2025 Fantasy Football Busts

Bust: A player who is predicted to have a poor season compared to general expectations. The player might be injury-prone, have a future star behind them in the depth chart, or just won't be able to live up to their hype. From our Fantasy Football Dictionary

Our writers have classified the following players as busts for 2025. We will be updating this list throughout the pre-season.

Name	Pos	Team	Age	Yrs Exp.	Pos. Rank
Sam Darnold	QB	SEA	28	7	QB - #23
Perseverance paid off for Sam Darnold in 2024. After signing a one-year deal to mentor J.J. McCarthy, Darnold thrived in Kevin O'Connell's system. Starting in place of the injured McCarthy, Darnold ranked 5th in passing (4,319) and touchdowns (35), while leading the league in deep-ball completion rate (50.8 percent). However, Darnold now moves to Seattle, where he... Read More
Aaron Jones	RB	MIN	31	8	RB - #27
On the surface, Aaron Jones thrived in Minnesota, turning a career-high 255 carries into the best rushing season (1,138) on his resume. Jones stayed healthy and also hauled in 51-of-62 targets, ranking 8th. However, Jones will be 31 in December and there are signs he's slowing down. His yards per carry, yards after contact per attempt, and Elusive Rating have all ... Read More
Travis Etienne	RB	JAX	27	4	RB - #29
After consecutive 1,000-yard rushing campaigns, Travis Etienne fell out of favor with Jacksonville's previous regime. He rushed for a career-low 3.7 yards per carry and 558 yards last season, while Tank Bigsby took on a larger share of the workload. Now, the new regime added Travis Hunter and used a fourth-rounder on surging Virginia Tech RB Bhayshul Tuten. There ... Read More
Travis Kelce	TE	KC	36	12	TE - #9
Father Time catches up to the best of us. 36 this season, Travis Kelce's days of dominating the position are over. Now, fantasy managers have to wonder if Kelce will even be a TE1. Nearly all of his metrics are on a three or four-year decline, including yards per catch, yards after catch, missed tackles forced, and yards per route run. He simply can't make plays d... Read More
Kyle Pitts	TE	ATL	25	4	TE - #23
Right on schedule, second-year Atlanta offensive coordinator Zac Robinson expects Kyle Pitts to 'take a big jump' this season. While that's music to the ears of patient Pitts believers, we're kind of over it. Pitts has been mediocre for three of his four seasons. Last season, nearly all of his metrics were unimpressive, and the quarterback switch certainly didn't ... Read More
Noah Fant	TE	CIN	28	6	TE - #45
Fant will open training camp as Seattle's starter, but we think he will be pushed hard by dynamic rookie TE Elijah Arroyo. The rookie will be involved, regardless, and this staff has a tendency to use multiple tight ends. That makes Fant a middling fantasy option who has streaming value, at best. UPDATE: Fant was released an signed with the Bengals. ... Read More
Rashod Bateman	WR	BAL	26	4	WR - #70
After averaging 78.5 fantasy points per season in three years, Rashod Bateman exploded to finish with 174.6 points in 2024. The main reason- he jumped up to nine touchdowns after scoring four total in three years. Not only was last season an outlier, it's also not sustainable. Bateman only averaged 3.9 targets per game, scoring on six of his nine red-zone targets.... Read More