While it’s important to identify potential league winners in your fantasy football drafts, it could be just as important to know who to avoid.
After all, if a single player is capable of leading your team to a championship, they’re also capable of tanking your season. Below are a few quarterbacks who fit that bill.
Fantasy Football Quarterbacks to Avoid
Baker Mayfield (QB – TB)
Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield had it all the last few seasons. Landing on his fourth team in three seasons, Mayfield and the Buccaneers’ offense were at first led by future head coach Dave Canales, then followed by Liam Coen, under whom he played the best football of his career. He threw for 4,000+ yards in back-to-back seasons and was selected for multiple Pro Bowls.
Of course, the downside to having good coordinators is their propensity to get hired away, which is what happened to both Canales and Coen, leaving Mayfield to play under his third coordinator in three seasons, Josh Grizzard. But unlike Canales and Coen, Grizzard failed to impress, leading the Buccaneers’ offense to rank just 18th in scoring and 21st in total yards in 2025, while Mayfield failed to throw for 4,000 yards for the first time as a Buccaneer.
That led to the firing of Grizzard, and Mayfield is now onto his fourth coordinator in four seasons: Zac Robinson. Robinson wasn’t exactly fired from his last job in Atlanta, but he also had middling results, leading the Falcons to rank 24th in scoring and being let go along with the rest of the Falcons’ coaching staff.
Mayfield is also going to be without longtime Buccaneer Mike Evans, who moved on to San Francisco in search of a ring rather than ending his career with the only team he’s ever known.
Evans also had some of the best seasons of his career under Canales and Coen, but moved on to another offensive genius in Kyle Shanahan, while Mayfield is left behind with Robinson. And there are some (not a lot) of questions surrounding the receivers around Mayfield, most notably Emeka Egbuka and Chris Godwin.
Egbuka started his rookie season hot but slowed down once defenses began to plan for him. Godwin was still recovering in 2025 from a significant leg injury in 2024 and appears healthy. He’s 30 now, though, and the team will be much more cautious with his body to help it last all season.
Then there’s the contract dispute. Mayfield has one year left on the extension he signed after his breakout season and is looking to get a new extension. But Tampa Bay wants him to sign for much less, so we have an impasse. Mayfield may be the type that uses this slight as motivation, but it could also be a distraction, especially if the Buccaneers don’t get off to a good start.
The Mayfield situation is very fluid, and it’s best to avoid it for fantasy purposes this season.
Daniel Jones (QB – IND)
Colts quarterback Daniel Jones was one of the best stories of the 2025 season. Cast off from the New York Giants — the team that originally drafted him sixth overall — after a disappointing tenure, Jones found a new home in Indianapolis and immediately displaced the Colts’ own highly-drafted quarterback, Anthony Richardson.
Jones started his Colts career with his best statistical start ever, throwing for 3,100+ yards and 19 touchdowns and rushing for another five touchdowns in just 13 games. Up until Week 14, Jones was a top-12 fantasy quarterback.
But disaster struck in Week 14 when Jones’ Achilles exploded, tanking his and the Colts’ season. An Achilles injury is significant, but suffering it that late into a season, where recovery could bleed into the next season, is even worse. Couple that with the fact that Jones scores a lot of fantasy points with his legs, and suddenly the lingering injury is a giant red flag.
The second red flag is who Jones has around him this year. Longtime Colt Michael Pittman Jr. has moved on to Pittsburgh after leading the team in receiving touchdowns last year. Still in Indianapolis is Alec Pierce, after signing the largest contract for a receiver this offseason (four years, $114 million).
However, Pierce also underwent ankle surgery right after he signed that contract and hasn’t practiced this offseason yet. The other veteran receiver still in town, Josh Downs, also missed time due to an injury, but not one nearly as serious as Pierce’s. Still, having your top three receivers from last year either not be around or be banged up enough to miss offseason reps isn’t ideal.
A quarterback recovering from a major lower-body injury and missing his top three receivers in some form or fashion from last year are all reasons to avoid Jones this season.
Jacoby Brissett (QB – ARI)
As fantasy football veterans know, players can play on bad teams but also provide value. Case in point: Jacoby Brissett last year in Arizona. Despite a record of 1-11 as the starter in Arizona, Brissett had the best statistical season of his career. He threw for 3,366 yards and 23 touchdowns and only eight interceptions. He was a top-15 fantasy quarterback.
Brissett played so well that the Cardinals decided to move on from former number one overall pick Kyler Murray and roll with Brissett for the foreseeable future. Or have they? Yes, they gave him a raise to starter-level money this offseason, but only for this year.
There’s also third-round pick Carson Beck looming in the background. It’s unlikely that Beck is the long-term solution in Arizona, but his draft capital and play in the recent Hall of Fame game make it probable that the Cardinals will give him starts towards the end of the season.
In short, the Cardinals will struggle to compete this season and seem likely to be eyeing next year’s rookie quarterback class, which will be one of the strongest in years. Brissett won’t be part of the future, which means he won’t be part of the present for very long.
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