In fantasy football, nothing's worse than a player going out and being a liability in your lineup. There's not a whole lot you can do when a superstar underperforms, but it's infuriating when one of your fringe starters is one of the reasons you lost a matchup. Fantasy managers should look to avoid these disappointments at all costs.
Last week, we gave you names like C.J. Stroud, Nick Chubb, and DK Metcalf as players to consider benching. If you started any of these three, chances are that you were left wishing you had made a different decision. Thankfully, Week 15 is a clean slate with new matchups to analyze. It may be a new week, but the goal remains the same - avoid the lineup landmines.
We'll be using a roundtable style article for our Week 15 fantasy football busts. Three of our fantasy football analysts will be taking a look at the slate and covering one player who they will be shying away from at each position. Fantasy managers could be in line for a frustrating Sunday afternoon if they choose to start any of these players.
WEEK 16 FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/ST | Kickers
Fantasy QB Busts Week 16
Michael O'Hara: Bo Nix, Denver Broncos — Early in the year, much of Bo Nix's fantasy appeal was driven by his rushing production. Well, he hasn't been scrambling much lately, likely due to superb offensive line play. Nix has not delivered more than four fantasy points from rushing production since Week 8. Nix will have a hard time finding fantasy success against the Chargers if he's exclusively relying on his arm to accumulate fantasy points. Los Angeles has the league's No. 9 pass defense and ranks 8th in EPA per dropback. Don't be surprised if this is a slow divisional matchup that's dictated by strong defensive play.
Ed Williams: Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers — Justin Herbert was finally starting to look like his old self coming out of the bye earlier this year once he was healed up from his ankle injury. Herbert went on a run where he was a common fixture in our weekly Sleepers article. But things have started to turn for this offense. J.K. Dobbins went down and is currently on IR with a knee injury. Herbert also suffered an ankle injury in Week 14 but played through it last week. It wasn't a strong game, however, as Tampa Bay (typically a defense passing games thrive against) held Herbert to 195 yards. He did throw two TDs but also threw an interception. Now he faces off against the Broncos in an AFC West showdown, and they give up the 6th-fewest points to quarterbacks.
Vinnie Iyer: Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders — Daniels and Terry McLaurin have had few bad games together during the former's sensational rookie season, but the worst definitely came against the Eagles' defense in Philadelphia in Week 11. You still might need to play him as the best option, a la Lamar Jackson vs. the Steelers, but just prepare for more disappointment overall.
MORE FANTASY: Complete Week 16 Waiver Wire recommendations and FAAB advice
Fantasy RB Busts Week 16
O'Hara: Brian Robinson Jr., Washington Commanders — Running backs without pass-catching chops tend to have tough days in fantasy against the Philadelphia defense. Brian Robinson Jr. is almost a pure rusher and is in for some tough sledding on the ground this week. The Eagles have bottled up running backs all year long, ranking 7th in rushing yards allowed per game and 9th in yards per carry. Altogether, they have allowed the 3rd-fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. It's also not out of the question that the Eagles' offense puts the Commanders in the position where they are effectively forced to abandon the run.
Williams: Isiah Pacheco, Kansas City Chiefs — Pacheco now has three games under his belt since returning from a broken fibula, but he hasn't really taken off yet. With Kareem Hunt now on the team, Pacheco isn't shouldering a bell cow workload and is splitting carries, while Samaje Perine is still involved in the passing game. His high since returning is just 55 yards, and he is yet to score a touchdown. The Chiefs will go up against the Texans this week, and Houston is holding running backs to the 4th-fewest points in the league.
Iyer: Joe Mixon, Houston Texans — Mixon's injury-marred clunker against the Dolphins comes at a bad time before the most brutal running game matchup of them all at the Chiefs. Kansas City contains rushing, receiving and scoring at the position. You are likely going to play him, but be prepared for seeing more low-end RB2 numbers.
