10 Must-Avoid Fantasy Football Players (2024)

It’s important to know who to target and who to pass on when it comes to your fantasy football draft, and our FeaturedPros experts have identified 10 must-avoid fantasy football players in 2024.

To better understand players to avoid and others to reach for, use our Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) and compare them to a player’s average draft position (ADP). Players going higher in ADP versus ECR are likely those you want to reconsider at their current cost. On the flipside, players that experts are higher on versus ADP are those that could be worth reaching for or at least targeting at their current ADP.

You can also use our expert accuracy rankings to help determine which experts to select when you are building your custom fantasy football draft cheat sheets.

Here’s a look at players the experts are avoiding at their current ADP.

Must-Avoid Fantasy Football Running Backs

What one RB inside the top 100 in our consensus ADP do you plan on avoiding in all your drafts relative to their price and why?

Rhamondre Stevenson (RB – NE)

“I’m avoiding Rhamondre Stevenson (RB-NE) in all of my fantasy football drafts this season. There are too many question marks that I have that merit drafting him at his current price. He plays on an offense that will look totally new this season. And I’m even more concerned that Antonio Gibson will vulture most of Rhamondre’s 3rd down work. ”
– Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire)

Rachaad White (RB – TB)

“Rachaad White feasted on volume in 2023 because he was the Bucs’ only backfield answer. He has been a poor rusher for two years, though. White has ranked 41st and 46th in Next Gen Stats’ rush yards over expected per attempt and 49th and 42nd in yards after contact per attempt. Rookie Bucky Irving won in those same ways at Oregon. And Todd Bowles has already praised Irving’s ability to evade early tackle attempts and create big plays. I wouldn’t be shocked if Irving garners more carries than White this year. If that happens, it’d be a short trip for Irving to edge White in receiving work as well. Both have been effective in that area. With White going on the edge of RB1 territory and Irving carrying an RB5 price tag, I’ll easily favor the rookie all summer.”
– Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks)

D’Andre Swift (RB – CHI)

“From a simplified point of view, you could argue that D’Andre Swift was one of the more effective running backs in fantasy in 2023. In the main counting stats, he ranked as the RB12 in carries (229) and RB5 in yards (1,049), all while logging the most games played in his career. But where he fell short for fantasy managers last season was his ability to find the end zone. His six total touchdowns (RB24) sunk his fantasy points per game (12.5), which was even lower than his expected fantasy PPG (13.3). Even though he added 39 receptions (RB21) to his stat sheet, it could not make up for the fact that Jalen Hurts was the preferred goal-line option for the Eagles. So, you may ask yourself, what is not to like from Swift as we project to 2024? It’s quite simple, really. He is now on his third team in three years, so despite all the talent he has flashed in the past, something is just not clicking with the coaching staff to keep in the plans long term. Now, he lands in Chicago with the Bears and will potentially be sharing the load with two other backs while a rookie quarterback gets acclimated to the NFL. Swift is currently getting drafted as an RB2 but may only see the workload and scoring potential to constitute the value of an RB3 at best. A total avoid for me at current cost.”
– Brandon Murchison (RotoBaller)

Josh Jacobs (RB – GB)

“The ADP for Josh Jacobs (RB11, 38th overall) is based on the assumption that Jacobs will be the clear lead back for Green Bay, and that’s not a safe assumption. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has been an RB-by-committee guy. A.J. Dillon has routinely gotten double-digit carries for the Packers, even in games where Aaron Jones has been healthy, and it’s pretty obvious that Jones is far better than Dillon. When LaFleur was the Titans’ offensive coordinator in Tennessee in 2018, Derrick Henry had 215 carries in 16 games, and Dion Lewis had 155 carries. Think about that for a moment: LaFleur actually used Derrick Henry as a rotational back. Still want to bet on high usage for Jacobs this year? It’s also worth noting that Jacobs had minus-86 rushing yards over expected last year and rated poorly in the missed-tackles-forced and yards-after-contact metrics.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)

“I’m out on Josh Jacobs, and I don’t care who knows it. Jacobs hasn’t been the same player since his epic 2022 season. The volume took a toll on him last year. The biggest worry surrounding this back that I can’t seem to shake is his tackle-breaking juice might be gone for good. Last season, Jacobs had the 12th-highest stuff rate while also crawling in at 37th in missed tackles forced per attempt and 44th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). If you’re targeting a back from this depth chart, it’s easily MarShawn Lloyd. ”
– Derek Brown (FantasyPros)

Must-Avoid Wide Receivers

What one WR inside the top 100 in our consensus ADP do you plan on avoiding in all your drafts relative to their price and why?

