10 Most Overrated Fantasy Football Players of the Last Decade

While a lot of time and energy in the world of fantasy football is devoted to finding sleepers, just as much should be spent on figuring out which players have not lived up to expectations, skill-level or draft position.

For the most part, players who generated a lot of hype had trouble living up to the expectations. But after research I also found some players who I thought might be overrated that were, in fact, as good as the hype suggested. For one, Chad Ochocinco was a Top 10 fantasy WR from 2003-2007, including three finishes in the Top Five. However, in that regard (and many others I'm sure) Ochocinco was the exception to the rule.

Looking at the 2002-2011 seasons, here are the most overrated fantasy NFLers.

Historical fantasy stats courtesy of FFtoday.

10. Reggie Bush

So, Reggie Bush finally had a 1,000-yard rushing season in his first turn as a feature back in Miami. But it wasn’t the type of breakthrough in fantasy it could have been. Bush’s fame is still much larger than his game. His best fantasy season (arguably) was his 2006 rookie season when he had 1,307 combined rushing and receiving yards and nine total TDs.

Last season he had 1,382 combined rushing and receiving yards and seven total TDs.

If the Dolphins don't further incorporate Bush into the passing attack, where he excelled with New Orleans, his fantasy value will never live up to his name recognition.

9. Roy Williams

A lot was expected of Roy Williams after he was drafted No. 7 overall out of the University of Texas. Williams and Charles Rogers were supposed to be the Detroit Lions' receiver duo for years to come, but things did not work out well for the Lions, Rogers or Williams.

Year after year, Williams was overvalued base on his potential and physical gifts, but the big season just never came for Williams or his fantasy owners. He maxed out as the No. 7 fantasy receiver in 2006 when he caught 82 balls for 1,310 yards and seven TDs. He never came close to the Top 10 again, as his next best career finish was in his rookie year of 2004 (28th).

Williams has had limited success with the Cowboys and Bears since leaving Detroit.

8. Jeremy Shockey

Shockey made an immediate impact with the Giants as a rookie in 2002 and was the No. 3 fantasy TE that year with 74 catches for 894 yards receiving. An injury limited Shockey to nine games in a promising 2003 campaign, and he never seemed to fully get back on track with the Saints or Panthers. Those rookie numbers are the career highs for Shockey, as the rest of the decade did not live up to the promise of 2002.

As more and more talented, pass-catching TEs entered the league, Shockey slipped down the ranks of fantasy TEs. In the past five years he has been the No. 21 fantasy TE on average.

7. Darren McFadden

It pains me to say this as a Raiders fan, but until McFadden plays and produces for a whole season, he will be overrated. Drafted mostly on potential the past few seasons, McFadden has failed to deliver for fantasy owners because of a variety of ailments, including a Lisfranc injury last year.

McFadden was, on average, the 23rd player off the board in fantasy drafts last year and was leading the league in rushing when he went down in Week 7. While the potential for McFadden to have top-three numbers is there (his 2011 stats project out to a 16-game total of 1,627 rushing yards, 403 receiving yards and 13 TDs), he’s an overrated fantasy prospect until he can carry it out.

Run-DMC, please accept this challenge.

6. Larry Johnson

Johnson became the Kansas City Chiefs No. 1 back partway through the 2005 season after an injury to Priest Holmes, and he finished as the No. 2 fantasy back. He followed that up with another No. 2 finish in 2006. He had over 1,700 yards rushing in each of those seasons.

But Johnson failed to deliver for fantasy owners in 2007. Or ever again. A Week 9 foot injury effectively ended Johnson’s fantasy relevance, though he remained a high enough draft pick in 2008 to burn fantasy owners one final time.

5. Hines Ward

Ward’s best year of the past decade was the first. In 2002, Ward caught 112 passes for 1,329 yards and 12 TDs as the league’s No. 3 fantasy receiver. His name remained prominent in WR talks and fantasy leagues even through last year (his final year in the NFL), but he was only a Top 10 fantasy receiver twice more (2003 and 2005). From 2005-2011, he was the 24th-ranked receiver on average.

Ward was one of the toughest players in the league and a team leader, so many of his contributions didn’t show up on fantasy football stat sheets.

4. Baltimore Ravens D

The Ravens defense has no doubt been one of the league’s best over the past decade. It has featured some of the great defensive players of the era with Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, Chris McCalister, Haloti Ngata and Bart Scott performing in purple the past decade.

But their on-field success hasn’t always translated into fantasy dominance like you might suspect. In the past decade, the Ravens defense has an average fantasy finish of 9th—not the best value for one of the first defenses selected each year.

3. Michael Vick

Vick is the ultimate fantasy teaser. If he could have put together his best passing and rushing performances for an entire season, he would have been sensational and truly deserving of a No. 1 selection.

But there was no consistency for Vick when he was with the Falcons. In the 2002 and the 2006 seasons, he was at his best as the No. 4 QB overall. But in between those seasons he was 39th (missed 11 games with a broken leg), 12th and 10th.

Vick missed the 2007 and 2008 seasons and returned in 2009 with the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2010, he won the job with an injured Kevin Kolb on the bench and put up over 29 fantasy points per game in standard scoring. However, he missed four games with a rib injury.

2011 was a huge disappointment for Vick owners, as some used the No. 1 overall pick on him after that promising 2010 campaign. He missed three games last year and was unable to finish two others while his average fantasy points per game fell to 23.2, well below the QB and overall leader Aaron Rodgers (30.4).

2. Brett Favre

Favre will be a Hall of Fame QB, and deservedly so, but he doesn’t quite make the cut when it comes to the fantasy football elite.

Q: How many times Brett Favre was a Top 5 scoring fantasy QB in his last nine seasons in the NFL?

A: Zero

Peyton Manning was in the Top 5 eight of those nine years. Even Trent Green had two appearances in the Top 5 in that span. While Favre accumulated a lot of records over his career because of his durability, longevity and gunslinger mentality, he was never really a “statistics QB” that was well-suited for fantasy like Manning.

1. Tim Tebow

Unfortunately for Tebow, wins aren’t a scoring statistic for QBs in fantasy football. If they were, Tebow might be a valuable fantasy commodity. But as it is, the QB needs to be the highest-scoring player on the fantasy roster, and Tebow just hasn’t been up to the task.

While Tebow provides decent RB statistics from the QB slot with rushing yards (660) and rush TDs (six), he was still just the No. 18 fantasy QB because he added only 12 pass TDs and 1,729 pass yards.

The hype on Tebow’s fantasy value should be minimal coming into this season, as he will start the season as the Jets’ backup QB while seeing some time in special packages. However, if the Jets do make a change, don’t be so quick to rush to the waiver wire.