2011 Fantasy Football: Is This the Worst Year Ever for Fantasy Busts?

In fantasy football, nothing is more terrifying than missing out on your first-round draft pick. 

It can virtually doom your team to being the bottom dwellers of your league, and you to being the butt of every joke. 

The 2011 season may be the worst year in recent history for first-round fantasy busts. 

Five of the top 10 picks (according to Fantasy Football Calculator) are off to rough to very bad starts this year. The number gets even worse if you drafted early and took Peyton Manning.

Arian Foster, drafted at No. 3, has a combined 40 yards rushing and receiving so far, with zero touchdowns.  Even worse, Ben Tate has emerged, and a hamstring injury may linger well past the point that Foster feels like he is healthy (as has been proven by him aggravating the injury twice now).

Chris Johnson finally ended his holdout, just in time to remain a top fantasy option, and became the fourth pick off of the board. He has rewarded his owners with fewer than 100 rushing yards, at a whopping 2.1 yards per carry. He has add 91 receiving yards, but he has yet to find pay dirt either rushing or receiving.

Jamaal Charles was off to a good start compared to Foster and Johnson, if for no other reason than because he found the end zone in Week 1. However, he destroyed the hope of many of his fantasy owners when he went down for the season after just two carries in Week 2. Charles had 27 yards in the first two carries against the Bills, but that ended abruptly when he tore his ACL.

Michael Vick, who went before Tom Brady, has been injured twice in three weeks.  Good luck getting through the rest of the season with him as your starter. 

If you were one of the shrewd owners who drafted a backup quarterback to pair with Vick, you might be okay; otherwise, go make a trade for Kevin Kolb. 

Aside from the injuries, Vick is putting up decent rushing numbers at about 50 yards per game, but only 200 passing yards per game.  While in general that is terrible in terms of fantasy, that's alright because the rushing yards are weighted more heavily. But Vick has not been lighting up the scoreboard the way many people thought that the "dream team" would, with only four touchdowns (all passing) and two interceptions through three games.

Finally, to round out the top 10 busts, Rashard Mendenhall has not been terrible but he certainly has not been the bell cow that people expected him to be coming into the season. With the way the Baltimore defense was playing in Week 1, it is not surprising that Mendenhall struggled to begin the season, and Week 2 was salvaged by a touchdown to pair with his 66 rush yards and 12 receiving yards.  However, to total 46 yards against the Colts is completely unacceptable for his owners.

Johnson and Mendenhall have nothing holding them back and may turn the rest of their season around and win a championship for their owners, but the others on this list may be in serious trouble.

Foster has a lingering injury and competition, Charles is done for the season, and Vick can never be counted on to make it through a full game (How does that contract look now, Philly fans?). 

There hasn't been a first round like this recently, but it just goes to show that if you want to win you have to do your homework.