Fantasy Football Busts 2026: Omarion Hampton, Cam Skattebo among Rotoworld’s top fades

Fresh off unveiling our 2026 fantasy football sleepers earlier this week, now it’s time for the Rotoworld Football crew to name their “busts” for the season ahead.

Identifying busts is a more difficult task, partially because it’s such a loaded term. At the right price, all of the players below are draftable, but whether it’s their ADP (average draft position), the situation, or some combination of the two, these are names that come with a certain degree of caution leading into drafts.

Before you join your draft lobby in the coming days, check out the rationale from each of our writers below.

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Alec Pierce — WR, Colts

Pierce was reportedly set to diversify his route tree when the front office signed him to a lucrative extension this offseason. Instead of learning the nuances required for short-to-intermediate-depth usage, Pierce has been sidelined by a nagging ankle injury which required surgery and at least one PRP injection. At best, Pierce will remain stuck in his one-dimensional role, out of shape and earning targets thrown by a quarterback, Daniel Jones, whose driving back leg experienced a season-ending Achilles tendon rupture last year. – Nic Bodiford

Omarion Hampton — RB, Chargers

Hampton last year was 65th out of 70 qualifying running backs in success rate on zone rushes, which new Chargers offensive coordinator McDaniel favors as part of the Shanahan system. Hampton ranked 68th out of 70 backs in yards per carry on 125 zone rushes last year. He’s a poor fit for the Shanny scheme and the addition of Keaton Mitchell could prove to be just enough of a problem to make Hampton a bust once again. – Denny Carter

Cam Skattebo — RB, Giants

Skattebo had a high-volume rookie season that was inefficient and shortened by an ankle dislocation and fibula fracture. He tallied -0.13 EPA per rush last season; among running backs with at least 100 carries, he ranked outside the top 25 in yards per carry, success rate, and explosive rate. For 2026, Skattebo isn’t as well-equipped to handle a large workload coming back from last season’s injury. Skattebo’s contact-seeking playstyle, return from serious injury, and inefficiency make him a fade at his current mid-level RB2 draft range. – Aditya Fuldeore

Terry McLaurin — WR, Commanders

McLaurin has spent much of his NFL career surrounded by a cast of forgettable receivers. Despite never having another receiver of note push him for targets, McLaurin has finished as the WR20 or lower in PPR points per game in six of his seven seasons in the league, and will now face legit competition from Stefon Diggs for targets. While McLaurin is still expected to operate as the Commanders’ WR1, the addition of Diggs, coupled with the fact that he plays with Jayden Daniels, a quarterback who has historically high scramble rates (16.0 percent in 2025, per TruMedia), makes McLaurin a riskier bet than in previous seasons. He’s currently being drafted as a low-end WR2, which is how he has produced for most of his career. His ADP may take a slight hit in the coming days, but it may not be enough for McLaurin to provide much value to his fantasy managers. – Zach Krueger

Bhayshul Tuten — RB, Jaguars

So the Jaguars kept Tuten out of the major reps last year, have an established third-down back in LeQuint Allen, and signed Liam Coen’s college crush in Chris Rodriguez for an area in which they definitely want to improve: sustaining power runs. I think there’s a non-zero chance Tuten works out this year for managers that draft him as highly as he’s going, but there are also a lot of downside paths on this road. I’d rather have Rodriguez of the two at ADP and it isn’t close. Ultimately I think the Jaguars will annoy everyone with RBBC and nobody will really be happy here. That isn’t anything against Tuten’s talent, he’s just got the most room to fall here. – Rivers McCown

Luther Burden — WR, Bears

This one might feel a bit like shooting fish in a barrel since Burden is currently sidelined with a groin injury, but that was already a major concern for this rugged player. Burden plays the game a la Percy Harvin, and it has him limping off the field with disappointing regularity. It cost Burden surprisingly little time at Mizzou, but the gifted wideout was always playing through something. The same was true of his promising rookie year in Chicago. “Injury prone” is a hotly debated concept. If it’s real, it is also unknowable. We don’t know what makes a player more susceptible to time on the shelf. That’s at least true in most cases. My longtime Burden fear is not that he pulls muscles in some sort of systematic fashion, but that he plays the game — read, lots of contact — in a way that lends itself to injury. That, coupled with a loaded young skill corps in an offense that wants to be balanced has me wondering where the requisite target share will come even when he is on the field. The fact that he is already off of it during August does not leave me overflowing with optimism for September and October and beyond. – Patrick Daugherty

Kenneth Walker III — RB, Chiefs

Being drafted as the RB8 with an ADP in the teens, Walker is certainly one of the riskier picks on the board. It’s the highest price drafters have ever paid for Walker now that he’s away from Seattle, where he had to share the backfield. He received a hefty contract from the Chiefs in free agency and the consensus is that Walker will see an expanded role with Patrick Mahomes returning from reconstructive knee surgery. While that’s all well and good, this is still the same Chiefs team that routinely leads the league in pass rate over expected and has always used multiple running backs under Andy Reid. Walker himself has never run for 1,100 yards in a season or had 300 receiving yards in a season. He scored 29 touchdowns in four years with the Seahawks while Josh Jacobs has scored 28 in the last two seasons and goes two rounds later. Saquon Barkley, Chase Brown, Derrick Henry, and De’Von Achane should all be easy clicks ahead of Walker. And yet, here we are. – Nick Shlain

Start preparing for your 2026 fantasy football draft with Rotoworld’s complete Top 200 overall player rankings.

DJ Moore — WR, Bills

Moore’s numbers have been in freefall for two seasons, bottoming out at 1.1 yards per route in 2025. That came one year after he tumbled to 1.4 YPRR. Per ESPN’s player-tracking data, he ranked 50th in Open Score last year and was targeted on a dismal 15 percent of his routes. There’s an overwhelming amount of evidence to suggest the Bills’ acquisition of Moore could go the way of Amari Cooper as opposed to Stefon Diggs. – Kyle Dvorchak

Parker Washington — WR, Jaguars

This one depends on what exactly you think Washington is going to do. He’s going off the board right now at WR30 to Brian Thomas’, Jakobi Meyers’ and Travis Hunter’s WR32, WR43 and WR68 respectively. I think it is very important that people are reminded of the fact that Hunter went 8-101-1 on 14 targets before he was lost for the season. He was just starting to heat up. You can feel like Washington is a 1,000-yard receiver, but do it at your own risk if all the Jags’ wideouts are healthy. – Lawrence Jackson Jr.

Sam LaPorta — TE, Lions

I’m hesitant to call LaPorta a bust because I think he’s a really talented football player. I just think he’s in an offense loaded with other talented players, and his lengthy injury history makes me nervous at his cost. LaPorta hyperextended his knee in his rookie season, but was able to play through it in the playoffs. He then suffered a sprained AC joint in 2024 and then had a major back injury last season that led to season-ending surgery. The 25-year-old also just suffered a hip injury in Lions’ camp, which led to head coach Dan Campbell saying Thursday that he’s not sure if he’ll be ready for the season. LaPorta could certainly return and stay healthy this season, but it’s hard to feel confident about that given his track record so far. Considering his current ADP is 61st overall, ahead of Jadarian Price, Rome Odunze, Christian Watson, and others, I would much rather draft one of the top three tight ends off the board or simply wait for one going later. – Eric Samulski