The top busts of the 2014 fantasy football season

Regrets.  We all have them.  We all have that moment that we wish we could take back when we did something stupid. Fantasy football is full of those moments that we wish we could take back.  That moment where we decide to start someone on a hunch, or on the advice that we get from someone, and the player does worse than the one that you already had in the lineup.  

A fantasy football draft pick, keeper, and waiver wire are full of those regrets.  You want to draft someone, but change your mind at the last second. Then for the next 17 weeks of the season you regret that decision as you watch that player explode on someone else’s team.  Instead you draft or keep someone that is a complete bust, and every week you get reminded by the stats that you made a bad decision.  Same thing happens on the waiver wire.  You wait to take someone, and then someone else swoops in and gets them.  You pass on a player because you don’t want to drop someone on your current roster, and the player you passed on has a great finish to the season.

The following five players, in my opinion, are five of the biggest busts in fantasy football in 2014.  Whether they were kept or drafted, they are players that I am sure you wish you never had on your team in 2014!

Montee Ball:  With Knowshon Moreno out of the way, Ball was picked by many to be one of the best fantasy running backs in football in 2014.  He was drafted in the first round of most drafts, and with Peyton Manning as his quarterback, big things were expected.  Ball did nothing to live up to those expectations.  He played in only the Bronco’s first four games of the season, and did very little in those four games to justify his draft spot.  To make things worse for himself, he got hurt in week five, and never touched the ball again the rest of the year.  Now he will be fighting for a roster spot as both Ronnie Hillman and CJ Anderson outperformed him when given their chances.  Ball finished 2014 with 234 total yards and one touchdown.

Zac Stacy:  After a solid rookie season, Stacy came into 2014 as the starter in the Rams backfield.  Stacy finished 2014 with over 1100 total yards and eight touchdowns, but came nowhere close to matching those numbers in 2015.  He was never able to get things going in 2015, had trouble holding on to the ball, and eventually lost the running back job to Tre Mason, who looks to have a strong hold on the job going into 2015.  After week six, Stacy totaled 15 carries.  He finished 2014 with 445 total yards, and one touchdown.

Cordarrelle Patterson:  Patterson came on late in 2013, and was a big breakout candidate in 2014 in Norv Turner’s offense.  The guy that had been a kick return specialist, was supposed to run with the number one receiver position in Minnesota.  Unfortunately, he ended the year as the number four receiver on the team, making little to no impact on the Vikings offense.  Patterson had 18 points in week one – which ended up being 31% of his total point on the year!  He never got involved in the offense after that, and became an afterthought for the Vikings.  At this point, he looks like nothing more than a kick returner going forward.  Patterson ended 2014 with 501 total yards and two touchdowns.

Vernon Davis:  The number two scoring tight end in 2013, hopes were high for those that drafted Vernon Davis in 2014. Week one did not disappoint as he scored two touchdowns and had over 16 fantasy points.  Then weeks 2-17 happened! In that time span he missed two games, and put up a whopping total of 20.5 points.  After week two, he never even scored three points in a game the rest of the season.  There may not have been a more disappointing player week to week than Vernon Davis this season, as he was in the starting lineup and still did not score any fantasy points.  Good news for Davis though – he really cannot get much worse next year!  Davis finished 2014 with 249 total yards, and two touchdowns.

Toby Gerhart, signed as a free agent in 2014, was supposed to be the starter for Jacksonville in 2014.  Finally out of the shadow of Adrian Peterson, Gerhart was a popular pick as sleeper in 2014, as he was the only running back on the roster with any real experience.  Gerhart then proceeded to average 3.2 yards per carry and have some nagging injuries, and quickly lost his job to ineffectiveness.  He scored in double digit points a grand total of one time in 2014, and regained his spot as a backup as he was in Minnesota.  Gerhart finished 2014 with 512 total yards and two touchdowns.

Un-honorable Mention
Adrian Peterson:  AP was a top five pick in drafts, then went out and got in trouble and missed 15 games.
Victor Cruz:  Only six games played, and only two double digit games in those six.  Cruz missed 10 games with an injury.
Reggie Bush:  Missed 5 games with injury, and even when in lineup only averaged six points per game.
Chiefs Wide Receivers:  0 Touchdowns.
CJ Spiller:  Missed seven games with injury, totaled 47.5 points in the other nine games.
Ryan Mathews:  In typical Matthew’s fashion, he missed 10 games to injury.
Percy Harvin:  Missed three games to injury, and averaged six points in the other 13 games.

This column was written by Ryan Thyer. Follow him on Twitter: @BigNoahD05