In fantasy football, finding good players to draft is only half of the battle. Perhaps more importantly, you need to know who not to draft at their ADP. Today, we take a look at 3 players who you should avoid, relative to their ADP:

1. Jonathan Taylor

Taylor’s rookie season was one for the books; he rushed for over 1,100 yards, and picked up 11 rushing touchdowns en route to finishing as the RB6 overall. He played as well as you could ask out of a rookie, so what exactly is the problem for Taylor? The problem isn’t a lack of talent, it’s the changes in the offense, lack of passing work, and the steep price that you have to pay to have him on your team. Earlier this offseason, we saw the Colts trade for QB Carson Wentz following the retirement of their former QB, Philip Rivers. Rivers is notorious for checking down to his running backs, whereas Wentz is thought of more as a gunslinger. River’s departure will lead to a decline of targets and receiving work for Taylor. All of this combined with a mid-first round price makes Taylor a bad value and a player you should avoid drafting at his ADP in 2021.

2. Travis Etienne

ADP: 46.0 RB 22

To many people’s surprise, Travis Etienne was drafted 25th overall this year by a team that already had a 1,000+ yard rushing running back in James Robinson. Etienne was arguably the best all-around running back in the nation when he was at Clemson, and he has since reunited with his college quarterback in Jacksonville. Despite that, Etienne faces a very troubling situation for fantasy purposes this year. The Jacksonville backfield is set to be a crowded one, with undrafted standout James Robinson and a carry-pest in Carlos Hyde, who signed with the team earlier this offseason. Etienne is also being drafted ridiculously high, with a price of a late 4th or early fifth round running back, which is higher than players like Kareem Hunt, Mike Davis, Myles Gaskin, CeeDee Lamb, and Diontae Johnson, all of whom are proven talents and/or bellcow options for their respective teams. Etienne is a very talented player, but his situation and draft price makes him an unappealing option for fantasy football this year.

3. Patrick Mahomes

ADP: 17.4 QB 1

Before I get crucified for this pick, understand that this is only relative to draft price. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL, and he is going to be spectacular for fantasy, like he always is. The problem is that he is a mid-second round pick, which is nuts for a quarterback. If you take Mahomes at his current draft price, you are sacrificing drafting an elite running back or wide receiver, and that is detrimental to your fantasy team. You can get a different quarterback that could realistically finish ahead of Mahomes as far as 42 picks, or three rounds later, which would still allow you to draft that difference-maker for your other skill positions. Mahomes is a great player, bust proof, and immensely talented, but all things considered, he’s as close to a death sentence for your team as you can find in the second round. You’re far better off grabbing a different QB later in the draft and pairing him with an elite skill position player.

*All ADP’s based off of Sleeper app 7/4/2021
*All rankings and points based off of full point PPR scoring