7 Players On My Do Not Draft List: Fantasy Football Recap 2024
Fantasy Football Recap 2024 reminds us of all of the fantasy football players we regret drafting—those who were disappointing, were constantly injured, or simply underperformed. Raise your hand if you’ve been there before. My hand is way up!
We’ve all sworn to the fantasy gods, “Never again!” Yet somehow, those players sneak back onto our rosters year after year.
Fantasy Football Recap 2024: 7 Players To Avoid
Let’s dive into 7 players I won’t be drafting again—or at least not in 2025. Avoiding these names could save you from another season of frustration.
Patrick Mahomes – QB Kansas City Chiefs
Since Week 8 of the 2023 season, Mahomes has had five games of 20+ fantasy points and zero of 30+. In comparison during that same time span Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have combined for 35 games of 20+ fantasy points and 10 games of 30+ points.
He did finish this season as a QB1 (QB10) but this was far from his preseason ADP of QB2. There probably weren’t too many championship teams with Mahomes as their quarterback.
The days of Mahomes being an elite fantasy QB1 seem to be over. Mahomes may be an elite NFL quarterback, but he is no longer an elite fantasy football quarterback.
Michael Pittman – WR Indianapolis Colts
11.78 and 6.03. The first number is Pittman’s average fantasy points per game with Joe Flacco as the Colts’ quarterback. 6.03 is Pittman’s average points per game with Anthony Richardson as his quarterback. Pittman almost doubles his average fantasy points with Flacco as his quarterback.
Unfortunately, Joe Flacco is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Even if the Colts do bring him back, there is absolutely no indication that the team is ready to move on from their prized sophomore quarterback Anthony Richardson whom they selected in the 2023 draft with the 4th overall pick.
Pittman finished the fantasy football season as the WR44, which is not too far away from WR5 territory. This is a far cry from his WR23 finish in 2022 and his WR16 finish in 2023. He didn’t even come close to returning an investment of his 2024 WR21 preseason ADP.
There are just too many obstacles for the talented receiver to overcome. Teammate and running back Jonathan Taylor is still the central part of the Colts offense. Even if they don’t run the ball with Taylor or Richardson, Pittman still has to compete with other receivers like Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, and Adonai Mitchell for targets.
These issues don’t even come close to the biggest obstacle for Pittman – and that’s his quarterback Anthony Richardson. In the ten games that Richardson has played this season, he has averaged 181.4 passing yards and 0.8 touchdowns per game.
Unless I can draft Pittman at a supreme discount, there is no way I want any part of a receiver on a team that prefers to run the ball and one with inferior quarterback play.
Jayden Reed – WR Green Bay Packers
After last year’s strong finish, this year was supposed to be Reed’s coming-out party. His ascension to WR1 territory.
It looked like this would come to fruition in the first half of the season as Reed was the WR6 from Weeks 1-9. During that same time frame, he averaged 81 yards per game.
However, from Weeks 11-17 he was the WR56, one spot ahead of Tim Patrick and just behind Parker Washington and Olamide Zaccheaus. Yuck. He averaged 34 yards per game during these weeks.
This isn’t a big surprise if you have paid close attention to how the Packers offense became more run-heavy in the second half of the season. From Weeks 1-9 running back Josh Jacobs was the RB12. From. Weeks 11-17 he was the RB2, only behind Saquon Barkley.
Reed only has a 62.8% snap share on the Packers which ranks 78th among receivers in the league. Lafleur and Love simply spread the touches around. With Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, Bo Melton, and Tucker Kraft, there are simply not enough looks for Reed to reach that next level.
Did you know that for the past two seasons, Reed has only four games with more than 18 fantasy points? For now, Reed won’t get enough touches to have many if any blowup games.
I love the talent and the player. But until the Packers offense makes Reed a central focus and/or relies less on the running game, I’ll let Reed be someone else’s headache in 2025.
D.K. Metcalf – WR Seattle Seahawks
In 2020 and 2021, Metcalf finished both years as a WR1. In 2022 and 2023 he finished as a WR2. There was hope that he could regain his WR1 status this past season.
That simply didn’t happen. Metcalf finished as the WR34. His worst finish since entering the league as a rookie in 2019 (WR32).
What is more concerning for Metcalf is his teammate and fellow receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba who finished this season as the WR8.
The torch seemed to be passed on from Metcalf to Smith-Njigba after the Seahawks’ bye in Week 11.
From Weeks 11-17, Metcalf was the WR36 compared to Smith-Njigba who was the WR12 during that same time span.
The Seahawks have clearly moved on from Metcalf and have finally started to feed their 2023 1st round pick, and so should you in 2025.
