Matt Barbato | Mon, Jul 22nd 2024, 7:05am EDT

The 2024 Never Again Team (Fantasy Football)

When it comes to fantasy football, nobody holds a grudge better than me. The old expression goes “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” But in this fun game we play, I sometimes can’t help employing a zero-tolerance policy. Fool me once and you’ll never be on a team of mine again.

Granted, I can’t take this approach all that often. Bad years happen, and if I ruled out every player who burnt me in the past I’d be drafting from a pool of maybe 45 guys. But every name on this list holds a special place in my heart. They are the exceptions to the rule. The guys who I will never draft again, and you probably shouldn’t either.

Introducing the 2024 Never Again Team.

Players to Never Draft Again

Quarterback: Trevor Lawrence (QB – JAX)

It’s really hard to get burnt badly at quarterback. The position is typically very deep, which allows me to wait toward the middle or even back-end of drafts to land a starter who should give me low-end QB1 production most weeks.

Last year, my strategy in a couple of leagues was to wait until Rounds 5-7 to take a shot on Trevor Lawrence, who seemed poised for a third-year breakout after a highly encouraging sophomore season.

Instead, Lawrence delivered the worst possible outcome imaginable. He was rarely great, finishing as a top-10 QB on just five occurrences. But he wasn’t quite bad enough to cut ties with and give up on, especially when considering how bad the options on the waiver wire were.

Having Lawrence last year was the fantasy football equivalent of purgatory. I don’t think he’s bad at football and recognize he was playing banged up. But I’m over it. I’m over the “generational prospect” hype he’s hardly lived up to. Sorry, Trevor, we’re through.

Running Back: J.K. Dobbins (RB – LAC)

J.K. Dobbins is my fantasy football torturer. One of the rare players who slipped through the cracks, won me back and burnt me twice in excruciating fashions. Anyone reading in my home fantasy league (shoutout to the members of Screw T.O., yes that is the name) knows the story I’m about to tell.

It’s August 28, 2021. My league is drafting from a beautiful rooftop pool on a sizzling Chicago summer day. I’m picking first overall and am on the clock with the final pick of round two before my double-up in round three. This is a keeper league, so elite options are starting to thin out already. I decide to take a shot on an upstart tailback with immense upside.

“I’ll take J.K. Dobbins and Keenan Allen,” I proudly bark from my chair as I return to my plate of pizza.

I don’t remember the exact timeline of the events. But we were maybe midway through the draft when news came out that Dobbins had to be helped off the field in Baltimore’s preseason finale. He couldn’t put any weight on his leg. A day later, his ACL was torn and my fantasy hopes were dashed.

Now you’re probably wondering why I’m referencing a story from three years ago on my “Never Again” list. I probably got the hint and stayed away, right?

Wrong.

Another hot August day in Chicago, also poolside (although in a different pool). It’s the sixth round and once again our keeper format is causing players to get pushed up the draft board. I started my draft with Saquon Barkley and Joe Mixon but had gone receivers the prior three rounds. Looking to add an upside RB3/Flex option, I scanned the board and didn’t love what I saw.

Looking back, I probably should’ve taken Isiah Pacheco — my fortunes likely would’ve been different. But instead, I went back to ole’ unreliable. This time, I struggled to even say the words “Gimme Dobbins,” which was followed by a chorus of laughter.

But when Week 1 came around, I thought it was me getting the last laugh. Dobbins scored early in Baltimore’s season opener against Houston. I felt redemption was headed my way.

Of course, we all know how that story ended. Dobbins tore his Achilles shortly after in that same game.

Listen, I don’t care if Dobbins is fully recovered. I don’t care if he’s on a Chargers team that could run the ball a lot. I don’t care if he claims this injury was easy to rehab from. Even if I could travel into the future and see Dobbins rush for 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns this season, I don’t think I could stomach drafting him.

I am done. Never. Again. And this time I’m not kidding.

Wide Receiver: Drake London (WR – ATL)

You ever try a new restaurant and it turns out you didn’t love it or hate it, but you won’t go out of your way to eat there again? That’s how I feel about Drake London.

A teammate of Dobbins’ on my aforementioned team (I tore it down ultimately and acquired several high draft picks for those scoring at home), London’s 2023 season was “pretty mid” as the youngsters say. That might even be putting it lightly, as London finished 42nd in fantasy points despite 110 targets.

Granted, part of London’s underwhelming 905 yards and two touchdowns has to be attributed to Desmond Ridder, who is as mid as it gets. But I’m not jumping aboard the bandwagon just because Kirk Cousins and his healing Achilles are in Atlanta.

I think the market feels London was just a quarterback away from fantasy stardom. And I’m not saying that’s wrong. What I’m saying is finishes of WR38 and WR42 in his first two professional seasons don’t jump off the page to me and scream, “A breakthrough is coming.”

Sorry, Drake, maybe we just caught each other on a bad day. But I won’t be dining with you again.

Tight End: Dallas Goedert (TE – PHI)

I almost put Kyle Pitts here just to infuriate people with a Falcons double dip. And I would like to say I think the fantasy industry loves Kyle Pitts more than his family members do.

But in an attempt to diversify my spite and pettiness, I decided to go with Dallas Goedert. I’ve fallen into the Goedert trap before, especially earlier in his career when I felt he could join the very small group of elites at his position.

But it’s never really come to fruition for Goedert despite being in really solid offensive situations. His best fantasy finish was TE8 in 2021, but even that was an underwhelming stat line of 56-830-4.

Sure, Goeder has finished as a TE1 several times in his career, but we need to (or maybe just I need to) stop viewing him as a late-round gem who’s capable of putting up top-five numbers. It’s never happened and won’t ever happen. Goedert has durability concerns and he’s just too low in the Eagles’ pecking order to garner top production.

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