Popular Fantasy Football Bust Candidates Who Will Exceed Expectations: 5 ADP Fallers to Draft

Andersen's fantasy football busts candidates who will exceed expectations in 2025. Bust candidates who are actually draft sleepers and potential league-winners.

Every year, fantasy football managers and analysts throw around a scorching hot buzzword. Which word is that? Bust.

In the offseason leading up to fantasy drafts and the regular season, it's important to be wary of potential busts. Identifying these potential landmines allows fantasy managers to prepare, adjust their draft strategy, and pursue other players with higher floors or ceilings.

Once again this summer, there are plenty of players being labeled as potential busts. However, some of them shouldn't be catching this much criticism. Here are five popular bust candidates who will exceed expectations during the 2025 fantasy football season.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• NFL rookie fantasy football rankings
• Best ball fantasy football rankings
• Superflex fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

McCaffrey's 2024 season was tarnished by repetitive injury issues, leaving a bad taste in many fantasy managers' mouths. While there's no denying McCaffrey is getting older and perhaps more injury-prone, he still has more upside than any other player in the NFL.

Heading into the 2025 season, McCaffrey is reportedly fully healthy, which is a narrative we haven't heard since the 2023 campaign — you know, that year when he finished as the overall RB1 with more than 2,000 scrimmage yards and 21 total touchdowns?

When healthy, McCaffrey gets upward of 90 percent of offensive snaps within a run-heavy scheme. By itself, that statistic is great news for fantasy managers. Digging deeper, we also see that McCaffrey is highly efficient when he's at 100 percent. During his three healthy games last year — when the 49ers were still being somewhat conservative with him — he averaged 19 touches and 94 total yards.

During that three-week window, McCaffrey ranked as the overall RB13 in PPR leagues despite being somewhat held back by the coaching staff, being a step behind the rest of the offense after missing the first nine weeks, and facing three of the NFL's toughest defensive fronts.

Last year, McCaffrey also ranked near the top of the league in route participation (53.3 percent; third among NFL running backs), snap share (75 percent; sixth), opportunity share (71.9 percent; 12th), game script (+0.63; 13th), and under-center carry rate (68 percent; 14th).

With a clean bill of health and a full offseason of preparation, McCaffrey should now be back closer to his 2023 form. Will he total 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns? Maybe not. But his ceiling is still extremely high. If he plays 15 games, he has a much better chance of finishing as the overall RB1 than falling outside the top 12.

CMC CHECKING-IN 💯🔥💯 pic.twitter.com/WanB4EMfSG

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) August 27, 2025

Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

Many fantasy managers are avoiding Andrews in 2025 drafts after head coach John Harbaugh pledged that Isaiah Likely would see even more involvement this year.

However, at the end of the day, the better tight end is going to get more snaps. Right now, that player is Andrews. We can't forget that he continued to produce at a very high level last year, especially in the second half. He finished 2024 with a career-high 11 touchdowns while finishing as the overall TE6.

Andrews found the end zone in each of his final six games (Weeks 12 through 18). During that span, he ranked first among tight ends in fantasy points per game by standard scoring, as well as third in half-PPR leagues.

His involvement went up starting in Week 10; he played at least 56 percent of the offensive snaps in all but one game from Week 10 through Week 18. He also out-snapped Likely in eight of the Ravens' 10 games from Week 8 through Week 18.

Andrews continued to be the big-bodied, dominant tight end we had come to trust in previous years. He led all NFL tight ends in fantasy points per target, QBR per target, and average depth of target. Here's a breakdown of Andrews' best metrics and where they ranked relative to the tight end position last year:

Will Likely get involved this year? Of course. But Andrews is still the alpha pass-catcher in an offense that is quite favorable for tight ends when you consider game script, passing volume to the position, and red zone passing opportunities. Andrews has a much greater chance of finishing within the top three fantasy tight ends than outside the top 10.

James Cook, Buffalo Bills

Cook was one of the biggest surprises last season as he rushed for 16 touchdowns. This was a major turn of events, given that he recorded just four rushing touchdowns between his first two seasons combined. Cook's big campaign came at a perfect time as he parlayed it into a four-year extension this offseason.

The natural reaction is to say that last season was an anomaly and that Cook's touchdown total will regress in 2025. That's a fair argument, and it's likely an accurate one. However, it's not like his touchdown total is going to drop to two or three this year. In fact, he'll probably still hit double-digits.

One of the reasons why Cook scored so many touchdowns is that the Bills didn't want Josh Allen to have as many goal-line rushing attempts last year. This was intended to preserve his health, and we saw that happen as the season went on. In fact, Allen's rushing attempts from inside the five-yard line decreased by over 21 percent from 2023 to 2024.

