Fantasy Football: Reflecting on the 20 Most Frustrating Players

No matter how much you prepare, how hard you work and how much you pay attention, one aspect of fantasy football is undeniable: Sometimes luck has you for breakfast.

You can't always control how you do because you can never control what your players will do. Inconsistency leaves you never sure whether a guy needs to be on your bench because the minute you yank him out of your lineup, he blows up.

That NFL commercial had the right of it, huh?

Here are the 20 most mind-bogglingly, hair-yankingly, life-shortening and frustrating players in Fantasy Football. Enjoy if you can.

Andrew Garda is a staff writer at Footballguys.com where he writes a weekly column on injuries called Fantasy Triage and a preview of Thursday Night Lights. He's not currently on a plane looking to wreak vengeance on Andre Johnson. And he'll say that in court.

20. Roy Williams

Roy fooled you, didn't he? He looked—dare I say—relevant for a while.

Then the world went back to normal and his stats died off. Williams has ability but can never sustain his efforts. He'll tease you with one or two good games and once you decide to put him in, he'll hit you with a junk effort.

On the other hand, we should all know better by now, which is why he's so low on the list.

19. Mario Manningham

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS FOOTBALL HANG ONTO THE BALL!

*ahem*

Sorry. Not a disgruntled Manningham owner here.

Manningham has a real Star Trek thing going on; every other movie (or in this case, game) is good.

The odd-numbered ones are awful.

It's difficult to know when you can trust Manningham. He'll rip off a six-catch, 77-yard, one-touchdown game such as against San Francisco. Then, he follows it up with a dud of a game against the Eagles with just one catch.

Manningham is consistently plagued by drops and blown routes. You know he can ball—you just never know when.

18. Steve Johnson

Did you start Stevie Stylz last week? I could see where you might not have, given that he didn't do much the week prior until garbage time and the Chargers defense isn't awful.

Johnson has struggled much the same way the Bills offense have struggled all season.

He gets targeted enough to warrant constant observation by owners who always hesitate to put him in. His quarterback is imploding, his offense has too many injuries. Johnson still tries to make plays but he hasn't quite adjusted to the roll of primary receiver and therefore struggles to beat the type of coverage a lead WR gets.

Guaranteed you had him in for at least one game this year, which burned you, and when you yanked him out, he went off.

17. Any Patriot Running Back: RBBBBBBBBBC

For a while, BenJarvus Green-Ellis was the lead back here but lately the carries have been split.

Long-time fantasy owners will recall how bad it was for a while with wide receivers in New England. You never knew which guy would go off in any week.

Well, now we have the same issue at running back. "Law Firm" may be the safest bet, but that's not all that safe.

Until this clears up (and it might never), you're always going to spit into the wind. There is probably one player in here who could carry the load, but we'll never know.

16. CJ Spiller

I remember being in Radio City Music Hall for the 2010 NFL Draft and hearing "Spiller" called and wondering what the Bills were thinking. After all, they had Willis McGahee and Fred Jackson on the team.

Why waste a pick?

An undersized scat back, Spiller has been nothing but a crushing disappointment even when he recently fell into the lead back spot with Jackson on injured reserve. Yet he doesn't run with authority, hasn't flashed all that much speed and lacks the size to take it up the middle.

Spiller has tantalized owners since college, but he's yet to show he can be "the guy" consistently.

15. Adrian Peterson

Could Peterson have picked a more inopportune time to get hurt? Doesn't he know fantasy playoffs are here?

Seriously, Peterson's lingering high-ankle sprain submarined a lot of owners trying to make a late push for the playoffs. Hopefully you survived.

Even if you did, it has still been one of the most frustrating injuries this year. Hopefully Peterson makes it back this week. Even so, you then have to put him in the lineup and pray.

14. Marcedes Lewis

After a tremendous 2010, Marcedes Lewis has regressed terribly, failing to score a touchdown at all and rarely being targeted at all.

The old logic says a young, new QB will look for his tight end often, but Blaine Gabbert hasn't done so. With no other threats in the offense, Marcedes Lewis comes in for a lot of coverage. The thing is, while that slows a player down, the best overcome the tight coverage and Lewis hasn't been able to.

If you thought you could wait on a tight end and backdoor Lewis into your lineup as value, you were wrong.

We all thought Lewis would step up this year. We're still waiting.

13. Greg Little

Little is aggravating because he is at once so talented and also so damned raw.

One minute he's dropping perfect throws, the next he's making an amazing catch.

The Browns desperately need a lead receiver and Little has the ability. He lacks the refinement. 

Several times it has looked like he could put it all together, but ultimately something goes wrong.

Little is another guy who has the ability to catch balls and the more annoying ability to drop them and turn your hair gray.

12. Chris Wells

How can a guy who drops 228 yards on a team follow it up with 67 yards?

That's Chris "Beanie" Wells in a nutshell.

Wells is immensely talented and also immensely fragile. You can see his ability when he bowls over defenders or hurdles them. You can also feel the agony when his yearly bumps and bruises take him down or limit his effectiveness.

Usually just when you feel good about Wells, he finds a way to let your fantasy team down.

