Fantasy Football Week Two Drop Candidates

Everybody likes to tell you which fantasy football players to add, but hardly anyone wants to help you with the hard, sad decision: which fantasy football players to drop. Not me, call me Jeffrey Scissorhands because I’m ready to slice and dice your overgrown hedge of a roster into a beautiful topiary. To make this article of fantasy football drop candidates, a player needed at least 40% rostership in Yahoo! Fantasy Football leagues. If you drafted someone deeper than what is listed here (like, say, Bryan Edwards at 26% rostered), look inside your soul and decide what to do.

Quarterback Fantasy Football Drop Candidates (1QB leagues only)

Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles (93% rostered)

Yeah. He might be your starting QB, but this isn’t crazy. His wide receivers are a mess, yet again, his running backs are a mess, yet again, and this time, his offensive line is also a mess! Wentz was harried all day Sunday, suffering eight sacks at the hands of Chase Young and the new-look Washington defensive line. He mustered 270 passing yards, two touchdowns, and two picks to scrape out a respectable 15 fantasy points. And now the bad news: that beleaguered offensive line gets Aaron Donald this week (L.A. Rams), Geno Atkins next week (Cincy), and Nick Bosa (San Francisco) the following week. After that, things definitely don’t let up with back-to-back dates with the AFC North in Pittsburgh and home against Baltimore. Wentz is going to run for his life and is a backend QB1 at best until week seven.

Jared Goff, L.A. Rams (67% owned)

The Rams-Cowboys game was supposed to turn into a shootout, and not whatever it was we sat through on Sunday Night Football. I think dropping Jared Goff might be a bit reactionary, but he’s not a roster priority in anything shallower than fourteen teams. Dump him in your 12-team and 10-team leagues. He game managed the snot out of the Rams but ended with just 275 passing yards and an interception. Luckily, he kicked in 15 rushing yards to buoy his floor.

So much of Goff’s value came from the Rams airing it out with him last year. They appear to have found a more conservative approach, which limits Goff’s upside. Don’t lose out on a week one waiver wire darling because you grew too attached to your speculative QB2 after a ho-hum week one.

Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns (57% rostered)

Sure, it was Baltimore, but Baker managed just 189 passing yards on 39 attempts while throwing a pick and a touchdown. He gets the Bengals in week two on Thursday Night Football, but I don’t feel good about running him out there. He’s likely your second QB, which means you can sever ties with the third-year signal-caller. It might be a long year in Cleveland, just like every other year.

Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers (52% rostered)

I’m not entirely sure what to make of the 49ers’ offensive performance on Sunday. Garoppolo was skittish in the pocket and they played with a mostly straightforward approach. Of course, they were down both their starting wide receivers, George Kittle suffered a knee injury, and the air was smoke soup. Garoppolo pulled out a passable performance (268 yards and two touchdowns), but the team is a mess right now. The Niners likely win against the Jets this week, who just gave Josh Allen his first 300-yard passing game, but are you going to trust Handsome James this week after what he put on tape in his first game of 2020?

Running Back Fantasy Football Drop Candidates

Jordan Howard & Matt Breida, Miami Dolphins (90% & 81% rostered, respectively)

Howard had eight carries in week one and turned in a downright Ballage-ian seven yards (0.88 yards per carry). A touchdown on a Mike Gesicki end zone pass interference let him punch it in from the one-yard line. In a shocker, scrap heap running back Myles Gaskin out-snapped Howard 39-to-9. It’s going to be frustrating trying to figure out when you can start and trust Howard, but it won’t be next week at Buffalo. Don’t cut Howard outright if you can help it (two-for-one trades are your friend, use him as a kicker), but things look bleak for him so far in Miami.

Matt Breida, also say bye-bye. Five rush attempts and zero targets on fourteen snaps for a squad that might redefine bleak isn’t somewhere I want to invest. It’s a hard pill to swallow, so I understand holding on, but I have to repeat that Myles Gaskin had 39 snaps. This is going to be utter chaos in Miami, and I don’t believe any of the backs will sustain production as they rotate around and around and around. Get off the ride, and ditch the Miami RB situation.

Kerryon Johnson, Detroit Lions (70% rostered)

It wasn’t the matchup. While Adrian Peterson turned back the clock against the Bears (14 carries for 93 yards), Kerryon had us checking our watches to see when we could cut him. He played on 26% of snaps and had seven rush attempts and zero targets (Swift took the RB targets). He totaled 14 yards. Truly awful and his stock has plummeted through the floor.

Tevin Coleman, San Francisco 49ers (69% rostered)

I told everyone who would listen that Jerick McKinnon was the second back to own in San Francisco, but people routinely plucked Coleman off their draft boards, much to my chagrin. He can chip in 3-4 fantasy points in a given week, but San Francisco has two clearly better backs on their roster. Coleman was a game-time decision from the fires raging and destroying the air quality (Coleman’s sickle cell anemia makes oxygen harder to find). It’s not that he didn’t really play, it’s that when he did play, he clearly ranked third among the 49ers running backs. He ripped through a wide-open hole for ten yards but managed just eight yards on his other three carries. I can understand pushback on this one, but you’ll pull this ripcord sooner or later.

Marlon Mack, Indianapolis Colts (64% rostered)

Easy drop, Mack tore his Achilles and is out for the season. This note is here in case you didn’t see that he popped his Achilles or had machinations of holding on to him. He’s done for the year, and even if he performs a miracle and returns from IR at some point, he’s clearly the third fiddle to Nyheim Hines and Jonathan Taylor.

