TJ's Fades: 10 Players to Avoid in Rounds 1–10 of Fantasy Football Drafts

Aug 26, 2023

Chris Pedota - USA Today Sports

Each year there are landmines to avoid in your fantasy football draft. Below you will find one player in each of the first 10 rounds that I am avoiding at ADP. That last part is very important. Every player is a value at some point and some of these players I will still draft when they fall past ADP, but whether for roster construction purposes or inflated ADPs, I will have almost none of these players on my 2023 fantasy rosters.

Note: Player values are based on Multi-Site ADP in 12-team leagues. Use the overall ADP to adjust to your league size and be sure to use customizable 4for4 rankings before blindly scratching these players off your cheat sheet.

More Player Targets & Fades: TJ's Targets | John Paulsen's Draft Day Strategery | John Daigle's Targets | John Daigle's Fades

Round 1: RB Saquon Barkley, Giants (11th Overall)

As far as positional rankings go, 4for4 is lower on Saquon Barkley than any other first-round pick, slotting him in as our RB7 while the public has the Giants running back as the RB5. From a structural standpoint, I tend to trust pass-catchers in the first round over running backs, especially in leagues that award any type of PPR scoring, be it half-point or full-point.

As for Barkley himself, he has an uphill battle to try and pace his ADP. Ignoring the fact that he had to settle for money that he probably isn’t happy with, Barkley will likely lose some of the targets he earned last year to Darren Waller and possibly Parris Campbell and Jalin Hyatt. Additionally, Daniel Jones is always a threat to vulture some rushing upside.

I’m happy selecting CeeDee Lamb or A.J. Brown at the turn or going after one of my favorite targets this year, Tony Pollard, if a running back is a must.