7 Players Who Could Lose Your Fantasy Football League in 2026 (Ep. 2142)

**Matt Modi** (0:01)
Welcome, everybody, to the FantasyPros Podcast. I am your host, Matt Modai. I am joined by Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitzmaurice. Today, we're talking seven players who could lose your Fantasy Football League. And whenever I think about winning and losing, I like to quote Trent Dilfer, you can't lose football games and still win in the NFL. I think that applies to fantasy as well. So today, we're talking about players to avoid. Erickson's got three, Pat's got three. I'll have one at the end. And at the very end, we'll talk about the one you guys are most scared of being wrong about. Nice quick 15 or so minute episodes. We'll get right into it. Erickson, we'll start with you. Who are you? And not necessarily scared to draft. What do you think could lose your Fantasy Football League? Your pick number one.
Christian McCaffrey. Coming off a 450 touch season that led all players in 2025 The last 13 years, only one running back was a top five fantasy football running back. Next year, after seeing at least 400 plus touches. Christian McCaffrey will already turn 30 years old.
Running backs age 27 or older, who led the NFL in touches, that's happened six times. Zero of them have finished as top five the following year. Only two running backs finished as fantasy football RB ones, just top 12, the following year after leading the NFL in touches since 2013
Ezekiel Yates, the only one to do that, to actually finish inside the top five the following season. The other 10 busts, injuries, regression, volume drop-offs, et cetera. They did not deliver the high ADP cost to acquire them. And we've done this same old song and dance with Christopher Caffer before. He has led the NFL in touches twice already in his career.
The following seasons, he finished 53rd and 72nd at running back. So I get that the upside case for CMC is, well, he could be the number one scoring player, then why doesn't he go number one overall in drafts? Because there's a fear with him of a risk factor with Christian McCaffrey, who is already dealing with tightness, right? It's already begun. So for me, he is a player that, yes, the upside, I get it. I get why people want to draft him and I get why he goes so high. But for me, there's a process with fading the guy that has the most touches the year before and it's worked time and time again. And specifically with CMC, it's worked successfully to fade this particular player. So based on where he goes, I would much rather have James Cook, a player that is in his prime, plays in a high-powered offense, and is way less likely to miss games in 2026 So McCaffrey showed signs of decline in terms of rushing, fourth lowest rushing yards over expectation per attempt last year, career-low yards per attempt at 3.8, and the 49ers overall feel like a very fragile bet in 2026 They have one of the most oldest offensive lines in the NFL. Every single day, it seems like another guy is pulling up with a hamstring injury or a tightness or whatever. And it's just an offense that, I mean, I think it's going to be more disappointing than rewarding in 2026 for Fantasy Football. And that starts at the top with CMC.
Yeah, starting hot. The RB3 going eighth overall. Pat, what do you think?

**Pat Fitzmaurice** (3:09)
I totally get it. The historical precedents are scary, and McCaffrey could absolutely lose your league as a mid-first round pick. But, you know, you're quoting Trent Dilfer, Matt. I'm going to quote Ricky Bobby. We're going to quote all the greats of sports. If you ain't first, you're last. And we know that if Christian McCaffrey does stay healthy, he's going to score a lot of fantasy points. So I'm still willing to make that bet, especially if I'm in a league against tough competition.
Less so maybe in a home league, where I feel a little bit better about my chances and I don't need to take that risk. But against Sharks, yeah, I'll still make that bet in the mid-first round.

**Matt Modi** (3:48)
Yeah, that makes sense. So who's your first one?

**Pat Fitzmaurice** (3:50)
It's Rashee Rice, whose ADP has been falling a little bit, but it's still in the third round. Everyone knows there's injury risk and character risk here. Rashee Rice had clean up surgery on his knee in the spring and had to do his rehab in a Texas jail because he violated his probation for smoking pot and was on probation for fleeing the scene of a multi-car accident that he caused resulting in injuries to others.