Christian McCaffrey – RB San Francisco 49ers
This one pains me a bit since McCaffrey has helped me to win championships in the past. But we need to learn to let go in the fantasy football world.
McCaffrey will be 29 years old before the 2025 season begins. Historically, a running back’s production can start to dip at the age of 28. Over the past five years, McCaffrey has missed on average over seven games a season.
McCaffrey was the 1.01 in many drafts last season and was set for a big season for his managers. That is until the “Week 1 Kyle Shanahan screwjob.” It was known in early August that McCaffrey was dealing with a calf and Achilles injury/tendinitis but that he would be ready for Week 1 of the regular season. Well, 90 minutes before the Niners kicked off on Monday Night Football, McCaffrey was declared out for the game, which left many fantasy managers with a zero (myself included) for that spot and a bad taste in their mouths.
McCaffrey did not return to the starting lineup until Week 10. He then sustained a PCL injury in Week 13 and was out for the remainder of the season.
There is no denying McCaffrey’s league-winning ability, but I won’t be the one taking a gamble on him for the 2025 season.
Any rookie WR with a top 24 ADP
Once upon a time, it used to take a rookie receiver a minimum of three to four years to get acclimated to the pro league and to eventually produce elite numbers. Clearly, that is no longer the case. Wide receivers coming out of college are more than ever prepared to play and produce in the NFL.
In the last few years, we’ve been spoiled with elite rookie production from players such as Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Puka Nacua.
This year, rookie receivers Brian Thomas Jr. of the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants Malik Nabers finished the season as the WR4 and WR7 respectively.
All the receivers mentioned above had a preseason ADP of round 5 or higher in their rookie season. You didn’t need to take a big gamble to draft them. If they didn’t produce, it sucked but it didn’t derail your fantasy season.
Marvin Harrison Jr. – WR Arizona Cardinals
Enter Marvin Harrison Jr. who was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals 4th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. His ADP entering the season was WR9 and 15th overall.
In order for Harrison Jr. to meet or exceed his ADP, he would have had to produce at near-historic rookie receiver levels. I was advocating this past offseason that Harrison Jr. was not worth his ADP or the risk.
Harrison Jr. had a very respectable rookie campaign finishing with 62 receptions, 885 yards, and eight touchdowns. He was the WR32 for the year which wasn’t even close to his offseason WR9.
You would have had to have drafted Harrison Jr. either at the end of round one or somewhere in round two. If you did, he hurt you substantially this season and there probably weren’t many championship fantasy teams that had Harrison Jr. on their roster. You can overcome a poor round-five or higher pick, but it is extremely difficult to overcome a miss in round one or two.
Entering the 2025 season, Tetairoa McMillan of the Arizona Wildcats seems to be the early favorite to be selected as the first receiver in the NFL Draft and subsequent fantasy football drafts. I’ll let someone else overdraft him this upcoming season and to see if he can be next year’s Brian Thomas Jr.
Kyle Pitts – TE Atlanta Falcons
It seems like the former Florida Gator has been around the league for a long time. However, he was only drafted three years ago in 2021 with the 4th overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons. Pitts was the highest-drafted tight end ever in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Pitts certainly lived up to his draft hype and did not disappoint in his rookie season. At the time he had the second most receiving yards by a rookie tight end ever at 1026 and finished the year as the TE7. Things could only go up from there, right?
Needless to say, Pitts’ career has spiraled downwards since. His 2022 season was cut short by a torn MCL and PCL. Even then, his 10 games played up until his injury was far from spectacular as he was only the TE16 up until that point.
In 2023, Pitts played a full season and was the TE13 with 667 receiving yards to go along with three touchdowns. He admitted later on, that his knee injury that he suffered in 2022 was a lot worse than he let on and that he was never 100% in 2023.
Many fantasy managers took the plunge again in 2024 and gave Pitts the benefit of the doubt. Boy were we ever wrong. Pitts finished the season as the TE14 but was the TE18 in average points per game at only 6.6. He had eight games with under five fantasy points and was essentially unplayable and benchable.
Unfortunately, Pitts has left a sour taste for many of us fantasy managers. In one league, I co-managed a team that had the 1.02 for the 2021 rookie draft. I wanted to select Ja’Marr Chase and my co-manager wanted to draft Kyle Pitts. I decided to be a “good co-manager” and let him make the ultimate decision. He took Kyle Pitts. We have been regretting that decision ever since.
In the end no matter how much a player has spurned you, no matter how many times you swore to never draft them again, you SHOULD be open to drafting them again.
Among savvy fantasy football drafters, there is an adage we use and that you all should follow. “Don’t hate the player, hate their average draft position (ADP)” – no matter how much you don’t want to draft them.
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