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Fantasy Football: These ended up being the worst draft picks of 2024

At the conclusion of every fantasy football season, it’s a good exercise to look back at what circumstances led to your ultimate fate — whether you walked away with a first-place trophy or reigned supreme in your league’s Toilet Bowl.

Perhaps the most important aspect of that self-reflection is to look back at our worst picks. Why did we make them? What did we miss?

There were plenty of bad picks this year that didn’t pan out due to injury; San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey headlines them all. However, there were plenty of other disappointments who did stick around for the majority of the season but still didn’t pay dividends for our fantasy team.

Here’s a look at fantasy football’s worst picks, round-by-round, based on their average draft position and eventual PPG to close out the season.

ADP: 4.3, RB2 off the board
PPG finish: RB18

The only thing more painful than not having your first-round pick available for most of the season (cough, CMC, cough) is having him available, only to receive middling production. Despite being a consensus top-five overall draft pick, Hall notched just two top-five finishes at his position all year.

Another year removed from the torn ACL that ended his rookie campaign, most hoped Hall would look like his former explosive self, but that wasn’t the case. Hall has now seen a decline in rush yards per carry in each of the past two seasons (5.8 as a rookie, 4.5 in 2023 and 4.2 in 2024) as well as yards after contact per attempt (4.13, 3.41, 3.02) and breakaway yardage percentage (43%, 40.4%, 26%).

Perhaps our first mistake was believing in the New York Jets? (Sorry, Jets fans.)

Honorable mention: Christian McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill

ADP: 18.3, WR9
PPG finish: WR43

Surprise! The fantasy football world went all-in on the wrong rookie this year, which is even more impressive considering there were two rookies who could be considered a “right answer,” with Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers both finishing as WR1s in their debut campaigns. Marvin Harrison Jr. was considered among the safest prospects in this draft class — a true blue-chip prospect with ideal size (6-foot-4, 205 pounds), elite collegiate production and NFL bloodlines to boot.

It didn’t turn out as we hoped to open the year, however. As was the case with the Arizona Cardinals offense and QB Kyler Murray in general, Harrison’s rookie season had its ups and downs. There were flashes of the No. 4 pick, including his best game of the season (4-130-2 for 27 fantasy points) and some pretty nice contested catches. Still, those plays were too few and far between to make a dent on our fantasy rosters. Harrison had two top-five weekly finishes, including a WR1 overall finish in Week 2, but otherwise, fantasy managers got WR4/WR5 value most of the season.

Honorable mention: Travis Etienne Jr.

ADP: 28.3, QB2
PPG finish: QB11

The difference between QB2 (where Mahomes was actually drafted) and QB11 (where he finished), isn’t as significant as most of the disparities discussed on this list. However, considering that fantasy football managers invested in Mahomes with a third-round pick — passing on potential game-changers such as Josh Jacobs, Jalen Hurts or James Cook in the process — his performance is particularly troublesome.

Here’s a look at some of Mahomes’ stats in 2024 and where they rank among QBs with 200+ dropbacks, per PFF:

  • 6.8 YPA (25th)

  • 26 pass TD (7th), 11 INT (11th-most)

  • 2.9% Big Time Throw rate (32nd)

  • 93.5 NFL passer rating (16th)

It was an average season at a price well above value.

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ADP: 38.6 (WR18)
PPG finish: WR35

There was one very, very pleasant surprise in the Seattle receiving corps this year; unfortunately for those who paid up to draft DK Metcalf with a fourth-round pick, it wasn’t him. In the team’s first season under new head coach Mike Macdonald and OC Ryan Grubb, it was second-year wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba who shined, leading the team in targets, receptions and receiving yards.

Metcalf, meanwhile, posted the lowest YPRR average of his career (1.8), with the second-lowest YAC/REC average (4.0), a career-low four receiving touchdowns and tying his previous career low with a 95.9 NFL passer rating when targeted. He finished as the WR35 in fantasy points per game and finished as the WR57 in two of three playoff weeks.

Honorable mention: Brandon Aiyuk (injured)

ADP: 49.7 (WR22)
PPG finish: WR53

There were a couple of things working against Pittman in the 2024 season, including the management of a back injury throughout the season, but the biggest obstacle was the Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback play. Between Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco, the Colts QBs had a combined 49.9% accurate throw rate per PFF — the lowest in the league — including a league-high 28% uncatchable/inaccurate pass rate.

