Fantasy Football 2019 Busts: 4 Big Name Veterans To Avoid

Veterans To Avoid

Fantasy football isn’t just about drafting the right sleepers, or nailing your early-round picks. It’s also about not stepping on landmines. These don’t necessarily have to be early-round busts either. The following players are steady veterans we’ve leaned on for years, but are on the verge of irrelevance. If these names fall far enough in your draft, you may be attracted by the name value. You’ll almost definitely regret the decision. These veterans – especially at their ADPs, but potentially even later – should be avoided at all costs.

All ADP data is courtesy of FantasyPros.

LeSean McCoy, RB, Bills (ADP: 92)

McCoy is a former first round-caliber running back who appears to have very little competition for carries in Buffalo. The backfield is “crowded,” but he’s sharing it with retreads Frank Gore and T.J. Yeldon, and rookie Devin Singletary. What’s there to worry about?

Well, McCoy will be 31 when the season starts, a terrible age for running backs where they show rapid decline. That decline has already begun, as he spent last season struggling to 3.2 yards per carry when he had the backfield “all to himself.” Despite a lack of obvious competition, McCoy only averaged 11.5 carries per game, was wildly inefficient when given work, and never flashed his old electricity as a big play threat. McCoy’s longest carry of the season was for 24 yards. McCoy also saw his receiving numbers dip, losing a full reception per game off his average from 2017. It’s fair to blame some of his struggles on the Bills’ offense as a whole; Josh Allen was a very limited rookie QB, the offensive line struggled, and there were no receivers to speak of. Not a lot of that is different this year, however, and McCoy is in a contract year, which means Buffalo has little incentive to make it work if he is slow out of the gate.

McCoy will star the season as a workhorse, but his declining skills, the presence of Yeldon to further diminish his pass-catching, and the threat of Singletary are all bright red flags for 2019. By Week 4 McCoy could be mass dropped. Even as the No. 37 RB off the board, he’s not someone I’ll want to own.

Golden Tate, WR, Giants (ADP: 105)

Tate has long been a model of consistency, but he proved ordinary once removed from the familiarity of the Lions’ offense and Matthew Stafford. Once he was traded to the Eagles, Tate wasn’t able to replicate his machine-like production, losing valuable targets in the process. His receptions per game were cut in half once he arrived in Philadelphia, his yards per catch dropped by two yards, and he managed a single touchdown. He’s not in Philadelphia anymore, which is a plus based on last year’s disappointing results, but he is on the Giants, with Eli Manning.

The Giants offense was brutal last season, largely because of a decrepit offensive line and the steep decline of Manning. Odell Beckham Jr.’s departure does open up targets, but they’ll be soaked up by Sterling Shepard, TE Evan Engram, and RB Saquon Barkley. For a team that doesn’t score many points, there are a lot of mouths to feed, and Tate was never a touchdown maven. Tate requires a lot of volume to be successful for fantasy owners, and he’s unlikely to get it in the Meadowlands. A return to his prime is out of the question without Stafford, but his floor is lower than it was as an Eagle. Your biggest fear as a Tate owner is a low-reception campaign with few yards per catch, as he’s never been a deep threat. Unless he reverses the trends of his whole career, those deficits won’t be made up for by trips to the end zone, so you’re just looking at a crappy fantasy option. I won’t be drafting Tate in anything but the deepest of 3-WR leagues.

Emmanuel Sanders, WR, Broncos (ADP: 113)

I’ve long been a fan of Sanders as a player, so his inclusion here is no knock on his ability as a wide receiver. But Sanders tore his Achilles last year, and that injury, plus the change in QB situation in Denver, doesn’t bode well for him. Sanders has been reiterating he’ll be ready for training camp, and while that’s admirable, I don’t think it’s likely or wise to rush back. His game is built on speed and shiftiness, two things that are unlikely to come right back for a 32-year old.

Sanders isn’t a big body, so a transition into a red zone type threat is probably not in the cards either. Outside of one nine-touchdown campaign, Sanders has never scored more than six touchdowns, and as recently as 2017 scored only two. He also has major competition for target share. Denver invested heavily in the position last season by drafting Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton; Sutton was a higher draft pick and showed more promise, but Hamilton also played well and is more likely to eat into Sanders’ role. In the four games after Sanders got hurt, Hamilton averaged 9.5 targets per game, 6.3 receptions and he scored two touchdowns.

Lastly, the addition of Joe Flacco as QB hurts Sanders as well. Flacco is known for his deep ball, and that plays right into the hands of Sutton, who averaged 16.8 yards per reception. Sutton is the big-bodied deep threat essentially made for big-armed passers like Flacco, and if Flacco falters, rookie Drew Lock has a similar approach to the position. All these factors, combined with a potent RB duo of Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman, don’t make for much optimism when it comes to Sanders.

Delanie Walker, TE, Titans (ADP: 123)

Walker, 34, has long been the “safe” option at TE for those uncomfortable with paying the price for the Rob Gronkowskis and Jimmy Grahams of the world. It might be tempting to slide right back into that mentality, especially with this friendly-looking ADP, but don’t fall for it.

Walker brutally broke his ankle in Week 1 of last season, and will be returning to a squad that ranked 25th in the NFL in passing offense in 2018. RB Derrick Henry awakened down the stretch, and paired with QB Marcus Mariota’s limitations, this looks like it’ll be a run-heavy offense. Tennessee also invested a first round pick in WR A.J. Brown, giving Mariota two WR options that No. 1 picks were spent on. Expect Mariota to make use of these twin threats, both of whom possess explosive speed and ideal size for the position. Walker even has to worry about fellow TE Jonnu Smith, a massive target who averaged 19.8 yards per catch and scored three times in 2018. Like the Giants, the Titans are an offense that has a surprising number of mouths to feed without that many points to be parceled out. Outside of Henry, no one in this offense appears to be a bankable fantasy option. Walker’s been a stalwart, but higher-upside options like T.J. Hockenson are going nearly 20 picks later.