6 Busts for the 2022 Fantasy Football Season

Gibson is riddled with concerns going into the 2022 season, yet fantasy owners are still taking him high in drafts. It is evident through the moves the Commanders made in the offseason that they do not believe Gibson is a 3 down back, and potentially not even their primary ball carrier.

The Commanders ensured they brought back J.D McKissic, who has a proven track record as being a pass catching back, and they spent a day 2 draft pick in Brian Robinson (3rd rounder). You lump this with Gibson's fumbling concerns, and he is more likely to be benched than to return 3rd round fantasy value. It doesn't help that he has been seen on special teams (not too many alpha RBs return kicks in the NFL). On top of that, Brian Robinson's main strength is taking care of the football as he only had 3 lost fumbles in 5 seasons at Alabama. 

Akers did the unthinkable last year returning to the team after suffering an Achilles injury in the offseason. Though he returned, his output was not strong. His playoff performance was underwhelming and the Rams leaned on the other running backs to pick up his slack. We have yet to see a starting running back return to their original form after an Achilles injury, and the Rams have a very serviceable back in Darrell Henderson. We are fine being wrong on our Akers take, but we are going to let history make him a Do Not Draft player for us this year - especially at his current ADP. That, and we love the wide receivers in his price range. 

Dobbins is a player that we have always been a fan of at the Fantasy Beast. His college tape at Ohio State was remarkable, and his NFL landing spot was perfect. Anytime a running back of Dobbins caliber lands with one of the top rushing offenses is a win-win situation. However, Dobbins is coming off an injury that players rarely recover from after 1 year. Though he injured his knee last preseason, the time table for his recovery would have indicated that his knee would be healthy at this point of time. Given the delay in recovery is worrisome for the early part of the season, and spending a 4th round draft pick is far to risky.

No fantasy analyst doubts Cooper's ability to win you a week. He has all of the tangibles and capabilities to be a perennial WR1 for your team (he has been there before). However, he has only been a WR1 once in his 7 year career (he was the WR10 in 0.5 ppr in 2019). You tie that with the recent Deshaun Watson news in which he will be suspended for the first 11 games of the season, puts Cooper far down the draft board.

Harris had a great 2021 season. He raked up over 1000 yards from scrimmage, and 15 TDs on the ground, making him the RB14 in 0.5 ppr scoring. Going into year 4, a lot has changed in just under 1 season. The Patriots lost their offensive coordinator in Josh McDaniels, and Bill Belichick has decided to change the running scheme in 2022. All of the buzz out of camp is that Rhamondre Stevenson has taken over the top spot in the depth chart, and the Patriots drafted 2 additional running backs. It appears that New England plans to leverage a RBBC approach in 2022, and that brings the value of Harris down quite a bit. 

Claypool is coming off of a disappointing year two in Pittsburgh. He finished as the WR37 in 0.5 ppr scoring, and only managed to surpass 12 fantasy points 4 times. His 2 touchdowns and 860 yards were not what fantasy managers had in store following a 9 touchdown 873 yard rookie season. 

You couple the above stats with a new quarterback, and Claypool could be in trouble. To add to that, the Steelers drafted 2 WRs with their first 4 picks, making the wide receiver room crowded in Pittsburgh next season (and we don't anticipate Mitch Trubisky, Mason Rudolph, or Kenny Pickett being able to support them all)