carries with McLaughlin and Estime. This trio was anything but effective and was one of the worst Sean Payton-led rushing attacks in his career. Nix accounted for one-third of the team’s total rushing touchdowns (12). The Broncos also had the ninth-fewest rushing touchdowns in the league, relying on Nix’s 29 passing touchdowns to stay afloat. I believe Nix’s 33% rushing touchdown percentage is unsustainable, and the team’s rushing touchdowns should increase with their additions to the offense. As a result, I struggle to see Nix passing for nearly 30 touchdowns again in 2025.
I believe that the addition of Harvey and the effectiveness of the backfield will eat into Nix’s carries. Based on how inefficient Nix was on the ground last season, his numbers in 2024 were unsustainably inflated for his QB7 finish. As a result, I have a feeling Nix might be last year’s C.J. Stroud. He will likely continue to be a good quarterback for fantasy, but may take a step back in production.
With that in mind, I am not touching Nix at his ADP of QB8. Instead of drafting Nix at what I believe is his ceiling, I’d rather take a shot on Caleb Williams (QB10), Brock Purdy (QB12) or even a breakout season from Drake Maye (QB15).
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