Players Experts Avoid: Rashee Rice, Joe Mixon, Jahmyr Gibbs

Draft day is all about finding value and avoiding costly mistakes – and Average Draft Position (ADP) is one of the best tools to help you do both. By comparing where players are being drafted to their projected production, fantasy football managers can spot potential steals and sidestep landmines. To give you a winning edge for 2025 drafts, we’ve gathered 30 players experts draft and avoid at ADP from our collection of Featured Pros experts. This list highlights the players our analysts are targeting at their current ADP, as well as the ones they’re avoiding, so you can make smarter picks and build a championship-ready roster.

Players Experts Avoid at ADP

Who is a player you’re AVOIDING in drafts based on his current ADP (top-150) and why?

Rashee Rice (WR – KC)

“I just can’t find myself drafting Rashee Rice at all this year. His ADP of 49 seems way too early to me. By the time I’m ready to draft him, he’s been gone for multiple rounds. Not only am I worried about his availability due to the legal issues he’s facing, but he’s not necessarily the most durable player either. Patrick Mahomes could very easily just decide to ignore him, too, since he’s got Xavier Worthy and Travis Kelce in that offense as well. If you want to take a risk, that’s fine, but at Rice’s price, that’s way too expensive for me.”
– Andrew Hall (FantasyPros)

Joe Mixon (RB – HOU)

“I consider Joe Mixon completely undraftable, and yet he has an ADP in the low-end RB2 range. This foot injury he’s dealing with is alarming. It’s the sort of thing that could lead to a long absence and perhaps linger all season. Plus, the Texans might have the worst offensive line in the league, and rookie Woody Marks could steal some of Mixon’s passing-down work. The red flags are a-flyin’.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)

Jahmyr Gibbs (RB – DET)

“Jahmyr Gibbs is an awesome player. But y’all are just ignoring reality by taking him in the middle of Round 1 (or even earlier). Gibbs exploited two key factors in his terrific 2024 finish: 1) David Montgomery went down. Gibbs tied for just 20th in expected half-PPR points per game through 14 weeks with a healthy Monty. That jumped to 4th from the injury game on. 2) Detroit got lucky on offense. The Lions’ 4.0 offensive TDs per game were the most since the 2018 Chiefs (4.1), and only two other teams have reached that mark since 2010. All three dipped in TD production the following year. Detroit’s compounding the challenge by switching OCs after three years under Ben Johnson. So Gibbs will almost certainly see less work vs. last year’s hot streak. His team will almost certainly score less. Yet you’re so sure he can keep it going that you’ll take him in the first half of Round 1? Easy pass for me.”
– Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks)