When going through and providing a year in review for the 2020 NFL Fantasy Football season, hindsight becomes such a terrible thing, especially when looking at players that were overdrafted when compared to their season-long production.

What makes it even worse is when those disappointing players are ones that you had faith in going into the season, using an early draft pick on them, which ultimately could have cost you a slot in your league’s postseason bracket. But, as is the spirit of the year of 2020, crazy things happened and happened quite often, and fantasy football was no exception.

This list dives into five of the biggest disappointments for fantasy purposes from this past NFL season, with their disappointment stemming from low statistical outputs, unforeseen injury flare-ups, or even detrimental conduct that made them miss time or earn fewer snaps. But for whichever reason(s), their fantasy seasons were quite a large letdown, something that you surely would have preferred to know before drafting.

All player projections and average draft position (ADP) rankings are based on full-point, point-per-reception 12-team league formats and come from ESPN’s updated database.

Cam Newton – QB

New England Patriots
Average Draft Position – 11.04

Coming over from the only team that he had ever known, the Cam Newton – New England Patriots marriage seemed to be a perfect one entering this season. Yet Newton’s assimilation to a new offensive style, different weapons, and a stricter coaching staff did not result in promising results, ultimately resulting in a disappointing fantasy performance this season.

Naturally, Newton had his flash in the pan moments, as he was able to get into the end zone via his legs on more than a 2:1 ratio, compared to passing scores. The mobility factor has provided Newton with a better usage of his talents than his arm in his career, but to only throw for single-digit passing scores is quite abysmal.

With Julian Edelman missing a considerable amount of time, Newton was forced into feeding Jakobi Meyers, Damiere Byrd, and his running back core heavy targets in the passing game, which was in most games, seeing as how they were playing from behind more often than not.

Newton’s ADP places him as the QB10 on the average draft board, behind the man replaced (Tom Brady) and ahead of Ben Roethlisberger, not a great spot to be in. The one-year deal did not see Newton produce enough to earn a solid multi-year deal in next year’s free agency class, so it would not be a surprise to see Newton depart Foxborough and sign on with another team for a short-term contract.

The draw for Newton’s fantasy production focused on his running game potential and how much was going to be asked of him in New England, and while both of those things rang true, he also was unable to consistently produce in the passing game, ultimately knocking his value down way below his ADP.

Todd Gurley II – RB

Atlanta Falcons
Average Draft Position – 4.08

Long gone are his days of fantasy dominance with the Los Angeles Rams, as those have been replaced with knee injuries and touch inconsistencies in the Atlanta Falcons offense. Everyone, let’s reintroduce Todd Gurley.

For the most part, his health held out better than most expected this year, as he only missed one game. However, his usage ended up going downhill quickly after the team’s Week 10 bye, something that certainly made it tough to even roster Gurley after that point.

All seven of Gurley’s double-digit performances came before their bye week, so a light switch was essentially turned off once the team came out of the bye, handing the vast majority of the team’s RB touches to Ito Smith and Brian Hill. Smith has taken over the lead-back role for Atlanta moving forward, and Gurley has averaged just over seven touches a game after the bye, a huge downtick.

The risk in drafting Gurley was always there ever since he left the Rams for the Falcons, as his health and lack of consistency were the two biggest question marks entering the 2020 NFL season. While the beginning of his season looked very consistent, he eventually fell off and now looks to be a backup for next season, unless he was demoted to just save him health-wise.

James Conner – RB

Pittsburgh Steelers
Average Draft Position – 2.11

What happened in Pittsburgh?

Having rolled through their first 11 games of the season, the Pittsburgh Steelers just needed a loss against the struggling Washington Football Team to disrupt their perfect season and put them on a three-game losing streak. Going from being in firm contention for the top seed in the AFC to struggling to hold down their NFL divisional lead, the Steelers were mightily struggling.

Their successes largely relied on Big Ben’s arm, but they also survived based on James Conner’s involvement, the presumed lead back amongst a stable of four competent options that gave some fantasy drafters pause entering the season. But they did not pause enough apparently, as Conner’s late second-round price tag certainly puts him up there towards the top of the disappointment category.

On the surface, an RB that scores double digits in over eight games and only misses three is a very healthy contributor to your roster – yet Conner was not the consistent back that teams needed him to be, as the likes of Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels, and Anthony McFarland Jr. all cut into his work.

Conner was a hot pick for breakout star coming into the year, and many signs pointed to that, especially with the health of Roethlisberger and their strong offensive line. But as things typically go in the world of NFL fantasy football, projections are just that – predictions that rely on both sides following through, and Conner’s side just did not do that.

Michael Thomas – WR

New Orleans Saints
Average Draft Position – 2.10

The second-biggest disappointment (based on ADP) on this list was awarded to New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Michael Thomas, who missed time due to injury and punching a teammate, certainly made a lot of fantasy rosters very disappointed this season.

Whether you used an early selection on him, made an early-season trade for him and gave up a lot, or selected him as one of your keepers to carry over from last season, Thomas disappointed all across the board, even when he did suit up and play.

Seven games on the field are certainly not even close to being enough, especially for a player that averaged out to be drafted at the end of the second round, but certainly could have gone in the first round based on name and pedigree alone.

Having recorded five-plus receptions in four games that he suited up in are the only four games that he produced double-digit point totals, so if he recorded low volume and attention, he was a non-factor, regardless of if Drew Brees or Taysom Hill was throwing him the ball.

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His detrimental conduct incident, where he reportedly punched a teammate and had a verbal altercation with a member of the coaching staff, certainly does not put him in the best of light, but both he and the team seemed to have moved on from that, so hopefully that is fully behind both parties and is not an issue as the NFL season progresses into the postseason.

Regardless of the reason, Thomas was one of fantasy’s biggest disappointments this year, as he came into the year with high aspirations to continue to be at or near the top of the WR rankings. But no receiving TDs, only two 100+ yard games, and missing nine games on the year are all elements that make it tough to trust going into 2021.

Ezekiel Elliott – RB

Dallas Cowboys
Average Draft Position – 2.02

What do you get when you mix a superstar RB that is the clear-cut RB1 with a star QB that goes down with a season-ending ankle injury? You get a less-than-desired Ezekiel Elliott, who produced at RB2 levels this year in the NFL but did not live up to his early second-round price tag.

For Zeke, his downfall came when Dak Prescott suffered his season-ending injury, thrusting backup Andy Dalton into the spotlight. With the passing game suffering a bit with Dalton needing to find his targets, Elliott’s share of offensive workload earned more of a focus from opposing defenses, contributing to his downtick in efficiency.

A nagging calf injury took away some of his efficiency, helping open the door to Tony Pollard being able to step into the spotlight for a few moments, but Elliott’s production hinged on his inefficient usage of a steady touch load.

In every game that Elliott played in, he received an RB1 workload, yet the stat sheet commonly did not show that. His receiving marks were a big determinant on how well he did, as he only had two games of fewer than three receptions that he scored double-digit points in.

Elliott’s role in the Dallas offense seems to be quite safe for the time being, even with how strong Pollard looked in his limited action. Not to mention, Elliott’s massive contract extension essentially makes him untouchable for the Cowboys, cementing his status as the lead back for them.

But if his fumbling issues and usage inconsistencies continue, then Elliott will be a big-time question mark in the 2021 NFL season. But just looking at this season, his production was solid to start the year yet left you wanting a lot more once Week 7 hit, failing to justify his early second-round selection.