Our staff recounts their most regrettable decisions from the just-completed season.
Our staff recounts their most regrettable decisions from the just-completed season.
As we reflect upon the 2024 fantasy football season, we are asking our ESPN Fantasy writers to answer a few questions.
During the course of a fantasy football season, managers have a ton of decisions to make. Not all of them work out, of course, but there is always at least one move that stands out as regrettable. Nine of our writers — Stephania Bell, Matt Bowen, Mike Clay, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Daniel Dopp, Eric Karabell, Liz Loza, Eric Moody and Field Yates — are here to share theirs.
What is the worst move/decision you made this fantasy season?
Bell: Too much Anthony Richardson stock
The erratic swings in his fantasy production early on, followed by his benching and the uncertainty thereafter (including injury-related issues), made for too many wasted weeks and an impossible recovery for fantasy purposes. While there are still reasons for optimism as it relates to his NFL development and success — he is, after all, still just 22 years old and possesses impressive athletic ability that translates directly to his dual-threat potential — I will celebrate his success from a distance before drafting him in fantasy again.
Yates: Believing too much in the upside of Richardson (by a lot)
Richardson has some of the tools that could one day lead to fantasy success, but my confidence in him achieving that upside was completely misguided. Richardson’s unique rushing skill set and vertical passing potential led me to believe he had QB1 upside. Week 1 made me feel like the call had some legs, as he rushed for over 50 yards with a touchdown and needed just nine completions to reach 212 passing yards. But Richardson is far, far too inconsistent as a passer (47.7% completion percentage) right now. We’ll see whether that develops going into Year 3, but it’s safe to say this was a bust prediction.
Karabell: Taking Christian McCaffrey No. 1 overall
It’s hard to pick just one here. Feeling pressured to draft McCaffrey with the first pick in an important league is right up there. I had debated it and wanted to go WR — probably the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase. I thought I would look silly passing up the “obvious” McCaffrey selection, questioning his durability because he had played in 16 games the year before and everyone bought in. Big mistake! I didn’t trust my gut there, nor did I with the overrated Richardson. I listened to and fell for the hype in one keeper league, foolishly. I didn’t win that league, either. I will trust my gut in 2025.
Loza: Believing Dalton Kincaid would be Josh Allen‘s go-to
I wholeheartedly believed Kincaid would emerge as Josh Allen’s favorite target and ascend among the ranks of the TE position’s newest elites. I was bigly wrong. While Kincaid ranked second on the team in looks (behind Khalil Shakir), his 75 total targets ranked only 15th among tight ends. More galling is that his 44 catches and subsequent 448 receiving yards both fell outside of the top 20 at the position, and he didn’t clear 60 receiving yards in a single game all season. Meanwhile more than 30 other TEs managed this underwhelming milestone. Throw in the fact that the second-year player caught just two TDs and his seventh-round ADP screams bust.
Bowen: Drafting Travis Etienne Jr.
Etienne was on my board all summer due to his dual-threat traits and volume role with the Jags. Remember, Etienne finished as the RB3 in the 2023 season, thanks to 12 total touchdowns, 58 receptions and his deployment as a three-down player. I was all-in. Let’s go! However, Etienne, who also missed some time this season due to a hamstring injury, averaged only 8.7 PPG. That’s it. And he scored just two touchdowns. Plus, the volume took a major hit with the emergence of Tank Bigsby. Brutal, right? Tell me about it.
Dopp: Trusting Marvin Harrison Jr. would return WR2 value for my teams
There were plenty of reasons to think Harrison would smash during his rookie season, first and foremost being the consistency he would have at the QB position. We’ve watched Kyler Murray elevate Hollywood Brown into a top-10 wide receiver, then we saw DeAndre Hopkins crush as his WR1. There were plenty of reasons to think Marv would follow suit and be the next big thing at WR given both his college pedigree and a stable offense. Instead, Marvin Harrison Jr. was WR40 among qualifiers in fantasy points per game with rookies like Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey all finishing the season considerably higher than MHJ.
Clay: Fading De’Von Achane because of his size and potential durability concerns
Achane did regress as a rusher and his production plummeted when Tua Tagovailoa was sidelined, but the bottom line is he’s an explosive playmaker, and Mike McDaniel found ways to maximize his ability via the passing game. Thanks to a near-unstoppable screen play, Achane paced all RBs in routes, receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs. It will be interesting to see Achane’s career arc going forward. After all, he won’t always benefit from his offense seeing two-high coverage 58% of the time. Still, his utilization and production makes me feel better about his 2025 outlook, as well as that of 192-pound Bucky Irving.
Cockcroft: Putting far too much stock in Tua Tagovailoa staying healthy
I had five Tua shares this season, and since all but one of those were in deeper leagues, where the waiver wire is thinner, rostering viable replacements wasn’t nearly as easy as people might believe it to be at quarterback. Tagovailoa played only 11 games and delivered a top-10 weekly quarterback score only five times, but I reaped the rewards of those “start”-worthy efforts only 44% of the time in my leagues — and it was only that high because two of my leagues were 2-QB or superflex formats.
Moody: Believing in Zamir White‘s potential
The Raiders’ run game was a disaster. Las Vegas ranked near the bottom of the league in both rushing attempts and rushing yards per game. A poor offensive line didn’t help either, finishing 22nd in run block win rate. White didn’t record a single game with double-digit fantasy points and ended the season on injured reserve thanks to a quadriceps injury. This one was a tough pill to swallow.
