49ers fantasy football: Are any Niners one of these 10 potential draft busts?
By Peter Panacy
Fantasy football owners would be wise to steer clear of these tempting but risky ‘busts’ during their league drafts heading into the 2021 season.
One of the biggest keys to victory for any fantasy football season is to avoid placing too big a value on players who end up never coming close to expected levels of production respective to their average draft position (ADP).
In short, avoid the busts.
Bust-type players can come in many different forms. Some players are coming off a career-best year only to revert back to modest pedestrian-like numbers the following season, frustrating owners who were hoping last year’s campaign wasn’t an anomaly.
Others can fall victim to the injury factor, too. Two cases are notable. San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, widely viewed as a top-three target at his position, missed eight games last year because of injuries, while fantasy football owners of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott had their championship dreams shattered when he suffered a serious leg injury in his fifth game of the season.
Injuries weigh into fantasy football consideration, of course. But let’s look at 10 other bust candidates outside of those risks whom owners either need to avoid entirely or not overbid on during fantasy drafts.
No. 10 Fantasy Football Bust to Avoid: RB Raheem Mostert, 49ers
Let’s kick off this list with a Niners running back, Raheem Mostert, who would have been a great grab in 2019 because of his pass-catching tendencies — great for points-per-reception (PPR) leagues — and home-run touchdown threat.
After all, he led San Francisco with 10 touchdowns that year.
Yet that production dropped off, largely because of injuries in 2020, but Mostert is still being viewed as a mid-round pick, according to Fantasy Football Calculator, which lists his ADP at 4.09 in a 12-team, PPR format.
Way too high.
True, Mostert’s value increased slightly with fellow running back Jeff Wilson — the 49ers’ leading touchdown scorer last year — suffering a torn meniscus this offseason. Yet the Niners also added two more running backs in this year’s NFL Draft, Trey Sermon and Elijah Mitchell, meaning Mostert’s use is likely to diminish regardless.
And there are signs pointing to Sermon, not Mostert, being San Francisco’s primary ground option in 2021 anyway. Especially with Mostert, having an injury history of his own, just turning 29 years old.
An elderly age for a running back being tagged so high in fantasy drafts.