Week four in the NFL was actually a fun one, for once! There were shootouts abound, and very few guys reached their last straw. Even players like Rashaad Penny, who came dangerously close to reaching last straw status, had big games. With that in mind, I want to take a look at some of the cut-list candidates for week five. Waleed Ismail has you covered for who to add, but every addition requires a subtraction, so let’s do the hard part!
Quarterbacks
Carson Wentz, Washington (56% rostered)
Wentz absolutely cratered in week four, finishing with fewer fantasy points than Taysom Hill this week as he threw for just 170 yards and a touchdown, a week after throwing for only 211 yards and zero touchdowns. He ate only two sacks (though he was hit eleven times) after the Eagles sacked him nine times last week, so that wasn’t the problem. The problem is that Carson Wentz just isn’t all that good anymore, and everything needs to go just right for him to produce. That is, he’s basically later career Alex Smith or Rams’ Jared Goff. He’s not a guy you need to keep around if you have two quarterbacks, and if you have two quarterbacks, he’s likely the worse of the two.
Wide Receivers
Allen Robinson, Los Angeles Rams (89% rostered)
Robinson and Matthew Stafford just can’t seem to get on the same page this year, with Robinson bottoming out against the Niners in a six-target, seven-yard effort on Monday Night Football. At this point, the Rams and Allen Robinson need to get it together before you can trust him on your roster, and with Matthew Stafford fully content with building the entire passing game out of Tyler Higbee and Cooper Kupp, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Chase Claypool, Pittsburgh (56% rostered)
George Pickens has nearly fully consumed Chase Claypool’s role in the offense, with Claypool managing just four targets in week four, to Pickens’ eight targets. Pickens also once again inched closer to Claypool in the snap count, with Claypool getting 47 snaps to Pickens’ 45. Since the Steelers mostly run out of 11 personnel (three wide receivers), this isn’t too shocking. But, for the second time in two games, the Steelers’ quarterbacks targeted Pickens (8 times) more than Claypool (4 targets). Claypool bottomed out on Sunday, finishing with zero fantasy points. George Pickens is the more dynamic player, and he’s poised to steal Claypool’s role. You can move on from Claypool in a ten-team league, especially since the quarterback situation finally cracked apart this weekend with Kenny Pickett taking over for Mitchell Trubisky.
Julio Jones, Tampa Bay (56% rostered)
Julio Jones had 2 targets, 1 catch, and 7 yards in his return from injury, after finishing week one with 5 targets, 3 catches, and 59 yards. He followed up that game by missing weeks two and three, and after this game, Todd Bowles admitted that he limited Julio’s snaps because he was banged up in the game. We are now four games into the season, and Julio’s injury woes are once again rearing their ugly head. This is exactly why I didn’t want Julio Jones on my fantasy rosters this off-season, and exactly why I would drop him now.
Running Backs
Javonte Williams, Denver (97% rostered)
Javonte Williams suffered an ACL tear and will miss the remainder of the 2022 season.
Ken Walker, Seattle (54% rostered)
In a deeper league, you probably want to hang onto Walker. After all, he’s behind Rashaad Penny, who is notoriously fragile. But, there’s no way you can start him anytime soon. Walker is yet to get even ten touches in a game and is a pure handcuff at this point. You can move on from him if you’re in dire roster straits.
Tight Ends
Irv Smith, Jr., Minnesota (58% rostered)
The tight end waiver wire is extremely thin right now, with 15 tight ends rocking a 50%+ roster rate on Yahoo!, and 14 of those sitting over 70%. There’s not a lot of dead weight at the position, and those 14 rostered tight ends are basically the only tight ends that are worth a shot at rostering (except Conklin). So, really, Irv Smith loses by being the bottom man on the totem pole. Through four games, Big Irv has come up small this season, finishing under 40 yards in all four games this year, despite averaging five targets per game. Irv just isn’t a key part of the Vikings’ passing game and is the fourth option, at best, on most plays. You can move on from Big Irv.
