Five Biggest Fantasy Football Busts Through Week Three - Joe Chacon's Blog

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Five Biggest Fantasy Football Busts Through Week Three Stuck

Posted on September 26, 2012 at 02:03 AM.

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Now that we are three weeks through the NFL season, we can start to take a look at which top fantasy draft picks are making their owners contemplate trading them before they lose their value.

Some players are off to horrific starts but we all know they are going to turn it around and have a great season. For other players, they may never recover and as an owner you could be looking at a lost season for them already.

Let's take a look at the five biggest busts in fantasy land through week 3. Please keep in mind that these rankings are only based off of the first three weeks and I'm not labeling them as a season-long bust (well, maybe one of the players on this list).

The draft statistics were based upon Yahoo!'s overall values and the league settings used to determine the fantasy point totals are as follows:

Passing Yards - 25 yards per point
Passing TD - 6
INT - (-2)
Rushing Yards - 10 yards per point
Rushing TD - 6
Receptions - 0.5
Return TD - 6
Fumbles Lost - (-2)

Here are the rankings through Week 3:

5.

LeSean McCoy (RB, PHI)
Average Draft Pick: 4.0
Current RB Rank: 15 (37.80 points)

LeSean McCoy hasn't been horrible, but he falls on this top five list because I know if he is on your team he was most likely your first round selection.

McCoy has 261 yards rushing, averages 4.5 YPC and has 11 receptions. The problem is he only has one touchdown and has lost two fumbles.

While he's a top five bust now, I don't expect him to be anywhere near this least as the season progresses.

4.

Cam Newton (QB, CAR)
Average Draft Pick: 15.0
Current QB Rank: 18 (52.02 points)

Cammy Cam Cam Cam...what's going on? The sophomore quarterback has racked up the passing yards (798), but that has come with very inconsistent play and a handful of errors (5 INTs, 1 FumL).

Newton was very dejected after his Panthers were steamrolled by the New York Giants. It was good to see him take the horrible performance seriously instead of just brushing it off like it was meaningless.

Statistically, Newton's average draft position for QB's was fourth. I believe the first three games were a very close representation to the roller coaster he's going to give his fantasy owners throughout the season.

Newton won't end up a top five quarterback at the end of the season based on fantasy points, but he should still have a good season and wind up within the top 10.

3.

Aaron Rodgers (QB, GB)
Average Draft Pick: 4.0
Current QB Rank: 20 (49.60 points)

Aaron Rodgers is going to be just fine. It's amazing to see that he's been sacked 16 times through the first three games. Even with the constant pressure he's been under, the mistakes have been limited and he's only thrown two picks in 115 attempts.

If you own Rodgers, don't put your hand anywhere near the panic button. Four of his next five games come against the Saints, Colts, Rams, and Jaguars.

While he sits ranked 20th among QBs today, I don't see any reason why he won't be within the Top 10 after week eight.

2.

Larry Fitzgerald (WR, ARI)
Average Draft Pick: 12.9
Current WR Rank: 34 (31.10 points)

Fitzgerald owners are relieved that the Arizona wide receiver is coming off of a 9/114/1 game. Unfortunately, the game before that was a dismal performance in which Fitzy caught one ball for four yards.

Much like Aaron Rodgers, there is no reason to worry about Fitzgerald. He is consistently one of the best players in the league. However, he was the second wide receiver picked in most drafts and his current production ranks him 20th among all wide receivers.

1.

Chris Johnson (RB, TEN)
Average Draft Pick: 9.7
Current RB Rank: 46 (15.30 points)

For the sake of time, I'm going to cut my rant on Chris Johnson from three pages down to about 75 words.

Some experts say the blocking scheme is hindering Johnson, others believe it's the play calling, and the rest are certain Johnson just doesn't care anymore. Whatever it is, it's maddening.

CJ2K (can we still call him that?) is arguably the fastest player in the NFL. He has great vision and is somebody who can also run between the tackles. So how does an athlete with that kind of talent average 1.4 yards per carry?

You know how many of us sit there watching a game with our chicken wings and we say or think to ourselves, "C'mon man! I can do better than that!" Well, guess what. I promise you that if we carried the ball 33 times over three games, we'd get close to or exceed the 45 yards Johnson has accumulated.

Johnson has not gained more than 61 yards in a game dating back to December 4 of last season (seven games). He has also gone that span without scoring a touchdown.

So why was Johnson picked ahead of guys like Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew in most leagues? Because, if you were like me, you didn't want to be the guy who passed on him and have to watch him blow up for 2,000 yards in a season.

Unfortunately, another dismal season is on the horizon. His projected stats for the entire 2012 season:

176 Carries for 240 yards and 0 touchdowns.

Hopefully you didn't make the same mistake that I did.

OS Voice: Who's your fantasy bust through Week 3?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports and a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.