11. Ben Roethlisberger

Roethlisberger has had some bizarre games this year, and is in the midst of a fantasy season-killing bout of mediocrity. Last week he regained some mojo against Cleveland, while also ending up with a low grade high ankle sprain.

By and large, Roethlisberger just hasn't been putting up the points. It hasn't been that he played badly, just that he isn't playing well.

The fade, like some of the others on this list, comes at the worst time for fantasy owners. Hopefully he can right the ship in time to bail out his owners.

Still trying to puzzle out how Big Ben will reverse this course is enough to turn your hair gray.

10. Ahmad Bradshaw

Which is more frustrating?

Ahmad Bradshaw battling a foot injury in the same foot he has had previous injuries to?

OR

Ahmad Bradshaw missing a team meeting and being benched for a half?

Bad enough that the first one happened and then kept Bradshaw out of action for a long time. Worse is to have his comeback effort spoiled because he pulls a stupid move.

Either one will drive you batty. A hopefully healthy Bradshaw will see action against the Redskins this weekend and it's a matchup worth exploiting.

One hopes Bradshaw is the one doing the exploiting.

9. Mark Ingram

I know a lot of my fellow staff members at Footballguys had Ingram as the type of rookie who could step in right away for a team. I was certainly one of them.

Of course, we didn't account for him being taken by a team with multiple running backs already there. Ingram's chances were improving when he hurt himself and sat for some time.

He's been in and out of the lineup since.

Ingram runs the ball very well at this point and will continue to carve a role for himself. Unfortunately, that takes time and fantasy owners don't have much of that.

8. Andre Johnson

Andre Johnson has been in and out of the lineup in Houston so many times I have long since stopped trying to figure out that news ahead of time. First he missed time due to a torn hamstring, which then required a cleaning.

Now he's hurt the other hamstring and while the Texans have yet to claim home-field advantage, they may rest him for the playoffs.

All of which is the exact opposite of what owners were hoping for since they have games to win now and selected Johnson with a very high draft pick.

7. Philip Rivers

I contend Philip Rivers is hurt. I have no documentation and that's merely conjecture, but to me he seems to be struggling in a way which we haven't really see before.

His offensive line is still a mess and his wide receivers are more than a little banged up and/or crazy.

One minute he is putting up over 380 yards on Green Bay, the next he's stifled by Denver. You don't see either coming; you just hang on and hope for the best.

6. DeAngelo Williams

For a team who paid him big money in the offseason, the Panthers sure aren't interested in giving DeAngelo Williams the ball all that often.

Not that he's doing much with it when he does get a chance.

However, if you, like me, thought that he would be a big part of the offense, you, like me, were sorely mistaken.

Williams is an afterthought in this offensive scheme which centers on the Cam Newton/Steve Smith love connection with some Jonathan Stewart thrown in for spice.

Williams is the third wheel both for the Panthers and for fantasy owners.

5. Jahvid Best

Best is a supremely talented running back whose time in the league could be severely curtailed. Recently shut down for the season with lingering concussion symptoms and possessing a history of concussions due to football, at some point you have to assume he will call it quits.

Best has been terribly frustrating this season in large part because we kept hanging on to him on the roster, expecting him back.

That won't happen now.

4. Darren McFadden

Out of action since mid-October, Darren McFadden has now been diagnosed with a LisFranc break. It's not supposed to require surgery, but these injuries still have a habit of derailing careers or at least shelving them for a long time.

Like Best, owners have hung on to McFadden "just in case" and like Best, the time is coming where you have to drop him. Or your season is over. Either one.

McFadden had been the top fantasy football back before his injury. Owners were counting on him. Hopefully they were able to find an alternative, as McFadden is unlikely to help someone anytime soon.

3. DeSean Jackson

Oh, DeSean Jackson, you crazy person.

This has been a horrid outcome for a year in which Jackson will be a free agent. He's dropping balls, jogging routes when he bothers to finish them at all, dropping balls and getting penalty flags for stupid celebrations.

Jackson is a train wreck who you thought might be a WR2 with huge upside. At this rate, owners will be lucky if Eagles head coach Andy Reid doesn't bench him out of sheer frustration.

We feel Reid's pain.

2. Michael Vick

I wonder how many people who drafted Vick in the first round are still in the playoffs.

It might be even less than I think unless they had a solid backup.

Vick's injury history told you to be cautious, though many weren't. What we didn't expect was how much of a mess this Eagles team would turn out to be. Vick is running for his life far too often, the defense can't stop anyone and the wide receivers are either hurt or sullen.

That first-round pick can't be working out all that well.

1. Chris Johnson

After a holdout and some petulance, Chris Johnson burst onto the 2011 scene with a 24-yard effort against Jacksonville.

Yeah, that was only a taste, too.

Johnson should break 1,000 yards before the end of the season, but it's going to be close.

He's not running with authority, he doesn't seem to have that crazy breakaway speed he's had in the past and his burst is nonexistent.

He got back on track against Tampa Bay and Buffalo, but stumbled again when he faced New Orleans.

At this point, how can you trust him in your playoffs, or worse, your championship game?

You spent a high pick on Johnson and he should be able to help you when you need it.

Chris Johnson isn't a guy you can count on.