Avoid These Fantasy Football Landmines

As the calendar flips to August in less than 24 hours, I am fine tuning my draft prep process. I figure I'll share little nuggets along the way, and hopefully I can help at least one of you trip into a fantasy championship come the end of the year. The obvious first step in any sort of prep process is figuring out who you like (at cost) but I think figuring out who you don't like (again, at cost) can be just as vital to the draft day process. The fact is, you can't draft everyone, and you need to know which names to eliminate from your bevy of options when you are on the clock. The more you can filter out, the better you will feel about your team when the draft day dust settles.

Here are a list of names I am avoiding and referring to as "Draft Day Landmines" with a brief explanation as to why:

Deebo Samuel- A steep decline in production once he got paid, never a good sign. Games played, total yards, yards per route run, TD's, rush attempts -- all took a dive in 2022. And the last time I checked, CMC is still in the offense, playing a similar gadget role. ADP of 38 too rich for my blood.

Keenan Allen- There's a reason the Chargers invested a 1st round pick in a WR. Allen is steady-eddie when he's healthy, but that's been an issue throughout his 10 year career. Coming off a season where he played just 10 games, Allen is entering his dreaded age 31 season, a time where most receivers start to fall of an athletic cliff. (ADP: Pick 43)

TJ Hockenson- I believe Hock's draft status is directly tied to TE panic. Once Kelce and Andrews are off the board, the position starts to look scarce in a hurry. Don't let fear drive your decision making, there are too many good players to be drafted around the #44 range to reach. Also, keep in mind, last season the drop off in terms of PPG from TE3 to TE14 was just 3ppg. The same separation from TE1 (Kelce) to TE2 (Kittle). Translation, if you don't get Kelce, you aren't well off at the position. Take the L and move on.

James Conner- I don't hate the player, I hate the offense. I don't think people realize how bad this team is going to be. Kyler Murray might not start the season and their back is good ole Colt McCoy. DeAndre Hopkins is gone too. Not a whole lot to love here and as a RB, its really hard to consistently crack the top 12 with a bottom 3 offense. I will fade any sort of Cardinals optimism when I get the chance. Price isn't outrageous at RB26, but I'd still rather draft someone else.

Breece Hall and Javonte Williams- As much as this saddens me to write, because I love these 2 players, they are both coming off ACL injuries and history has not been kind to RB's coming off that injury. We all reference what Adrian Peterson did in 2012 when we want to feel better about these situations, but believe me, that is the outlier, not the norm. In the past 5 seasons, no RB's have finished higher than RB30 coming off an ACL injury.