DJ Moore (WR – CHI)

“I’m avoiding DJ Moore (WR-CHI) in all of my fantasy football drafts this season. The talent is there, but there are two things that are against him: (1) QB Justin Fields is replaced with untested rookie Caleb Williams. (2) There are a lot of mouths to feed in Chicago this season, especially Keenan Allen and rookie Rome Odunze.”
– Jeff Boggis (Fantasy Football Empire)

Nico Collins | Stefon Diggs | Tank Dell (WRs – HOU)

“All of Houston’s top 3 WRs look overpriced. If you add up the half-PPR scoring averages from last year for their ADP slots — Nico Collins (WR13), Stefon Diggs (WR20) and Tank Dell (WR29) — you get 36.5 points. That would have ranked top 4 among full-team WR scoring each of the past three years. I’m most out on Diggs among the trio, given his challenges of age (31 in November) and joining a new team. But he also brings a history of letting folks know he’s not happy when he’s not getting enough targets. You don’t trade for that guy to make him a decoration. That makes me wary of the target shares for the younger Texans wideouts at cost. I believe the Houston passing game will prove significantly overpriced when we look back on 2024.”
– Matt Schauf (Draft Sharks)

“I’m fond of Nico Collins, but his ADP (WR13, 19th overall) is hard to justify. Collins gave us an exciting 80-1,297-8 stat line last year, but he had to be ruthlessly efficient to get there since he drew a modest 109 targets. Collins had a 73.4% catch rate and averaged 16.2 yards per catch, 11.9 yards per target, and 3.11 yards per route run. Those freakishly good efficiency numbers are going to be tough to repeat, so for Collins to finish in the WR1 range, he’d probably need a target increase. That’s unlikely to happen now that the Texans have added Stefon Diggs to a WR corps that also includes the electric Tank Dell. At his elevated price, Nico is an easy fade.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)

Tee Higgins (WR – CIN)

“Tee Higgins continues to be an anomaly for me in fantasy football. He is consistently overvalued in fantasy football based on his draft cost each year and the production that he brings to the table. His best season to date was his sophomore campaign in which his fantasy points per game (15.7) landed him at WR12 on the year with his only season with a target share over 20% (23.9%). In three out of his four seasons in the NFL, his actual fantasy PPG has not exceeded his expected fantasy PPG, which speaks to the inconsistencies he brings to the table. As I have pointed out numerous times over the offseason, Higgins provides fantasy managers with WR3 or worse production weeks at more than a 60% rate yet is routinely viewed as a borderline WR2. Add in the tumultuous offseason and potential that he could be moved in a trade due to unhappiness with his contract, all the negative vibes are in place for me to avoid at his current ADP.”
– Brandon Murchison (RotoBaller)

Jordan Addison (WR – MIN)

“I know everyone will hate this take. I get it. We love to invest in talented second-year wide receivers, but the inverse can absolutely be true. As a collective, we should be all the way out on sophomore wide receivers that flopped in their rookie season. The lead that I’m comfortably burying is that I’ll be avoiding Jordan Addison this year. Addison’s rookie year numbers for fantasy were GROSSLY inflated by insane touchdown luck. He was 15th in end zone targets last year and ran hot with the fourth-most receiving touchdowns among wide receivers behind only Mike Evans, Tyreek Hill, and CeeDee Lamb. All of his other metrics (that we should value higher) were in the toilet. Among 81 qualifying receivers, he ranked 46th in target share, 59th in targets per route run, 51st in yards per route run, and 58th in first downs per route run. If I’m making a bet in the Minnesota passing attack outside of Justin Jefferson for 2024, it’s Aaron Jones and not Jordan Addison.”
– Derek Brown (FantasyPros)

Busts Featured Pros NFL Rhamondre Stevenson Antonio Gibson Rachaad White Bucky Irving D’Andre Swift Josh Jacobs A.J. Dillon Aaron Jones Derrick Henry MarShawn Lloyd DJ Moore Justin Fields Caleb Williams Keenan Allen Rome Odunze Nico Collins Stefon Diggs Tank Dell Tee Higgins Jordan Addison Mike Evans Tyreek Hill CeeDee Lamb Justin Jefferson