First TD Bets — Wild Card Monday Slate
Alex Christenson
What would it look like if you drafted the worst fantasy football team last August? We already reviewed what the perfect fantasy draft from 2024 would look like — but how terrible of a squad could you have built?
To keep this fun but also mostly realistic, we’ll assume you drafted right in the middle of Round 1 and that players might have fallen a few picks beyond ADP, but not too many.
2024 Disaster Fantasy Football Draft
Round 1: Christian McCaffrey, RB
This one is a little closer than you think. Tyreek Hill was arguably a worse pick because you were probably starting him every single week — despite the fact he only produced positive Fantasy Wins Added in half of his games. However, the nod still goes to CMC, who sunk your first overall pick and probably your season in the process. The only upside was if you drafted a good RB later to replace him, like Bucky Irving or Chase Brown.
Round 2: Jaylen Waddle, WR
You lock up your WR1, who produced only three games with a positive FWA compared to 11 with a negative FWA. That means Waddle actively made you lose 79% of the games in which you started him.
Round 3: Rashee Rice, WR
You go WR-WR, and things are looking pretty good the first three weeks, as Rice is dominating with Patrick Mahomes Then he doesn’t play another down all year.
Round 4: Amari Cooper, WR
Only one player drafted in Round 4 produced negative FWA on the year: Cooper.
He helped your team win four games (Weeks 3, 7, 14 and 17), but he actively hurt you in all the rest. The trade to Buffalo had promise but never materialized for fantasy purposes.
Round 5: Dalton Kincaid, TE
We thought Stefon Diggs leaving Buffalo was going to help Kincaid, but we were wrong. Kincaid maxed out at 13.1 PPR points and never helped your team move above a 54% expected win rate in any given week. And considering you could have drafted Terry McLaurin, Mark Andrews and James Cook in this round makes it all the worse.
Round 6: Diontae Johnson, WR
Johnson was actually pretty great Weeks 3, 4 and 6, producing average fantasy win rates of 62%, 63% and 68%, but the rest of the season was dreadful. He was on three different teams — and it seemed like each team wanted him less than the previous team.
Round 7: Marquise Brown, WR
In this draft, you selected Mahomes’ WR1 and WR2. What could go wrong?
Round 8: Zamir White, RB
After going with the “Hero RB” draft strategy — starting with CMC and then waiting a while — you snagged White, who ended up starting only five games and maxing out at 50 yards.
Round 9: Javonte Williams, RB
Did you draft Chase Brown? Of course not. You took Wiliams, who looked OK to start the year (in terms of workload) — but then everything came off the rails. If you started Williams every week, he helped you win three games (Weeks 5, 7, 11), and he actively caused you to lose in the other 14.
Round 10: Blake Corum, RB
You absolutely ate up the news that Kyren Williams was going to be the team’s punt returner and snagged Corum to continue with the Hero RB build. If you started Corum every single week, you never went past a 42% chance of winning any of your fantasy games. Corum ended the year with 65 total touches and was simply used as a Kyren speller from time to time.
Round 11: Ja’Lynn Polk, WR
Back-to-back rookies! The Pats drafted Polk early in the 2024 draft, and it’s a weak WR room, so you’re pretty sure this is a steal.
Polk ended up catching 12 passes for 87 yards on the year. (You could have drafted Jerry Jeudy instead.)
Round 12: Ezekiel Elliott, RB
He re-joined the RB-needy Cowboys and is sure to be their goal-line back! Right? Right???????
Round 13: Luke Musgrave, TE
You lock in the Packers’ TE1 way back in Round 13! With Jordan Love’s ascendance, this is sure to be a great pick.
What’s that? Who is Tucker Kraft?
Round 14: Deshaun Watson, QB
You get seven very painful games out of Watson before he actually does you a favor and stops playing. The pick is triply bad because you could’ve drafted Baker Mayfield instead.
Round 15: Will Levis, QB
Because you waited so long to get your first QB, you figure you should probably get a second just in case Watson doesn’t pan out.
The Final Squad
- QB: Deshaun Watson, Will Levis
- RB: Christian McCaffrey, Zamir White, Javonte Williams, Blake Corum, Ezekiel Elliott
- WR: Jaylen Waddle, Rashee Rice, Amari Cooper, Diontae Johnson, Marquise Brown, Ja’Lynn Polk
- TE: Dalton Kincaid, Luke Musgrave
If you drafted this team, share a screenshot — an FTN sub is on us.
