Two weeks of the NFL season are in the books, and we’ve already seen some spectacular ups and downs, heartbreaking losses & incredible comebacks, and that’s just the New York Giants! For fantasy football, however, we need to keep the roster churn going. Every week, new players pop up on the waiver wire to entice us to add to our rosters. Unfortunately, fantasy football roster slots are limited, which means that we need to figure out who we are taking off of our rosters as we move forward. I am here to help, as I cruelly and heartlessly let you know who you can excise from your rosters. To make it on this list, a player must be on rosters in 50% or fewer of leagues, as determined by Yahoo! roster rates. Anything lower than that, and I think you have your decision made for you.
Quarterbacks
There aren’t really any quarterbacks that I would recommend cutting this week. The good quarterbacks were good, and guys like Trevor Lawrence who had a bad day aren’t ones that you will cut.
Wide Receivers
Brandin Cooks, Dallas (72% rostered)
Cooks has an MCL sprain, which is, at minimum, a four-week injury. The Cowboys ruled him out for Sunday’s game fairly early in the process on Saturday. That means that he isn’t close to coming back. If you don’t have the time to wait for him, then I can co-sign releasing him.
Rashod Bateman, Baltimore (57% rostered)
Bateman has failed to make himself a difference-maker on the field so far. He’s played two games, one in which Mark Andrews did not play, and another in which Odell Beckham left early with an ankle injury. In those two games, he has three targets and three targets. To compare his spot in the pecking order, Mark Andrews has more targets in one game, and Zay Flowers has almost three times as many targets. The Ravens aren’t going to pass a lot, and when they do pass, it’s not toward Bateman. You can move on.
Zay Jones, Jacksonville (52% rostered)
A week after getting 5/55/1 on seven targets, Zay Jones was a complete non-factor in week two as the Jaguars took on the Chiefs. He finished with six targets, which might be enough to keep him around in fantasy football leagues, but his 0/6 reception effort likely has fantasy managers heading for the exits. I can’t blame you.
Romeo Doubs, Green Bay (51% rostered)
In a game without Christian Watson and Aaron Jones, it was Jayden Reed, not Romeo Doubs, who played two tuddy hero in this game. Doubs had a nice fantasy week last week because he scored two touchdowns… but he also caught 4 of 5 targets for 26 yards, those yards just happened to be in the back of the end zone. Mr. Right Place, Right Time now has 8 targets, 6 catches, and 56 yards through two games. Make like Aaron Rodgers with the Packers, his family, and his Achilles tendon, and sever.
Running Backs
Nick Chubb, Cleveland (100% rostered)
The best pure runner in the NFL, and by all accounts good dude, Nick Chubb, is out for the year with a broken leg so bad that Monday Night Football refused to show the replay.
Dameon Pierce, Houston (97% rostered)
This is only for the shallowest of leagues, but Dameon Pierce is losing a ton of snaps to other running backs, with Dare Ogunbowale, Devin Singletary, and Mike Boone all taking snaps and touches from him in the first two weeks. Even if he does get more snaps, and touches going forward, there is another problem with keeping Pierce on your roster: this dude is a bad football player. Through two games, he has 26 carries for 67 yards (2.57 yards per carry) and he caught four balls for 13 yards on six targets. He’s just not a very good football player, and now he’s not a very good football player splitting time, playing behind an iffy offensive line, and with a rookie quarterback.
Cam Akers, L.A. Rams (91% rostered)
The Rams announced several hours before the game that Cam Akers would be a healthy scratch, and there were reports that they are looking to trade him. There’s nowhere that is going to give Akers the leash the Rams gave him.
Joshua Kelley, L.A. Chargers (77% rostered)
After a big week one, it was hard to find a guy who was better set up for a bigger week two opportunity than Joshua Kelley. After finishing last week with 16 touches for 91 yards and a touchdown, people started thinking that he could be a good play before Austin Ekeler was inactive for this one. Unfortunately, he was unable to take advantage of his opportunity (and the Titans’ run defense played a role in that), notching only 39 yards on 13 carries, with one target and no catches. We hoped that he would fill the Austin Ekeler role, but he only scored 3.9 more points than Austin Ekeler, who didn’t play this week.
Antonio Gibson, Washington (71% rostered)
Gibson’s been relegated to the most part-time of backs. He has five carries and four targets across the first two games of the season. The Eric Bieniemy Offense brought a lot to the 2-0 Washington Commanders this season, but a viable Jerick McKinnon role was not one of those things.
Zach Charbonnet, Seattle (62% rostered)
In response to his 24% snap share in week one, on the Football Absurdity Podcast, I said that Zach Charbonnet needed to cross 30% of snaps to be anything but a handcuff going forward. Well, he had 28% of snaps and ended with 4 carries for 16 yards and 2 catches for 14 yards. While 6 carries for 30 yards is extremely good, it’s middling when you consider the catches. He is nothing but a handcuff at this point, and you can move on from him in shallower leagues.
Jerick McKinnon, Kansas City (51% rostered)
I’ll make this easy on you, his stat line through two games:
1 carry, -2 yards. 5 targets, 4 catches, 34 yards.
Tight Ends
Kyle Pitts, Atlanta (98% rostered)
Kyle Pitts has 4 catches for 59 yards on the season, on 8 targets. This is a major problem, and it’s not the beginning of this issue, either. Arthur Smith has no interest in using Pitts, and Pitts has averaged only 2.7 catches for 34.6 yards per game since the beginning of 2022.
Tyler “Hate Crime” Higbee, L.A. Rams (84% rostered)
Puka Nacua ate Tyler Higbee’s lunch in week one, and he came back for HCH’s Snack Pack this week. Higbee has ten targets over the last two games, and he’s turned that into six catches for 61 yards. That’s a pretty good one-week game. It’s terrible across two weeks. You can hang onto him if you have no better options, as the Rams have two top-ten matchups in the next three weeks, but don’t be afraid to cut bait on him if a better option shows up on the waiver wire after week two.
