7 players being taken way too high in 2024 fantasy football drafts (including Stefon Diggs!)
We are getting dangerously close to the start of the NFL regular season, which means your fantasy league is probably drafting any day now.
If you haven’t made the time to do all the research yet, no worries, we’ve got you covered with our cheat sheet. But let’s simplify this a bit more. At this point in the preseason, we have enough fantasy draft data to see who managers are taking and when.
Just because the majority of managers take a player early, however, does not make that selection a good pick. We’ve got seven starters who fall into that category here. Don’t worry about reaching for these guys. You’ll find better options in later rounds.
Pair this with our list of seven players being drafted far too low.
All data via FantasyPros using PPR scoring
Kyren Williams, RB, Los Angeles Chargers (15.4)
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Blake Corum and Cam Akers are going to eat into Williams’ share of carries this year and that’s before you have worry about either as a touchdown vulture.
Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs (20.2)
(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
You don’t need to spend a top 20 pick on one of the only replaceable players on the Chiefs’ offense. This is a pass-happy bunch with Clyde Edwards-Helaire still around to cause problems for the RB1.
Stefon Diggs, WR, Houston Texans (40.8)
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
You absolutely do not need to pick Diggs in the 40s. Sure, he has brand name appeal, but there are so many mouthes to feed across the Texans’ offense (Joe Mixon! Nico Collins! Tank Dell! Robert Woods!) that it’s hard to expect Diggs to continue putting up Pro Bowl numbers each week.
Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England Patriots (65.2)
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Rhamondre may be an excellent bounce-back candidate this year, but no one should be taking last season’s RB27 with a top 70 pick. In fact, no one should be drafted an RB ranked outside the top 10 before the 80th pick.
Joe Burrow, QB, Cincinnati Bengals (61.6)
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Jordan Love, Kyler Murray, Brock Purdy, Caleb Williams and Tua Tagovailoa are all ranked after Burrow, who you may recall has as many 10-game seasons as he does 16. Skip the health concerns and wait for another QB.
Austin Ekeler, RB, Washington Commanders (91.2)
(Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Austin Ekeler isn’t just joining a rebuilding team after a bad year. He’s joining a bad team after one of the worst fantasy seasons since 2010. Do not draft.
Marquise Brown, WR, Kansas City Chiefs (105.4)
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A shoulder injury expected to sideline Hollywood Brown for the first few weeks of the season would be troubling enough, but the Chiefs have so much young talent at wideout with Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy that you wonder how much Brown will be targeted when he returns.