Fantasy Football: Top 5 Busts of the 2016 Season
DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Houston Texans
DeAndre Hopkins had Brian Hoyer, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Matt Schaub as his quarterbacks in his first three seasons with the Houston Texans. None of them finished in the top 25 in passing yards, yet Hopkins' numbers got substantially better each year.
| Years | Games | Rec. | Targets | Yards | Average | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 16 | 52 | 93 | 802 | 15.4 | 2 |
| 2014 | 16 | 76 | 127 | 1,210 | 15.9 | 6 |
| 2015 | 16 | 111 | 192 | 1,521 | 13.7 | 11 |
That steady progression led almost everyone in the fantasy community to believe Hopkins was quarterback-proof. His average draft position (ADP) ranged between 7 and 12 on the major fantasy sites in the preseason, making him the fourth wide receiver taken in most leagues.
Brock Osweiler, though, went a long way in proving that quarterback-proof theory wrong.
The Texans signed both Osweiler and running back Lamar Miller to four-year deals, hoping both would be major upgrades. While Miller was solid, finishing 10th in the NFL in rushing with 1,073 yards, Osweiler was a disaster. He finished 27th in the league in passing yards (2,957) and was one of three quarterbacks to throw more interceptions (16) than touchdown passes (15) with at least 2,000 yards.
He got benched in Week 15 and replaced by Tom Savage, who played in only two NFL games in his career up to that point.
Osweiler never made a strong connection with Hopkins all season. The result was Hopkins' worst numbers since his rookie year: 78 catches for 954 yards and 4 touchdowns. He had only two 100-yard games, and one of them came in Week 17, when most fantasy seasons were finished. He also had only one touchdown catch in his final 11 games of the regular season.
Hopkins finished as the 27th fantasy wide receiver in PPR leagues and 36th in standard leagues. His yards-per-game average went from 95.1 last season to 59.6 this season.
To put his numbers in perspective, Arizona running back David Johnson had more catches (80), the same number of touchdown receptions and nearly as many receiving yards (879) as Hopkins.
