Model flags Malik Nabers, James Cook as 2026 fantasy busts
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- SportsLine's model correctly predicted Terry McLaurin would fall short of his top-50 ADP in 2025, a season that ended with career lows of 582 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns despite his prior 1,100-yard, 13-TD campaign.
- Malik Nabers is flagged as a bust despite an ADP around pick No. 33 — the model ranks him outside the top-15 receivers, citing his torn ACL, a follow-up procedure in the spring, and the Giants' expected run-heavy scheme under offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
- James Cook is ranked RB10 by the model despite a top-10 overall ADP, with the model pointing to an elevated fumble rate, a lack of an elite pass-catching role, and Josh Allen's presence as a touchdown vulture in Buffalo.
- The model is also fading one of the first five receivers off draft boards, ranking him barely inside the top 10 — a name only revealed on SportsLine's site.
- The model's track record includes identifying Derrick Henry (2019), Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara (2018), A.J. Brown (2020), Jonathan Taylor's 2021 monster season, and C.J. Stroud's 2024 step-back.
- Last year's busts — Lamar Jackson, Justin Jefferson, Brian Thomas Jr., and Bucky Irving — left gaping holes in Fantasy lineups due to injury and/or ineffective play, underscoring how costly a single wrong pick can be.
Why it matters: Fantasy drafters going on the clock in the next two weeks face a major ADP-versus-model gap: James Cook is going at overall pick ~10 but ranked RB10, while Malik Nabers at pick ~33 ranks outside the top-15 WRs. Fading either could spare managers the kind of hole McLaurin left in 2025.
Ask SkimNews