Mack will be a free agent in the 2020 offseason and has likely played his last down for the Colts. It’s a shame to see him go out this way, as he threatened to make that backfield extremely interesting. He looked good and efficient for the Colts before going down, turning seven touches on eleven snaps into 56 yards.

Boston Scott, Philadelphia Eagles (56% rostered)

This is an “if you’re in a bind, soft-drop” of Boston Scott. He left Sunday’s game with a mystery injury, but he then returned.  The Eagles, as mentioned above, are a mess right now, and Miles Sanders might return this weekend. I’m not much interested in Scott right now, though I am interested in what his injury might be. Hang onto him if you can, but I’ll take Nyheim Hines over him, for example.

Darrell Henderson, L.A. Rams (43% rostered)

The Rams employed a three-headed backfield Sunday against the Cowboys. Sort of the same way your mom deployed three kids, but your brother and sister are successful while you read about Darrell Henderson in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday. He played five snaps, mustering six yards on three carries. The Rams drafted Cam Akers to replace him, and appear to have replaced Cam Akers with Malcolm Brown already. Cut Henderson and never look back.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Drop Candidates

Deebo Samuel, San Francisco (77% rostered)

This one isn’t really advisable, given that most leagues should have an IR slot this year. But, the 49ers announced that Samuel had suffered a setback in his recovery, which explained the IR placement. That’s… really not good. Injury setbacks are bad; call me Stephania Bell, folks. If you can afford to hang onto him, do it. If you can do a two-for-one where you move him, do it. If you need the roster space and have no IR spots, do what you need to do here. We don’t know when he’ll return at this point.

Christian Kirk, Arizona Cardinals (63% rostered)

The big value of holding onto Kirk is chasing targets in the potent Arizona Cardinals offense. The only problem? The targets just aren’t there for Kirk through one game. He played on 77% of snaps but had five targets for one catch and zero yards in a game where Kyler Murray threw 40 times (he threw 40+ times just five times last year). What happens when that drops down to 32-33 targets? 12.5% target volume from your wide receiver isn’t what you want, especially when it ties you with the backup running back. Sever.

Mecole Hardman, Kansas City Chiefs (52% rostered)

I wrote earlier this week that I wouldn’t drop Mecole Hardman for Demarcus Robinson. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t drop Hardman. He had six top-36 weeks last year, but good luck figuring out when those might be this year. The Chiefs are too good, deep, and varied to know when to start Hardman. This isn’t a recommended drop, but an option if you’re in a bind. Patrick Mahomes takes whatever the defense gives him, and that might be Mecole Hardman, or it might not be. He’s too good to force it, which might leave the (very good) Mecole Hardman on the outside looking in of fantasy production more often than not and leaving you guessing when he will perform well.

Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings (44% rostered)

It’s rare for a rookie to come out of the gate hot. CeeDee Lamb and Laviska Shenault did it, but Jefferson did not (three targets on 36 snaps, in a game where Minnesota was chasing points and scored 34 of them). You could hold onto him to see if he opens up next week at Indianapolis, but that opening up likely snaps closed again against Tennessee. Clear your mind of the headache.

Tight End Fantasy Football Drop Candidates

Rob Gronkowski, Tampa Bay (96% rostered)

I told you all Gronk would look like this. I told you all this would be a mess. This is me doing a victory lap. Gronk had two catches for 11 yards and looked like burnt toast against the Saints in week one. This, coupled with Tom Brady’s rough start might signal the start of things shaking apart in Tampa Bay before they even get a chance to start. It’s likely you took Gronk as part of a 2-TE committee. If that’s the case, bench him to see if he turns it around against Carolina or Tennessee. If he’s your only tight end, (1) what are you doing? and (2) move on from Gronk or cut another player to get a tight end like Dallas Goedert off the waiver wire.

Hard to get excited for a guy who was behind Scott Miller, O.J. Howard, and Ronald Jones in targets after he retired due to injuries last year.

Blake Jarwin, Dallas Cowboys (54% rostered)

This, like Marlon Mack above, is merely procedural. Blake Jarwin went down with a non-contact injury in the season opener. The Cowboys quickly ruled him out for the game and later revealed Jarwin tore his ACL. He was a hot sleeper candidate this season, which explains the roster percentage. He had one target, one catch, and twelve yards before leaving. Maybe next year.

Eric Ebron, Pittsburgh Steelers (41% rostered)

There’s an annual mass delusion surrounding Steelers’ tight ends seemingly every year. Why? Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball a ton to Heath Miller, who retired in 2015. Yet, every year the fantasy football community works themselves up into a lather about how “Big Ben loves TEs.” No, Big Ben loved Heath Miller. Yet, we try to will targets into existence out of nothing. It didn’t work for Vance McDonald last season, and it won’t work for Eric Ebron this season.

The Steelers have too many weapons, and even losing James Conner didn’t have Ben looking Ebron’s way. He mustered two targets, which tied him for fifth on the squad. He and McDonald combined for four targets. Since Heath Miller retired, Ben averages 6 targets to his #1 and #2 TE, combined. Jettison Ebron, and rethink taking advice from anyone who tells you that Ben loves tight ends.

Keep in mind that all of these guys are recommended drops, they are merely candidates to clear out space on your roster. Second quarterbacks and second tight ends should be the first to go to make room for the hot new running backs or tight ends you want to get on your roster. Good luck with all your waiver wire moves in week two!

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