Players That Can't Be Trusted

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By Tom McAleese @McAleeseFFA

It’s Sunday morning, you’re staring at your roster, and there’s one guy you just don’t trust. Sure, he may put up 20 points, but he could just as easily put up a doughnut, or get injured. We all know that feeling.

On draft day you’ll see these guys still on the board long after you expected them to be gone, so you draft them anyway, and say, “He was a steal in this round.” Then week after week you agonize over starting them (see Michael Turner last year). If only you had a crystal ball to look into the future so you knew what guys to avoid. Well I do, and here are the guys I’m staying away from;

Darren McFadden – How great could McFadden really be? I don’t think we’ll ever know. If he could stay healthy all year he could be the top fantasy RB, but that’s just the point, he can’t. Someone in your league will draft him in the first or second round then spend the rest of the year trying to replace a guy they drafted as RB1 based on name recognition. Don’t be that guy.

Josh Freeman – If you’re starting Freeman you’re either in a deep league, or the QB you drafted first got hurt…at least I hope. Freeman will have a good game then throw 4 interceptions the next. He is not a starting fantasy QB, and should only be used as a back-up and bye week fill in, if he has a good match-up.

Hakeem Nicks – Like most guys in this list it comes down to injuries. Nicks has all the talent in the world, but he just can’t stay healthy, and it’s never a big injury with Nicks. Right now it’s a groin, last year it was knee swelling. Those are the most annoying injuries for fantasy owners, because he will be given the dreaded game time decision tag. Sometimes you just wish he would blow out his knee so you can just cut bait.

Danny Amendola – Amendola will not play all 16 games. There, I said it. Unlike Nicks, when Amendola gets injured, he gets really injured. Hell, he almost died last year with a separated clavicle that could have cut his trachea and aorta. He is a great position to be successful and pick where Welker left off, but his body can’t take the beating that Welker’s could.

Lance Moore – It’s really hard to truly trust anybody on the Saints roster outside of Brees. Every week it’s a different guy that steps up, and unfortunately for Moore he is fourth in the peeking order for targets behind Graham, Colston, and Sproles. He’ll have a couple big games a year, but good luck figuring out which one those will be.

Josh Gordon – A lot of people are really high on Gordon, but I still don’t trust him. His work ethic has been called into question, he starts the season with a two game suspension, and he has Brandon Weeden throwing to him. He reminds of Titus Young in regard to how he’s being hyped in the offseason, but doesn’t seem to have the maturity to successful at this level.

Ryan Matthews – It’s not just injuries that have plagued Matthews career, it’s also fumbling. When he’s actually in there he can’t hold on to the ball, then he’ll get injured. Even if he fell all the way to the fourth or fifth round and I still wouldn’t take him.