Steer Clear of These Big Names at Cost in Your Fantasy Draft

There’s not really such a thing as a “bad player to draft” in fantasy football. Anyone in the NFL who has a role in an offense holds some value. Don’t let folks tell you otherwise.

A player’s value being bad is real, though, and value is all relative to what it costs to acquire them. Understanding this is a cornerstone of nailing drafts. It’s easy to start figuring out who’s expensive or risky by looking at ADP regularly.

Identifying these types is key, and those are precisely the players who are the focus of this exercise. Using current ADP as reference, here are the 10 names fantasy managers should pass on at cost within the first five rounds of 2025 drafts.

(All stats per our NFL StatsHub unless otherwise noted)

10 to Avoid in the First 5 Rounds

Nico Collins, WR Houston Texans

(ADP: Pick 9.8, WR6)

Being stoked for Collins is understandable. He was awesome last season, but you won’t get me on board with him as a first-round pick.

Remember that Collins finished 2024 as the WR10 in PPR points per game (17.6). If you want to scream “when he was healthy” arguments at me, then fine. We’ll forgive him for not being quite as strong coming back from that Week 5 hamstring injury. But Collins scoring as the WR4 (averaging 21.3 PPR points) over those first five weeks still warrants my skepticism.

That small of a sample doesn’t make a strong argument for the price tag, and it seems dangerously close to his scoring ceiling. Plus, the Texans add a bunch of new weapons for quarterback C.J. Stroud this offseason. Between snagging rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel on Day 2 of the NFL Draft and trading for Christian Kirk, it’s busy in Houston now.

Oh, and you know who’s available at roughly the same cost as ADP 9.3? Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty You passing on that for Collins?