If you have read much of the fantasy football content at The Athletic (and of course you have, for you are a connoisseur), then you know that during the season I write a weekly column here — “Drops.”It’s a weekly look at the players who are dead weight, dragging fantasy managers into the murky depths of Davey Jones’ Locker. That column will return in 2026 —the “why” escapes me as well if it makes you feel any better, but apparently there’s a market for snark meets marginally competent fantasy football analysis.In any event, this year I have decided to get a head start on being wrong (it’s never too early to swing wildly at pitches like Mark Reynolds in 2009) by highlighting some draft-day drops. These aren’t players who should be let go — these guys should never be rostered in the first place, at least not at cost.So, as you prepare for the biggest day on the fantasy calendar, keep these players in mind. Because if you draft these season-sinkers in 2026, you’ll wind up On Stranger Tides — and Dead Men Tell No Tales.Those last two Pirates of the Caribbean movies had writing almost as bad as, well, this.Almost.QB: Josh Allen, Buffalo (ADP: 27)To be clear, Allen is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and a valuable fantasy asset. He was the highest-scoring fantasy quarterback in 2025 and has finished in that spot three times over the past five seasons.But taking the first quarterback on draft day is almost always a terrible idea — and taking Allen at his ADP, over two full rounds ahead of the No. 2 quarterback (Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson) is just lunacy.For Allen to return value in 2026, he doesn’t just have to finish as the top signal-caller in fantasy points again — he has to obliterate the competition ala Jackson in 2019 or Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes the year before. That’s not likely from a quarterback whose last 4,000-yard season came in 2023. Allen’s last 30-touchdown season throwing the ball was 2022. If his gaudy rushing numbers drop, look out.Let someone else break the seal at quarterback. The value on draft day lies toward the back of fantasy QB1 territory with players like Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence and Dak Prescott of the Cowboys.RB1: Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco (ADP: 6)This writer has beaten this drum so much this summer that Peter Criss sent me a cease-and-desist letter. But Criss also chose “The Catman” for his KISS persona, so he can pound sand.I shall not be deterred!McCaffrey was fantasy’s highest-scoring running back last year by a wide margin — the third time in his career the 30-year-old has surpassed 2,000 total yards in a season. But he isn’t going to sniff those numbers this season.McCaffrey’s 413 regular-season touches were the most of his career, and the most touches a running back has amassed in at least a decade. He’s well past the age where running backs start to decline. Backs who top 2,000 total yards in a season usually experience a substantial decline in production the next year.