Fantasy Football 2024 Caution List: 1 potential bust on all 32 NFL teams

Dortch is a Cardinals fan favorite and a dynamic slot target when he actually gets the ball in his hands. The issue is that much of Arizona’s target volume will now be funneled to Marvin Harrison Jr., promising tight end Trey McBride, and even WR2 Michael Wilson. That leaves Dortch on the outside looking in as a fourth option at best in what will probably only be an OK Cardinals offense.

I know what you’re thinking. The arrival of a top-12 quarterback like Kirk Cousins was supposed to be a harbinger of Pitts’ long-awaited resurgence after his incredible rookie season in 2021. Honestly, I can still see it happening. But Pitts has enjoyed poor quarterback play for so long now that I’m not sure the juice is there anymore. Bad habits start to form in cases like this. And there is a realistic possibility that Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and even deep threat Darnell Mooney are all ahead of Pitts in the Falcons’ pass target pecking order.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Henry. He’s arguably the finest running back of his generation, and he could very well make a lot of sweet music by sharing a Baltimore backfield with reigning MVP Lamar Jackson. At the same time, Henry has nearly 2,200 career touches, and 2024 will be his year 30 season. Henry might be the exception, but the track record for older, physical running backs with that kind of mileage playing like superstars isn’t great.

In the wake of Stefon Diggs’ departure, some expect Coleman to have a huge role as one of Josh Allen’s new best friends in Buffalo this year. For a talented second-round pick, I can see why. But that assumes Coleman will buck the trend of some rookie receivers not enjoying a steep developmental curve to start their career. It also assumes that Allen won’t favor more experienced players like Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir while also leaning on tight end Dalton Kincaid in the middle of the field. Proceed with Coleman at your own risk.

The Panthers traded for the inconsistent Johnson to give the struggling Bryce Young a better floor. At face value, Johnson is a terrific route runner who manipulates space very well, especially in the quick game. But from a macro perspective, the 28-year-old is who he is at this point — an unreliable, if immature, weapon with one season of at least 1,000 yards in his career who probably still can’t be relied upon. I’d bet any money that an aging Adam Thielen will still be Young’s most trusted target in 2024.

The Bears plan to use Swift as their explosive change-of-pace to Caleb Williams’ downfield passing out of the backfield. And in small doses, I have no doubt their plan will work — Swift is a bona fide home run threat that can take a good offense and make it great. The problem is Swift has just one season — last year with the Philadelphia Eagles — where he was healthy and dependable throughout. For four years, he has shown a capacity to break down and crumble the more an offense uses him. Maybe Swift will replicate his 2023 performance or even expand upon it. But I certainly wouldn’t bet on that happening.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news for a guy in a contract dispute waiting out the string until he can leave Cincinnati, but there isn’t a good vibe around Higgins’ 2024. He remains the ancillary option to Ja’Marr Chase — who has a lot more chemistry with Joe Burrow. The Bengals also figure to reorganize their offense around running backs Zack Moss and Chase Brown in a stable effort to keep pressure off of Burrow. Call it a hunch, but we could unfortunately see a down year by Higgins’ high standards.

I don’t get the sense that many believe in Jeudy at this stage of his career … because why would they? The Denver Broncos offloaded the former first-rounder after four disappointing seasons. Now he’s, what, at best, the fourth option in a Browns offense quarterbacked by a washed-up Deshaun Watson, who once faced more than 20 allegations of sexual misconduct in what the NFL would later characterize as “predatory behavior”? If you want to buy low on Jeudy, go right ahead. Just don’t expect him to deliver too much.

Nothing about Elliott’s recent career suggests he is ready to be a feature back again at … 29. He hasn’t averaged at least four yards a carry in two seasons and has one 1,000-yard campaign since 2019. Sure, he might be a solid goal-line touchdown play for a Dallas offense that figures to have no trouble moving well between the 20s. But that also presupposes Elliott playing a big role in that success. And I’m not confident he will.

With Bo Nix, the Broncos think they’re on the verge of ending a near-decade drought without consistent starting quarterback play. I’m more skeptical. Nix plays the definition of a safe game. He will do all this flashy work scrambling around the line of scrimmage … only to dump off a bog-standard five-yard check-down to a tailback. He will not test defenses in a meaningful way that asks them to reconfigure their formations and take a defender out of the box. I have no idea why anyone would start Nix in fantasy, but even as a spot backup in a bye week, there’s not much to love here for someone whose play style prioritizes empty-calorie efficiency above all else.

The Packers are a sleeper contender in an NFC conference that might surprise a lot of people with the depth and quality of upper-crust teams. But I don’t think Green Bay’s success, especially on offense, will be predicated on Watson having his way with helpless cornerbacks. The third-year receiver has struggled with injuries thus far in his career and remains a mostly limited one-note, nine-route receiver. This Green Bay attack figures to dominate while actually being centered around Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks first. Anyone who has the nerve to draft Watson should proceed with caution.

Someone has to be the “loser” in this Texans contender resurgence. Obviously, I don’t think it will be C.J. Stroud. Or Tank Dell. Or Nico Collins. Or even Stefon Diggs — Houston doesn’t make that trade if he’s not a focal point of the offense. It has to be someone when the Texans aren’t playing to their passing game strengths, like in the running game. It has to be Joe Mixon, a back who has averaged just barely over four yards per carry in his career and relies on a steady diet of check-downs out of the backfield. Don’t be surprised when former rookie standout Dameon Pierce potentially supplants Mixon simply because he might offer more as a runner with better opportunity.

To be clear, I do like Richardson’s long-term prospects as a quarterback. Down the line, I think he has a legitimate chance at pushing C.J. Stroud as the best signal-caller from the 2023 draft. With that said, shoulder surgery took away a lot of valuable reps from Richardson during his rookie season. Those are reps that he frankly needed to polish up some of the more unrefined passing aspects of his game. Shane Steichen is the perfect steward for a young quarterback, and Richardson will get there in time, but he will look more rough around the edges to start 2024 than fantasy managers should be comfortable with.

The Jaguars drafted Brian Thomas Jr. to inject some new life into their offense after the departure of Calvin Ridley. That also means they might prioritize his connection with Trevor Lawrence more often than you’d expect to build early chemistry. I don’t think Gabe Davis will be a victim of circumstance here, as he was already a WR3. The guy whose production is more likely to take a dip is Christian Kirk, someone who isn’t an elite separator and has relied on heavy target volume to excel in years past. Suffice it to say: the Kirk of 2022 (84 catches, 1,108 yards, eight touchdowns) probably isn’t coming back.

After repeating as Super Bowl champions, the Chiefs’ reloaded offense will give them a likely chance at the first three-peat of the modern era. But ask yourself an important question: Who is most likely to be on the outside looking in? It’s not the future Hall of Fame tight end. It’s not the second-year receiver who caught nearly 1,000 yards as a rookie. It definitely ain’t the guy with the nickname “Hollywood,” who has shown remarkable big-play ability for most of his career. It’ll be Worthy, perhaps the fastest player in the NFL, who may still need significant polish before he does anything more than just run past defenders.

The 2023 season showed that the trend of rookie tight ends taking time to grow into the NFL was perhaps a bit overblown. Sam LaPorta and Dalton Kincaid, in particular, were actually productive because their respective Detroit and Buffalo offenses made sure to feature them. But the thing about the Lions and Bills was that they were two of the better NFL offenses with quality quarterback play and quality coordinating. Bowers will not get that benefit with Luke Getsy as his coach and Gardner Minshew as his quarterback, so I wouldn’t hold my breath about him excelli