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HomeSportsFantasy football busts: 10 biggest disappointments so far in 2025

Fantasy football busts: 10 biggest disappointments so far in 2025

With Week 6 now in the books, we’re now officially a third of the way through the 2025 NFL season and now is a good time to take stock of some of the bigger disappointments in fantasy football up to this point.

Hitting on an under-the-radar player in your draft is a great feeling and can absolutely set you up on a run towards the playoffs. The exact opposite of this is a player at the top of your board not living up to expectations, potentially tanking your season and causing you to scream at your phone when they throw up a dud performance on Sunday’s. The game is the game.

Below, we’ll take a look at some of the biggest busts in fantasy football so far by comparing their average draft position before the season to their current position ranking following Week 6. We’ll use half PPR rankings for reference and we’ll exclude stars like Joe Burrow or CeeDee Lamb who have missed more than one game due to injury.

Kyler Murray, QB, Arizona Cardinals

Current Fantasy Ranking: QB24

Current Stat Line: 68.3%, 962 Passing Yards, 6 Passing TD’s, 3 INT’s, 173 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD

Chat, is it bad when you miss a game due to a foot injury and your backup plays well enough for people to openly contemplate whether or not he should start over you? Because that’s where Murray currently stands following Jacoby Brissett’s performance in the team’s 31-27 loss to the Colts this past Sunday.

Murray has been middling so far for a Cardinals team that is barreling towards finishing last in the NFC West for a third time in four seasons. He’s not moved the needle for fantasy managers who tabbed him as a top-10 quarterback as he’s averaging just 16.2 points per game. The former No. 1 overall pick ranks 20th or below in several metrics like total EPA and success rate while also taking roughly three sacks a game. And he’s just flat out not getting the ball downfield as he has just two pass attempts that have traveled 20+ yards along with an average of just 6.0 yards per attempt.

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was quick to shoot down any speculation of a healthy Murray not starting this Sunday. But he’s not been a difference maker for both this team and fantasy managers alike and it’s understandable why his future as the franchise QB in Arizona is being called into question.

Chase Brown, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

Current Fantasy Ranking: RB31

Current Stat Line: 202 Rushing Yards (2.7 YPA), 1 Rushing TD, 20 Receptions, 102 Receiving Yards

Cincinnati’s season has gone down in flames since Joe Burrow’s injury and Brown has not stepped up at all during this free fall. He hasn’t come close to duplicating his breakout campaign last year where he was a borderline top-10 fantasy tailback, and his 2.7 yards per carry is the second-worst among backs with at least 50 carries this season. It’s almost like he’s running into a brick wall every single time as he ranks near the bottom of the league in both success and explosive run rates, while having an awful TFL rate of 14.86%.

FantasyPros’ Andrew Erickson pointed out this week Samaje Perine has cut into Brown’s snaps over the last few weeks and that may continue to be the case moving forward. That’s as clear a sign as any that managers should be looking to abandon ship if they haven’t already.

R.J. Harvey, RB, Denver Broncos

Current Fantasy Ranking: RB37

Current Stat Line: 154 Rushing Yards (4.7 YPA), 16 Receptions, 108 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD

Harvey entered the his rookie campaign with a ton of preseason hype as a potential first-year breakout and that may have been a bit premature. The second-rounder out of UCF product did show off some of that potential with a 70-yard performance in their 20-12 Week 1 victory over the Titans, but hasn’t come close to duplicating that performance since.

The rookie has been the clear backup to veteran J.K. Dobbins and has been on the field for over 40% of the offensive snaps just once this season. He’s firmly in handcuff territory and while he could still put up decent numbers in fantasy, it is nowhere near RB2 potential like managers tabbed him as before the season.

Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs

Current Fantasy Ranking: RB42

Current Stat Line: 214 Rushing Yards (4.2 YPA), 10 Receptions, 46 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD

Kansas City’s offense as a whole is starting to pick up steam and it’ll get a huge shot in the arm with the season debut of Rashee Rice this Sunday. As far as Pacheco goes, he’s been…eh. Just another guy.

Fantasy managers tabbed him as a RB2/high Flex option by where they drafted him and he’s not really moved the needle on the ground or catching passes out of the backfield this season. The fourth-year back has been splitting carries with Kareem Hunt and he has just one game where he’s gone over 50 rushing yards. On top of that, his -4.66 total EPA is the sixth-worst among backs with at least 50 carries. Patrick Mahomes is even outrushing him through six games.

Pacheco is a decent fantasy piece to have if you also have other more productive options on your roster. But if you did select him with one of your top picks, oof, good luck.