Pittman finished as the WR53 in fantasy points per game, with a career-low 64.9% catch rate, and his lowest yardage total since his rookie year. Pittman notched just a single weekly finish as a top-12 WR all year: in Week 17, the fantasy football championship, when most fantasy managers had long since removed him from their starting lineups.

Among those you passed on to draft him? Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers — fantasy’s WR4 and WR7 this year, respectively.

ADP: 58.6, TE6
PPG finish: TE21

Fantasy football managers went into 2024 with a lot of hope that this year would be “different” at the tight end position, with a plethora of potentially high-end options available. Kincaid was one of the mid-range options who seemed to offer more hope than most; following the offseason trade of star WR Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans, it seemed entirely possible that Kincaid could emerge as Josh Allen’s top receiving target.

All hopes of a concentrated target tree vanished almost as soon as the season kicked off, though. The Bills had eight players with 30 or more targets this fantasy season, but not a single one of them surpassed 100. Allen spread the ball between his receivers often, and Kincaid never surpassed 53 receiving yards in a single game, also seeing a dip in his catch rate (80.2% as a rookie to 62% in 2024). Lesson learned — the tight end position might very well be a lost cause.

ADP: 66.7, RB22
PPG finish: RB54

The 2024 season didn’t go as planned for the Miami Dolphins, as they regressed significantly from their 2023 form; they ranked bottom-10 in EPA per play (-0.067), touchdown drive percentage (18.8%) and offensive points scored (192), per PFF. That, of course, isn’t great news for the run game — especially not for a 32-year-old RB whose game is based on speed.

Mostert was hailed as a potential late-round value given the expected firepower of the offense and the fact that it seemed unlikely second-year RB De’Von Achane would eclipse 200-plus carries. While Achane didn’t exceed that mark, he did total 270 touches thanks to a significant role in the receiving game (78-592-6), and Mostert was incredibly inefficient. Mostert averaged a career-low 3.3 yards per attempt on 85 total carries, including two touchdowns and two costly fumbles. 2023’s overall RB2 failed to log a single top-12 finish all season.

ADP: 78.9, K1
PPG finish: K17

Did you pay up for the G.O.A.T. this fantasy football season? Justin Tucker sends his regards.

In all fairness, he appears quite frustrated with his season, too. After years of consistency as one of the best kickers in the league, Tucker finally looked human this year, making a career-low 73.3% of field-goal attempts and securing fewer than 26 field goals for the first time in his 13 career.

The kicker position remains a volatile one (and was even more volatile with several significant injuries), proving once again that early investment at kicker often isn’t a pot of gold worth chasing.

Honorable mention: TE Jake Ferguson

ADP: 83.2, WR36
PPG finish:

Diontae Johnson did a lot of traveling in the 2024 calendar year, starting with the Pittsburgh Steelers before a trade to the Carolina Panthers and another trade to the Baltimore Ravens before eventually being released and subsequently claimed on waivers by the Houston Texans.

Whew. Talk about well-traveled.

There was some hope that Johnson could emerge as a top target for Bryce Young. After all, we know he’s perfectly capable of handling a WR1 workload, with three seasons of 140+ targets over his career. However, his potential never came to fruition, amassing just 363 yards and three touchdowns in 11 games played, including a single catch for six yards in his stint with the Ravens.

ADP: 93.4, DEF5
PPG finish: DEF24

There’s debate every year about whether it’s worth paying up for a team defense versus streaming over the course of the season. The Cleveland Browns D/ST was a perfect example of the downside. After being selected as the consensus fifth defense off the board based on ADP, Cleveland’s defense finished as the D/ST24 in fantasy scoring. The team allowed 20+ points in all but two games this season and forced the third-fewest turnovers (11).

Meanwhile, three of fantasy’s five highest-scoring defenses this season (Denver, Green Bay, Seattle) were drafted in less than 25% of leagues. Yeah … streaming might be the way to go. Best to use that 10th-rounder elsewhere; Jayden Daniels, Brian Robinson Jr. and Jayden Reed were all Round 10 picks this year.

Honorable mention: Devin Singletary

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