Fantasy Football Draft Prep: Avoid These Preseason Troll Of The Year Candidates At All Costs
There's only one thing worse than drafting a fantasy football player who's a complete bust. And that's drafting a troll. Dealing with first round picks tearing their ACL in Week 1 is one thing, but at least you can plan to pivot and move on with your life. Not the case with the trolls. These jokers go off when you give them the week off and leave you toasted with a Sunday bagel when you play them.
Last year Gabe Davis was the troll of all trolls and won my official Troll of the Year award for his efforts is terrorizing anyone who dared to start him. Or not start him.
And he was the runner-up Troll of the Year in 2022 putting his name in the all-time troll books alongside troll GOAT Will Fuller. As someone who forgave and forgot Gabe way too many times before remembering, I wake up every morning, take a sip of coffee, and remind myself that he can't hurt me anymore. A major part of his "he'll be different this time" appeal was the fact that Josh Allen was slinging him the ball. I can finally say once and for all I'm ready to move on.
So who's it going to be this year? Who's going to be my next future ex-fantasy partner for life? Let's run through some names of the bad boys we know we should stay away from.
DJ Moore
DJ had an up and down season last year as a certified alpha on a shaky offense to put it kindly. But he put up 27 PPR points in his lowest started week of the year (Week 4), then proceeded to go off in Week 5 for 49 points with only 67% of leagues believing Week 4 wasn't a fluke. He would then go on to have his most started week of the entire season at over 85% started only to dud it up with 10 points.
2024 seems to promise a more pass-centric offense which is the perfect ingredient in the "oh, he'll be different this year" cake. Enough to look over the fact that Caleb Williams is still going to be a rookie going through his own developmental hurdles and the fact that the Bears offense is suddenly brimming with weapons that could prevent Moore from being a premier target hog.
Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I just blogged that I like the value on DJ Moore so I could totally see me rebounding from Gabe Davis to DJ Moore.
Stefon Diggs
I don't know. Maybe he caught the disease from ex-teammate Gabe Davis. But this guy seems like a perfect candidate to hype fantasy managers into starting him early in the season only to find him sharing the ball with Tank Dell and Nico Collins to the point where Diggs pouts his way through a zero catch game the week before managers bench him for his "squeaky wheel" breakout game. We all know what happens the week after that. Be prepared for Diggs to ghost you like he ghosted the Saint's DB in the Minneapolis Miracle.
George Pickens
Speaking of not-so-stable wide receivers (redundant, I know), there is some hype for a George Pickens breakout season now that Russell Wilson is taking over at quarterback for Ken He Pick It? (Bob the Builder voice: "YES HE CAN!"). But let's not pretend Russell is Mr. consistent anymore himself. And Justin Fields still has a real shot at getting pole position sometime in the season, if not before, who was the catalyst for DJ Moore's above 2023 troll campaign. Don't be surprised if Pickens leaves you staring befuddled in front of your TV screen.
Chris Olave
Olave has some major expectations to fulfill as the #17 overall drafted player by ADP. The dude proved how talented his is in last year's rookie season. But there's one big issue here. Derek Carr. Not ideal. Just ask Amari Cooper who had his first eight-touchdown season in his first full year post-Derek Carr. The fact that Olave is a speedy deep threat adds to the likely inconsistency we are probably going to see. The only thing is, he's going to be hard to ever bench as a second round pick. So you might just get lucky and have Olave just be a bust instead of a troll. Or shit. Maybe he'll work out.
De'Von Achane
Now here's a guy that went from scoring 1.9 points in Week 2 to 51 points in Week 3 to start off his fantasy career last season. But he was still a complete rando in the scheme of things and started in less than 1% of leagues in those weeks. Well Achane is an unknown no longer and that's the low pressure needed to churn up a troll storm. And from the looks of his 2023 finish, Achane just might be ready to go full 4chan troll on you.
Week 13: 40% started ~ 25 points
"HOORAY - HE'S GOOD AGAIN, LET'S PLAY HIM!"
Week 14: 79% started ~ 12 points
Week 15: 65% started - 9 points
Week 16: 61% started ~ 4 points
"NEVERMIND, FUCK THIS"
Week 17: 44% started ~ 23 points
That's an impressive second-half of season resume. And he's sitting around ADP 24 making him an end of Round 2/early Round 3 investment for a team that probably won't be rushing as often as 2023 according to my guy, Hayden Winks, who pointed out the Dolphins had crazy second-half leads last year that aren't likely to repeat. So, while most trolls happen to be wide receivers, don't count out 4chan Achane.
Those are my main suspects for 2024. I'll be doing my damnedest to avoid any of these exciting disappointments to be. If you had any of them circled on your draft targets I suggest you find yourself a good boy alternative that might not be as exciting, but won't drive you absolutely mad. Michael Pittman. Mike Evans. Pretty much anyone named Mike will do. You can't be any safer than going after a Mike.
Draft wisely my friends.