It was a crazy week two in the NFL, with crazy comebacks, almost crazy comebacks, and Ken Walker actually catching TWO footballs! But, much like Rabbit in 8 Mile, it’s time to snap back to reality. But, unlike Rabbit, we can help you keep Mom’s spaghetti off your sweater. While Waleed Ismail has you covered with his waiver wire cheat sheet, I’m here to help you figure out who to cut (half the equation). Some of these are easy, and some of these have a lot of caveats. To make this list, the player must have a roster rate of 50% or higher on Yahoo. But, without further ado, let’s figure out who to cut to make room for your week three waiver wire hotnesses.
Quarterbacks
Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (98% rostered)
I want to make something abundantly clear, here. If you’re doing this in anything deeper than an eight-team league, simply bench Tom Brady, instead. But, through two games, things don’t look good for Brady from a fantasy football perspective. And, with offensive line woes, injuries to his receiving corps, Tom Brady being dumb enough to anger his nine-figure supermodel wife, and a lot of weirdness surrounding him just leaving the Buccaneers every week now, it’s not surprising that Touchdown Tom is struggling. Through two weeks, he has 402 passing yards, a touchdown, a pick, and just 19.78 fantasy points. Last year, he had ten games with more fantasy points than he has through two contests.
Granted, Brady played the Saints, who are his kryptonite, and the Dallas Cowboys, who mostly kept him in check (and who also kept Joe Burrow in check). So, things could look up soon for Brady… but maybe not. The Buccaneers continue their early season gauntlet with the Packers (without a suspended Mike Evans) and the Chiefs, before getting a soft landing in week five against Atlanta. In a deeper league, maybe find someone instead of Tom Brady, but in a shallow league, you can move on.
Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers (79% rostered)
Lance already made his way to numerous waiver wires before I wrote this (-14% roster rate already), but he broke his ankle in the first quarter of the 49ers-Seahawks game and will require season-ending surgery.
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys (70% rostered)
The Cowboys refuse to put Dak Prescott on injured reserve because Jerry Jones is incredibly stubborn and refuses to acknowledge the reality of the situation. Everyone but Jerry Jones said 6-8 weeks, and Jones is saying less than four. It’s madness, and if you’re in a ten-team roster crunch, you can move on from Dak.
Justin Fields, Chicago Bears (58% rostered)
I play in a twelve-team league with eight-man benches, and because of the vagaries of Yahoo!, I can drop a player if he is on my bench after he played. I already dropped Justin Fields. Fields was always a marginal upside play, and it’s clear that Luke Getsy doesn’t have it in him to be Luke Gutsy. So, we can move on from Justin Fields for now, and make space for another upside quarterback, or even just a bench stash at another position.
Running Backs
There are no running back candidates to drop to waivers this week
Wide Receivers
Devin Duvernay, Baltimore Ravens (66% rostered)
Devin Duvernay suffered a concussion and was forced from the Ravens-Dolphins tilt, but at that point, he had played 52% of snaps and had two targets, and the game was well into the fourth quarter in a game that had 80 combined points and a Devin Duvernay return touchdown. It’s clear that the Ravens will live or die by Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews, and Lamar Jackson. Everything else is secondary, and that includes Devin Duvernay, despite having three touchdowns in two games.
DJ Chark, Detroit Lions (55% rostered)
Much like Devin Duvernay, the Lions had a party and forgot to invite DJ Chark. A week after getting 8 targets, 52 yards, and a garbage-time touchdown, Chark was an afterthought in a 36-point outburst by the Lions. He played two-thirds of snaps and had zero second-half targets, which was one fewer than Brock Wright had in the second half.
George Pickens, Pittsburgh Steelers (50% rostered)
He shoved two guys and had a touchdown in the preseason, so we all got super excited about Pickens (but more specifically, that dog he has inside of him). Instead, we got hit with reality: Pickens plays over 70% of snaps, but mostly runs wind sprints. Through two games, he has 72 snaps on 78 dropbacks, for six targets, two catches, and 26 yards. That dog in him is less a Doberman and more a teacup Chihuahua.
Tight Ends
Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears (70% rostered)
With the Chicago passing game turning to dust before our eyes, you can move on from Cole Kmet if he’s your second tight end. If he’s your TE1, then hang on, and good luck.
Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints (61% rostered)
Taysom Hill was a fever dream last week, and will always be a fever dream, after finishing the week with three rush attempts for 14 yards, which puts him as TE43 on the week, behind six different tight ends who had one catch for at least 5 yards. Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?
Albert Okwuegbunam, Denver Broncos (61% rostered)
“Albert O” would take 1.4 fantasy points this week, as he ate a big ol’ goose egg. Things seem to be coming apart at the seams for the Denver Broncos passing game, and that means that I’m out on the worst viable option of that attack. He had a ton of targets in week one, mostly because we found out that the Seahawks knew exactly when the Broncos would go deep, and stopped that. Then, come week two, he gets two targets for zero yards. A-OK was always just a speculative play in The Blob, and I want out (go get Logan Thomas, instead).
Hunter Henry, New England Patriots (54% rostered)
Hunter Henry makes his hay as a viable receiving threat in a decent-to-good passing attack. While he remains a viable receiving threat, the Patriots are not, unfortunately, a decent-to-good passing attack. Unfortunately, the Patriots are currently decent but have too many weapons to make Hunter Henry a viable weekly play. While the Patriots have 465 passing yards through two games, Henry has just four targets, tied with Ty Montgomery (who went on IR before this week’s game) and behind Jonnu Smith, who is third on the team with seven targets. Henry also dropped down from a 77% snap share to a 50% snap share this week, which screams “TE-by-committee” as the Patriots slow roll their way through the league, getting up to 17 points per game.
Want more 2022 fantasy football discussion? Check out these links!
Discord!
Podcast!
Patreon!
Twitch!
