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topicnews · August 29, 2024

Five players to avoid in the draft

Five players to avoid in the draft

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Fantasy football is one of the most unforgiving games out there. You can spend months preparing for your ultimate draft, only to be hit with three injuries, an early retirement, and a head coach who refuses to use his best players (who just happen to be on your team). Even worse than any of the fates listed above, however, is drafting a flop.

While you know not to start injured players, selecting a player who is underperforming puts you in an awkward situation. Do you bench the player? What if he performs as expected? Do you keep him in the starting lineup despite his lackluster performance? It’s a conundrum that even the world’s smartest scientists can’t answer.

Of course, there is a simple way to avoid all of this. Just don’t draft losers. It’s that simple. Don’t draft anyone who will underperform. The less talented fantasy football players among you may say that this is an impossible task. There’s no way you can predict which players will underperform and which won’t. To that, I say, be careful. Here are five players you should avoid at all costs in your fantasy drafts this year.

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Five players to avoid in Fantasy Football 2024:

  • WR Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders

With Jahan Dotson moving to Philly, it would be easy to assume that Scary Terry is in for a great season with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. However, that won’t be the case.

Last season, the Commanders were tied with the Cowboys for most pass attempts per game in the NFL. Jayden Daniels is a mobile quarterback who will likely do a lot of running. Even if the Commanders maintain their insane passing volume from last season, the team has brought in some short to medium targets that will take some of McLaurin’s volume away.

Chief among these targets are Austin Ekeler, who has acted like a pass-catching machine out of the backfield in recent years, and Ben Sinnott, who not only dominated training camp and the preseason but has reportedly already developed a strong bond with Daniels.

Essentially, it looks like the Commanders will be a run game offense and could rely heavily on short passes to get down the field. If there is any positive, it is that Jayden Daniels is known for his incredibly long passes and McLaurin is pretty good at catching long passes. However, the amount probably won’t be enough to support McLaurin at his current ADP.

  • RB Gus Edwards, Los Angeles Chargers

If you look at the Chargers’ roster right now, you’ll see that Gus Edwards is listed as co-RB1 alongside his former Baltimore teammate JK Dobbins. That won’t stay that way for long. Although Dobbins was part of a run-heavy Baltimore offense a year ago, he wasn’t very effective, managing just 4.1 yards per carry. Most of his fantasy relevance comes from his work at the goal line, and let’s face it: The Chargers aren’t going to be near the goal line as often as Baltimore was a season ago.

Even if Edwards gets lucky and secures the goal line job in the Chargers’ backfield, he’ll likely lose the early drive work to Dobbins, meaning Edwards would be an insanely TD-dependent option for later drafts. Dobbins (and arguably third-stringer Kimani Vidal) has a better chance of being selected later in drafts.

  • RB Joe Mixon, Houston Texans

Mixon has posted four 1,000-yard seasons in his last six years with the Bengals. Great, right? But then why did the Bengals release him right after the 2023-24 season?

The fact is that Mixon is one of the least efficient running backs in the league and this will be the year his whole world falls apart. We’ve seen this before. In fact, it happened just last year when the Minnesota Vikings released Dalvin Cook. Everyone thought the Vikings were idiots for making such a move, but they knew what the public didn’t know and Cook had no gas left in the tank.

Mixon appears to be in a similar situation. As the lead running back in a dangerous Texans offense, he should have some good chances to get to the goal line early in the season, but by midseason he could well lose his spot in the starting lineup and his yardage overall will likely be underwhelming.

  • WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

Will Puka Nacua be a great fantasy receiver? Yes. Is he worth a first-round pick? No.

Not only does Nacua enter the 2024 season with a knee injury that he has been recovering from over the past few weeks, but reports from the Rams indicate that Cooper Kupp is fully healthy and the offense should run through him again. That’s not to say that Nacua isn’t a great fantasy receiver, but taking him in the first round when you could take Kupp early in the fourth round is not a winning strategy.

  • RB Javonte Williams, Denver Broncos

Although Javonte Williams is coming off a fully healthy offseason after tearing an ACL a year ago, he has serious competition in Sean Payton’s backfield. Reports from camp indicate that Jaleel McLaughlin looked like Denver’s best halfback, and the numbers back it up.

McLaughlin averaged 5.4 yards per carry in 2023, over a yard and a half more than Williams’ 3.6. Williams should improve on that mark this year, but it’s hard to argue against McLaughlin’s efficiency. At the very least, McLaughlin will take a noticeable chunk of the workload off of Williams, who will likely be a volume-dependent fantasy player.

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