Cook was a major benefactor, and he stands to benefit once again this season as the Bills continue to preserve Allen's health.

Plus, there are plenty of other metrics working in Cook's favor. Buffalo averaged the seventh-most rush attempts per game last year (30.2).

Meanwhile, Cook still ranked eighth among running backs in fantasy points per opportunity (1.09), 12th in yards per touch (5.3), sixth in production premium (+14.1), and third in expected points added (+40.1). Furthermore, he didn't lose a fumble. Finally, he scored at least 8.8 fantasy points in 88 percent of his games last year, and at least 13.3 points in 63 percent of his games.

Cook's Yahoo ADP of 33.1 means that you're most likely drafting him as your RB2, which is a steal considering that he's an effective runner with a large workload in a high-powered offense. Don't overthink it; Cook is going to have another great season.

Every James Cook touchdown last season because I can. pic.twitter.com/haGxFcaStW

— BillsMuse (@BillsMusee) August 29, 2025

Bo Nix, Denver Broncos

Seeing Nix's name mentioned as a "bust" within the fantasy football community was quite a shock, considering that he excelled as a rookie last season and is only trending up. It's hard to stress about a quarterback who totaled 3,775 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions during his first pro season while ranking as the overall QB7 in fantasy football.

Some of the panic stems from the idea of a sophomore slump, which was an issue for C.J. Stroud last year. However, Stroud is one of the only examples from this decade of a quarterback who excelled as a rookie and regressed in their second year. Nearly every other notable starting quarterback draft pick from the last five years improved during their second season.

Nix finished last year with 73 deep ball attempts and 4,090 yards. He also had a 63.6 percent red zone completion percentage and a 6.0 accuracy rating, which ranked second among NFL quarterbacks. The Oregon product was one of the NFL's cleanest passers, consistently posting high accuracy ratings and completion percentages. He was also highly effective against man coverage.

Nix's ability to move the ball with his legs can't be forgotten, either. He finished the year with 480 rushing yards while ranking fifth among quarterbacks in carries (92) and red zone carries (19). Not only is Nix a threat to pass for a lot of touchdowns, but he should have several rushing scores, too.

The second-year quarterback also gets a major boost from the addition of Evan Engram, who was a valuable option in the passing attack for Trevor Lawrence last year. In 2024, Engram averaged 2.27 yards of target separation, posted a 16.3 percent dominator rating, and supported a 92.3 quarterback rating when targeted.

The stars are aligning for Nix to get even better in 2025, and whispers of regression seem totally unfounded. He continues to be a very appealing draft option at his Yahoo ADP of 66.7 (QB7).

Bo Nix to Evan Engram.

Poetry. pic.twitter.com/0E07Beomkb

— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) August 20, 2025

Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Every summer, there's a persistent narrative that Evans is too old and will be a bust during the upcoming fantasy football season. Well, it's 2025, and we're still waiting for that to happen.

Evans has been Mr. Consistency throughout his NFL career, surpassing 1,000 receiving yards in each of his 11 seasons. He's a six-time Pro Bowler and finished as the overall WR9 in fantasy football last year, largely thanks to his 11 touchdowns.

Even at 31 years old last season, Evans maintained a 38.5 percent air yards share, which ranked 10th among all NFL wide receivers. He was also 12th in expected fantasy points per game (17.9), 13th in explosive rating (114.6), 11th in contested catch rate (56.5 percent), 14th in expected points added (59.7), and 10th in fantasy points per target versus man coverage (2.21).

Meanwhile, Evans averaged 0.58 fantasy points per route run, which ranked seventh at the wide receiver position.

He also did all of this while playing in 14 games. If you extrapolate his 14.5 fantasy points per game over a full 17-game campaign, he would have scored 246.5 points, ranking as the overall WR4 in fantasy football.

Availability will continue to be a storyline as Evans gets older, and we don't necessarily expect him to play in all 17 games. However, we do expect him to remain the dependable receiver that elevates his quarterback's game while helping the Buccaneers make a playoff push.

Plus, while Tampa's offense is strong, Evans doesn't face much competition. Cade Otton has been a non-factor when Evans is healthy, Chris Godwin is still several weeks away from being healthy, and Jalen McMillan will miss extended time. Emeka Egbuka is Evans' biggest competition for targets right now, but in all likelihood, they will elevate each other's games, not bring each other down. The same should even be true with Godwin and McMillan when they return.

With a Yahoo ADP of 35.6, fantasy managers can get Evans as the WR2 in their lineups. At that price tag, you should be pounding the "draft" button without hesitation.

Mike Evans has 11 consecutive 1,000 yard seasons to start his career 🔥

Will he make it 12?
pic.twitter.com/ld3x7nwECt

— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) September 1, 2025