Day 1: Busts

To keep your fantasy team strong, you must not only get great value out of the “players on the rise” type guys, but at the same time, you have to avoid players that will destroy your team. We call these team killers, BUSTS. The next 4 days we’ll focus on these busts; who they are, and why they won’t meet expectations. Here we go:

Jay Cutler – QB (Bears) – Jay Cutler cried his way out of Denver and found himself with a top-tier running back and a solid defense in Chicago. He gave hope to the fans of Chicago, thinking they finally had the quarterback capable of bringing a Super Bowl back to the Windy City. All he did was lead the league in interceptions with 26 (just one TD more than INT), something the Bears didn’t see coming. The Devin Hester experience didn’t turn out as well as the Bears had hoped either. Cutler comes into this season with the same unknown wide receivers (Aroshmadu, career stats: 400 yds, 4 TD's) he had last year paired with a demanding offensive coordinator in Mike Martz. Martz’s “high-octane” offense has always been complicated and turns Cutler’s only reliable option in Greg Olsen to a block-first tight end. Does Jay Cutler have the patience? He certainly didn’t give Josh McDaniels a chance in Denver. The stubborn quarterback will continue to disappoint in 2010, avoid him at all costs.

Cedric Benson – RB (Bengals) – Before last season, Benson had never rushed for more than 800 yards in a single season (the most he ever had was 747yds) and he has never had double digit TD's (the most ever was 6 in ‘09 and ‘07). There is no reason to go crazy over him this season. Yes, he is coming off the best season of his career, but that has a lot to do with the fact that the Bengals had to rely on a heavy running attack and nobody expected that to happen. Every week they were just waiting for “Calmer” to become the Carson Palmer we all knew, airing it out all over the field. The Bengals have added wideout Antonio Bryant and future HOF wide receiver Terrell Owens. Add that to #85 and you have a triple-headed passing attack that not many teams will be able to handle. The Bengals are going to have their hands full trying to spread the ball out between the divas at WR. Who knows if Benson is going to be able to get enough carries to reach his numbers? On a side note, Benson has already shown that he has had problems playing a full season and he is coming off the most carries he has ever had in a single season. Stay away from Mr. Benson.

Mike Sims-Walker – WR (Jaguars) – Sims-Walker definitely lived up to the hype last year gaining 869yards and 7 touchdowns, but there’s cause for concern for him entering the 2010 season. It’s hard to love Sims-Walker after only one productive season. Walker has never been the healthiest of players over the years, consistently battling knee injuries throughout his rookie and sophomore years with the Jags, and even last year playing through most of the season with an ankle injury. Walker has Jones-Drew to take SOME pressure off him, but is virtually all alone as their only consistent pass catcher. Defenses will be ready for Walker this year and will plan to blanket him every game, which could frustrate David Garrard (whose performance has plummeted each of the last three years). Don’t count on Walker taking major steps to develop into a #1 fantasy receiver this year, which some project him to be.

 

 

Day 2 will bring us 3 more busts you may want to avoid in your fantasy draft, well... if you want to win.