SportsLine Model Flags Montgomery, Cook as 2026 Fantasy Football Busts — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- SportsLine's model correctly predicted Terry McLaurin's 2025 collapse, flagging him as a bust after he fell well short of top-50 ADP with career lows of 582 receiving yards and 3 TDs, down from 1,100 yards and 13 TD catches the prior season.
- David Montgomery is flagged as a 2026 bust despite an ADP around pick No. 52, with the model ranking him in the same tier as late-round backs Jaylen Warren and 10th-rounder Kenneth Gainwell, citing an expected timeshare with rookie Woody Marks (900+ scrimmage yards in 2025).
- James Cook is another model-identified bust, going at ADP No. 9 overall as the fifth RB drafted but ranked just RB10 by SportsLine behind Derrick Henry and Chase Brown, with higher fumbles, limited receiving role, and Josh Allen vulturing TDs cited as drags.
- The model is also fading one of the first six wide receivers off draft boards, ranking him barely inside the top 10 and calling him one of the league's biggest bust risks for 2026.
- SportsLine simulated the full 2026 NFL season 10,000 times to generate its rankings, building on past calls that identified A.J. Brown (2020 sleeper), Jonathan Taylor (2021 monster), Derrick Henry (2019), Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara (2018), and Davante Adams (2017).
- Top 2026 PPR ADPs via CBS open with Jahmyr Gibbs (1.09), Bijan Robinson (2.10), Ja'Marr Chase (4.00), Puka Nacua (5.16), Jonathan Taylor (5.37), and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (6.34), with James Cook landing at 9.04.
Why it matters: Fantasy drafters face real roster decisions in the next 24 hours before kickoff, and SportsLine's model is telling managers to pass on Montgomery in the fourth or fifth round, slide Cook out of Round 1 into late-second or third, and avoid a consensus top-six wideout — moves that could free early picks for higher-upside backs like Gibbs, Robinson, and Taylor who top the CBS ADP board.
Ask SkimNews
