Fantasy Football Do Not Draft List: 5 Players to Avoid (2026)

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and which to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few players our fantasy football experts avoid in drafts.

2026 Fantasy Football Advice: Do Not Draft List

Here are players our experts avoid in fantasy football drafts.

Chuba Hubbard (RB – CAR)

Chuba Hubbard followed up his big breakout 2024 season with a stinker in 2025. Last year, Chuba Hubbard fell apart as the RB40 in fantasy points per game. Yes, he dealt with a calf injury for part of the season, but he also lost his starting job during the season to Rico Dowdle. Hubbard was arguably the most inefficient running back in the NFL last year. Among 49 qualifying backs, he ranked dead last in missed tackle rate and explosive run rate (zero explosive runs) while also sitting at 47th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). If Jonathon Brooks is fully healthy (I think he will be), he could easily be the backfield leader coming out of camp. I’ll be avoiding Hubbard in drafts this year.

Khalil Shakir (WR – BUF)

Khalil Shakir has proven over the last two seasons to be a solid but not spectacular player for fantasy, as the WR39 and WR33 in fantasy points per game. With only 22 red zone targets and eight receiving touchdowns combined during that span, Shakir hasn’t had the high-leverage usage in the Buffalo offense to offer anything more than PPR flex value. With the arrival of D.J. Moore this offseason, Shakir will clearly be pushed down at least one spot in the target pecking order. If Dalton Kincaid‘s role grows at all or Keon Coleman takes a step in 2026, Shakir could tumble even further down the hierarchy. I won’t be drafting Shakir on any teams this season.

Check out all of DBro’s top fantasy football draft picks to target

Quinshon Judkins (RB – CLE)

Fantasy managers covet high-volume RBs, so why should we turn up our noses at a running back who might average 18 or more touches a game this season?

It’s possible that Judkins will be reasonably priced in August, but I fear that the siren’s song of big weekly touch counts will push his ADP into uncomfortable territory.

Judkins averaged 18.3 touches a game for the Browns as a rookie, even though he missed training camp, the preseason, and Week 1 due to legal issues resulting from an arrest for battery. He ran for 75 or more yards in six of his 14 games and scored seven touchdowns.

In Week 16, Judkins dislocated his right ankle and fractured his fibula. Not only is he coming off a significant injury, but Judkins will be playing in a Browns offense expected to be among the league’s most anemic, and he’ll be running behind a completely remade offensive line composed of guys who haven’t played together.

Judkins’ current ADP has him coming off the board in the middle of the fifth round, which isn’t egregious. But you’d probably be better off with one of the receivers available in that range – players such as Christian Watson or Rome Odunze.

Rico Dowdle (RB – PIT)

As of this writing, there was only about a half-round difference in the ADPs of Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle, the top two running backs on the Steelers’ depth chart. Warren was at RB30, 80th overall. Dowdle was at RB32, 86th overall.

I know some people who prefer Dowdle, and the rationale seems to be that, because Dowdle became the Cowboys’ lead back in Mike McCarthy’s final season as Dallas’ head coach, he will be the lead back in McCarthy’s first season as Pittsburgh’s head coach.

Aaron Rodgers is the prism through which we should view the Steelers’ backfield. The 42-year-old Rodgers is now immobile and seems less willing than ever to stand in the pocket and get hit. He’s going to want to play with a running back who can block for him and be a safety valve as a receiver. Steelers RBs accounted for 25.4% of team targets last season – the second-highest percentage in the league behind only the 49ers, who have pass-catching RB extraordinaire Christian McCaffrey.

Warren has averaged 2.6 receptions per game and 1.41 yards per route run over his career. Dowdle has averaged 1.4 receptions per game and 1.05 yards per route run over his career.

Warren received a PFF pass-blocking grade of 72.0 last season, which is very good. Dowdle received a PFF pass-blocking grade of 24.6 last year, which is awful.

My money is on Warren as Pittsburgh’s primary running back this year, and it’s possible Dowdle has a smaller role than some expect.

Check out all of Fitz’s top fantasy football draft picks to target

Michael Wilson (WR – ARI)

There might not be a player with more glaring on-off splits than Michael Wilson. In 2025, when Marvin Harrison Jr. was sidelined, Wilson was a fantasy football monster. He played in nearly seven games without MHJ and posted Puka-Nacua-level numbers at 19.5 PPG. After Week 10, Wilson was the WR4 in PPG (16.5) and ranked as the WR3 overall en route to his first 1,000-yard season.

But a lot of this came from sheer volume, as no team was as pass-heavy as the Cardinals (No. 1 in the NFL in pass rate over expectation). After Arizona drafted a running back in the top 5 of the 2026 NFL Draft, conventional wisdom suggests they will have a more balanced approach on offense.

Fantasy football managers also can’t overlook that Harrison is still a major part of this offense and that Wilson was a complete ghost when they played together in 2025. Harrison was gobbling up the targets – not Wilson. The 26-year-old was unplayable when Harrison was just in the lineup, boasting a target rate per route run of just 12%. In the games that MHJ missed? His target rate skyrocketed to 29%.

Wilson seems drastically overrated based on bloated counting stats from last year. He could be the No. 3 target on his own real-life team, potentially led by rookie third-round QB Carson Beck at some point during the year.

Check out all of Erickson’s top fantasy football draft picks to target