Six players you can safely drop in fantasy football

The hardest thing about working the waiver wire for me has never been figuring out which player I’m going to add. When I’m attacking free agency, I know who I’m getting. But what I don’t know is who I’m dropping to get that player. I have a really hard time cutting bait with players, especially with guys who I have a history with or have invested myself into way more than I should.

For example, earlier this season I cut Chris Hogan in order to add John Brown. It was a CRUSHING move for me as I had built many houses, apartments, even a couple of condominiums on Chris Hogan hill and now they sit there, empty and abandoned, just rotting as the ivy and grass grows over them.

It’s like getting out of bed in the morning. You know you should; you’ve hit snooze on your alarm five times and you’re starting to cut it dangerously close if you want to shower and have breakfast before you rush off to work. It’s just so damn hard to pull the trigger and roll out of bed on your own. It’s a lot easier when your wife literally kicks you out of bed.

So, consider me your wife for the next five minutes. I’m here to kick you out of bed.

Here are six players that you can safely drop off your team in order to make space for new additions. And you don’t have to feel guilty because if you drop them and they turn out to be great, you now have someone to blame other than yourself. Win. Win.

WR Chris Hogan, New England Patriots

Yahoo ownership: 82%
ESPN ownership: 84%

Let’s start with my own tough decision shall we? I had high hopes for Hogan coming into this year, and not just because of Julian Edelman’s four game suspension. Hogan had proven to be one of Brady’s favorite red zone targets, receiving 14 targets within the 20 last year (good for second on the team) despite playing only nine games. Sadly, the Brady to Hogan connection has been wildly underwhelming and Hogan looks slow coming out of his breaks and has been unable to reliably gain separation this season. With Edelman coming back and Josh Gordon getting worked into the mix, Hogan is a safe drop.

RB Jamaal Williams, Green Bay Packers

Yahoo ownership: 57%
ESPN ownership: 64%

Williams was another player a lot of people rostered because of a suspension, thinking that he’d thrive with no one challenging him in the Packers’ backfield. Obviously that hasn’t happened as Aaron Jones has almost passed Williams in rushing yards despite only playing half the games. It’s clear Jones is the better runner between the two and you can bet the Packers will look to keep feeding the rock to Jones who currently is averaging 6.3 yards per carry.

WR Robby Anderson, New York Jets

Yahoo ownership: 41%
ESPN ownership: 52%

You always hear of new quarterbacks positively affecting a receiver but it’s rare that you see a new stud behind center completely tank a receivers’ fantasy value. After finishing a top 20 fantasy receiver last year—he was 16, just outside the top 15—Anderson has been more or less pushed out of the Jets’ game plan to start 2018. He’s caught only eight balls for 108 yards on 16 targets so far this season while Quincy Enunwa, Sam Darnold’s new favorite receiver, has been soaking up the targets, leading the team with 37. Anderson is no longer the engine that propels the Jets’ offense and he’s not worth keeping on your roster right now.

RB Peyton Barber, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Yahoo ownership: 53%
ESPN ownership: 64%

Not only do the Bucs just suck at running the football—they’re currently 30th in the league in rushing yards—but Barber now has competition in the backfield. Second-round rookie Ronald Jones was active Week 4 and out-carried Barber, 10 to 7 his first week back. Granted, neither running back did anything promising against the Bears’ stout defense, but the fact that Jones, who had missed the start of the season, came in and immediately got more looks than Barber is not a good sign for Barber’s continued involvement in the Bucs’ rushing game. All that being said, if you’re seriously relying on the Bucs’ ground game to get you starting caliber fantasy production, you might just wanna call it a season.

WR Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals

Yahoo ownership: 93%
ESPN ownership: 93%

Now neither Fitz nor (for those that peaked ahead) McCoy are guys you’re going to outright drop. That’s silly. They fall into the “trade them confidently” category that I’ve decided to just tack onto the end of this. They’re still both players you can confidently move on from in my opinion. The Cardinals’ offense is putrid and even with the addition of Josh Rosen, they just don’t look like a team that’s going to put up much of anything, let alone fantasy points. Fitz is on pace for his worst statistical season of his career, the most damning being that he’ll finish with only 88 targets this season if things continue as they are. He’s never finished below 100 targets in his career.

RB LeSean McCoy, Buffalo Bills

Yahoo ownership: 91%
ESPN ownership: 95%

I told you all offseason not to touch McCoy and boy was I right. McCoy is third on the Bills in attempts behind Chris Ivory (31) and Josh Allen (27) which is never a good sign for an offense. He has been dealing with a rib injury but the Bills have also just straight up not been using him. He hasn’t gone over 10 carries in a game so far this season and he’s certainly no longer the focal point of Buffalo’s offense. You might be able to get something based on name alone but he’s going to be a hard guy to move unless he has a good game sometime and you sell high.