There’s an old adage among fantasy football nerds: you can’t win a championship during the draft, but you can definitely lose one. The idea is that even a team built on a great draft still needs to be managed throughout the season through waiver pickups, trades and injury jostling — but if you take too many swings and misses during a draft, your season could be over before you even pick a kicker.

That’s easier said than done, of course. Every bust is obvious in hindsight and, in the moment, we all naturally gravitate toward big names who have done it before. But it helps to have some general takes on who to fade heading into your draft.

Here are 10 players to avoid drafting in 2026 fantasy football:

Trey McBride, TE, Arizona Cardinals

This is not a knock against McBride, who finished with 126 catches for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns last year. Completely absurd for a tight end. It’s just that we’re on six consecutive years of a different TE1 overall than the year prior and McBride’s new offensive coordinator is Nathaniel Hackett, who was in over his head the last time he called plays (Jets, 2024). If you’re itching to take a tight end in the second round, just keep it simple and reach for Brock Bowers. Otherwise, hang tight and take Tucker Kraft, Sam LaPorta or Harold Fannin Jr. in the fifth or sixth round.

Rashee Rice, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

If you’re of the opinion that the Chiefs offense is going to flow through new running back Kenneth Walker as Patrick Mahomes eases his way back in after tearing an ACL last season, there are much better wide receiver options in the third round than Rice. DeVonta Smith, Chris Olave and Tee Higgins all carry similar injury risk as Rice but have more upside and less uncertainty.

Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders

This is less about the player and more about the price, as Daniels is usually around the fifth QB off the board. That is right around where Daniels finished in his rookie breakout season and doesn’t price in his down year in 2025. If you want a top tier quarterback, don’t mess around — get Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson. If you’re fine waiting, quarterbacks like Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence could all reasonably finish ahead of Daniels this season.

Jeremiyah Love, RB, Arizona Cardinals

Injured rookies should always give you pause, especially when they are going in the first three rounds. Love looks like he’s going to be dealing with a high ankle sprain through the start of the year, which is an injury that can linger, and has competition in the backfield in Tyler Allgeier and James Conner. With that being said, he did go No. 3 overall for a reason, and your leaguemates might also be scared off. Taking an injured rookie on a bad team who will likely be splitting time looks a lot better in the fourth or fifth rounds than the second, where many outlets had Love going prior to the ankle injury.

Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants

The second-year running back out of Arizona State had a very fun rookie season, but he also finished with just 125 touches before getting hurt. I’m not a doctor and don’t pretend to be able to predict injuries, but the Giants signing Najee Harris might be a sign that Skattebo is headed toward a lighter workload than his ADP would suggest. There’s no need to take the risk on Skattebo when you can take Javonte Williams, Travis Etienne Jr. or David Montgomery in the same range.

Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants

Yes, two Giants. I’m sorry. It’s not personal. It’s just hard to have faith in this offensive line, and Dart carries a lot of the same hardheaded style of play and risk that comes with drafting Skattebo. Maybe that’s naive, and maybe Dart’s outlook would be stronger if the Giants had a better receiving corps, but you’re counting on a healthy Malik Nabers and a huge jump from free agent signee Isaiah Likely to be even average at the position.

Saquon Barkley, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

The 29-year-old Barkley is likely to never again see the workload he got in 2024, when he turned 345 carries and 33 receptions into a fantasy-league-winning 2,283 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns. He still played in 16 games again last year, but Barkley’s numbers all dipped pretty dramatically and he finished as a high-end RB2. Yet in 2026 fantasy drafts, Barkley is somewhere between the fifth and eighth running back taken.

Those managers are counting on a return to what will almost certainly end up as the best season of Barkley’s career, which is not a bet that usually pays off with running backs in their late 20s. Barkley is an incredible player and could have a great season, but if you want a running back at the end of the first round, James Cook and Chase Brown have much higher ceilings.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle Seahawks

New Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury could be fantastic at his job. We have no real way to evaluate that until the season starts. But we do know that Fleury has never called plays before at any level of football, while former offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was good enough at the job to elevate the Seahawks to a Super Bowl and then land a head coaching gig with the Raiders. That transition alone makes it improbable that Smith-Njigba repeats as fantasy’s overall WR1, which is the goal of taking a wide receiver in the first round.

Derrick Henry, RB, Baltimore Ravens

It’s a similar argument for not drafting Barkley — Henry is two years older than his new offensive coordinator, Lamar Jackson is in a pseudo-contract year and Baltimore finally has promising young WRs to help wide receiver Zay Flowers (who just received a huge extension). It’s easy to say the 32-year-old has to slow down at some point, but even if he doesn’t, there are enough team factors to think he might not outperform his ADP. You’re better off taking a running back like Kenneth Walker, Omarion Hampton or De’Von Achane in the second round.

Mark Andrews, TE, Baltimore Ravens

This shouldn’t be much of a hot take, as Andrews has less than 700 receiving yards in each of the last three seasons and finished with a career-low 8.8 yards per reception last year. But the soon-to-be 31-year-old is still being drafted as a fringe TE1, likely buoyed by the idea that Andrews will have a bigger role after backup Isaiah Likely left in free agency for the New York Giants. Instead of falling into that trap, wait a few rounds and draft Chig Okonkwo, Terrance Ferguson or AJ Barner.