Nico Collins, WR, Houston Texans

Current Fantasy Ranking: WR25

Current Stat Line: 22 Receptions (14.2 Y/R), 312 Receiving Yards, 3 Receiving TD’s

“But Nick, Collins has been a top-25 fantasy wideout that has been putting up good numbers.” You are correct! The Pro Bowl wideout is averaging roughly 12 fantasy points per game, leads the Texans in receiving, and has just one sub-50 yard performance this season.

Collins has been good, but it’s not good enough for someone who many of you who made your No. 1 receiver in the draft. For comparisons sake, the No. 6 fantasy wideout right now is Ja’Marr Chase, who has found a way to average 15.1 points per game despite having Jake Browning and Joe Flacco throwing passes to him. The Texans fortunately appear to be figuring some things out following their 0-3 start, so there’s still time for Collins to shoot up the boards and give managers a quality return on their investment.

Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

Current Fantasy Ranking: WR24

Current Stat Line: 24 Receptions (13.9 Y/R), 334 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD, 1 Rushing TD

Similar to Collins, Thomas has been generally fine as a weekly starter in fantasy, but has not produced numbers that would justify a top-10 selection. His primary issue early in the season has been drops, as his six in six games is second in the league behind Jerry Jeudy. A critical third-down drop in the fourth quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Seahawks forced the Jags to punt and they eventually lost 20-12.

However, that was also his best performance of the season as he did haul in eight targets for 90 yards and his first touchdown of the season. If he can get the drop problem under control and get more comfortable in Liam Coen’s scheme, then he can get back to where he was during his breakout rookie season last year.

A.J. Brown, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

Current Fantasy Ranking: WR40

Current Stat Line: 25 Receptions (11.0 Y/R), 274 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD

Oh buddy. The Eagles’ offense has been a hot mess and as a result, Brown has been arguably the biggest fantasy disappointment so far. Just 11 yards per reception on 25 catches is not the proper utilization of a multi-time All-Pro in his prime and by now, he’s made his frustrations with the passing game well know. We’re even starting to get trade rumors and while it would seem silly for the reigning Super Bowl champions to trade a player of his caliber, remember, that’s how they literally got him in the first place!

Managers who took him in the top 10 may have to subscribe to the sunk-cost fallacy and ride this out with Brown, but it’s just a frustrating situation all around.

Tee Higgins, WR, Cincinnati Bengals

Current Fantasy Ranking: WR44

Current Stat Line: 18 Receptions (12.2 Y/R), 220 Receiving Yards, 2 Receiving TD’s

It almost feels unfair to put Higgins here. Like yeah, Burrow going down isn’t your fault and it’s also not your fault that you’ve had Jake Browning and Joe Flacco as your quarterbacks in recent weeks. But fantasy points are given out of sympathy. Them’s the breaks.

Higgins has made modest contributions to the Bengals offense since Burrow’s injury, but it hasn’t been anywhere close to numbers warranted for a borderline WR1 in fantasy. The nadir of this came during Week 3 where he caught just one target against the Vikings and Ja’Marr Chase advised him to just “effing ask” for the ball. He did get eight targets in their loss to the Packers last Sunday, so things could be looking up with Flacco tossing the pill now.

T.J. Hockenson, TE, Minnesota Vikings

Current Fantasy Ranking: TE22

Current Stat Line: 19 Receptions (8.1 Y/R), 153 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD

Hockenson entered this year fully healthy for the first time in two full seasons and many managers expected him to return to form as a top-10 tight end. His production so far hasn’t blown anyone away.

The veteran Pro Bowler has not stood out in any meaningfully way for Minnesota as all of his numbers have been average at best. His meager 8.1 yards per reception especially sticks out like a sore thumb as he’s not even theoretically moving the chains whenever he hauls in a pass. This lack of production and explosiveness can be partially chalked up to J.J. McCarthy and Carson Wentz throwing to him and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better.

Evan Engram, TE, Denver Broncos

Current Fantasy Ranking: TE25

Current Stat Line: 17 Receptions (8.1 Y/R), 137 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD

“Oh hey, Evan Engram signed with the Broncos. Sean Payton loves him his tight ends. He’s surely going to go off in this offense!”

Engram’s numbers are almost identical to Hockenson’s as he’s yet to post a single 50+ yard game so far this season. His five-catch, 42-yard performance against the Jets in London last Sunday could be a step in the right direction, but fantasy managers should be scrambling for other options if they haven’t done so already.

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