Fantasy WR Busts Week 16
O'Hara: DK Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks — DK Metcalf was on Vinnie's list last week, and he's making an appearance once again. In general, the Seattle passing attack has been flowing through Jaxon Smith-Njigba in recent weeks; Metcalf has just an 18.4-percent target share in the last month. Specific to this week, there's a real chance that Sam Howell is under center for the Seahawks with Geno Smith dealing with a knee injury. Metcalf is the type of player who requires an explosive play or a perfectly placed deep ball to reach his weekly ceiling in fantasy. He's not the type who's going to get there with volume. If Howell is indeed the starter, it's hard to see Metcalf, or this offense in general, generating many big plays.
Williams: Jameson Williams, Detroit Lions — Williams can have a successful fantasy day on just one catch given his penchant for long touchdowns, so it's always a little risky fading him on any given week. But this is a matchup where is production should be limited. In fact, when these two teams played on Thanksgiving, he was held to 28 yards on five catches. Chicago also gives up the 4th-fewest points to wide receivers and are notably stingy against outside receivers. Look for this to be more of an Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta game.
Iyer: Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens — Flowers has plummeted to near the bottom of WR3s, and he had only two catches for 39 yards in the first meeting against Pittsburgh, bailed out only a little by a touchdown. He posted a modest 6-53 scoreless line on the Giants last week when Lamar Jackson threw for 290 yards and 5 TDs as Rashod Bateman went off. Flowers can be benched for a hot WR in the right matchup.
Fantasy TE Busts Week 16
O'Hara: Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers — Tucker Kraft's role in the Green Bay offense remains extremely volatile. In the last five weeks, he's cracked a 20-percent target share twice but has been held to a single-digit target share in three games. Given his inconsistent usage, Kraft is bordering on the touchdown-or-bust tier of tight ends. There are better game environments to search for touchdowns than Packers vs. Saints.
Williams: Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Otton went from popular sleeper while Mike Evans was out with a hamstring injury to a frequent bust since the outside WR's return to the lineup. Otton is still running plenty of routes, but it's turning out to be mostly cardio work as he's not getting the targets he was enjoying while Evans was out healing up. Dallas is giving up just 8.8 points per game to the fantasy position, but we'd expect Otton to dip below that number, which should have you looking for alternatives.
Iyer: Jonnu Smith, Miami Dolphins — Smith has had one of the most unexpected fantasy rises into a TE1 on the strength of a ridiculous scoring streak when everything else in the Dolphins' offense has been maddeningly inconsistent. But this will be Smith's true scoreless clunker in quite a while because of seeing plenty of Fred Warner and friends in coverage.
Fantasy Defense Busts Week 16
O'Hara: New York Jets — It's time that we reevaluate our perception of the Jets' defense. They have struggled over the last month and a half, and it was capped off by Mac Jones leading the Jaguars to 425 yards of offense and 25 points last week. With the Rams on deck this week, it's hard to feel confident in the Jets given their recent play.
Williams: Pittsburgh Steelers — Given that Lamar Jackson historically struggles against the Steelers, this one is a bit risky, but the Steelers' defense was just decimated by the Eagles. Philadelphia nearly doubled the time of possession with just under 40 minutes compared to just over 20 minutes. And they held Pittsburgh to an unfathomable 11 plays in the second half. After Mike Tomlin decided to punt the ball away on 4th-and-8 while down 14 points, they never saw the ball again. The Eagles proceeded to go on a ridiculous 21-play, 10-plus minute drive to close out the game. T.J. Watt also hurt his ankle in the game. Current speculation is that it's just a low ankle sprain and he could be good to go this week, but how effective will he be? The Ravens' offensive line isn't nearly as good as the Philadelphia offensive line, but Baltimore has the weapons to keep piling on the Steelers if they come in wounded.
Iyer: Houston Texans — They're in the upper half of D/STs for the season coming off a monster performance against the Dolphins at home. There might be some temptation to ride that into Kansas City against the potential Patrick Mahomes-less Chiefs, but they have had only 12 turnovers total since a Week 6 bye and just recorded a sack-free game in Cleveland with both Mahomes and Carson Wentz playing.
