There are only two more waiver periods, so there’s no more messing around. There’s no time left to wait for fantasy football assets to come through for you. It’s do or die, and making the right move at this junction could be the difference between hoisting your league’s trophy and tossing a half-hearted “congratulations” in the group chat to the league winner. We must cut players from our roster to room for the newest fantasy football pickups, we highlight three players at every position to help make your life easier. Every league is different, and depth matters. You can cut a borderline guy in an eight-teamer, but in a sixteen-teamer, that could spell trouble. To make this list, a player must be on rosters in at least 50% of Yahoo! leagues.
Quarterbacks
Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City (98% rostered)
Mahomes left the game on Sunday with a high-ankle sprain and is listed as “week-to-week” with the injury. He plays on Saturday, and again on Wednesday. This makes for at least one game missed for Mahomes, and likely two, at least, with the injury. That puts us through the fantasy football finals. Even if he does play, Mahomes has been just okay for fantasy football for a long while; he has one game over 17 fantasy points over the last six weeks.
C.J. Stroud, Houston (87% rostered)
Stroud threw for multiple touchdowns for just the second time since week six, and he still managed only 11.64 fantasy points. It’s because those 2 touchdowns came with the backing of only 135 total yards. This marks the ninth straight game that Stroud failed to top 300 passing yards and the seventh time in the last nine games that he failed to top 250 passing yards. Stroud is yet to pass 16 fantasy points since week six, and he gets the Chiefs (one game of 20+ fantasy points from a QB since their week six bye) and the Ravens (four QBs under 18 fantasy points in their last five games) to finish out the fantasy football regular season.
Tua Tagovailoa, Miami (84% rostered)
Tua’s tackles are totally toast. Tagovailoa tossed three turnovers this time, and the teams on the timeline tip-off tumult. The Dolphins can’t protect Tua anymore, thanks to three tackles struggling to maintain health along the offensive line. Because of this, the deep plays that require significant lead-up cannot develop, leaving Tua to dump off to Jonnu Smith and De’Von Achane. With a 49ers squad whose defense rhymes with the Texans one they played this week, and a ball hawking Cleveland secondary on the docket, I can’t trust Tua Tagovailoa until this tackle situation gets sorted out.
Wide Receivers
Deebo Samuel, San Francisco (95% rostered)
Deebo Samuel demanded he get the ball in his hand so that he could produce for the 49ers. He got his wish and responded by dropping what would have been the difference in a 12-6 49ers loss. He just hasn’t have the juice ever since his bout with pneumonia, averaging 4.7 PPR points over the last five weeks.
Amari Cooper, Buffalo (91% rostered)
The Bills dropped 48 points on the Lions, and Josh Allen threw for 362 yards. Cooper had a huge game last week, but this week saw the returns of both Dalton Kincaid and Keon Coleman, which relegated Amari Cooper to the nether realm. He wasn’t even a Wind Sprint all-star, as his zero targets came on routes on just 40% of Josh Allen’s dropbacks.
Tank Dell, Houston (83% rostered)
Dell failed to produce in a good matchup against the Jags before the Texans’ bye (1 catch for 23 yards) and bounced back to almost double his points (2 catches for 26 yards, and a 15-yard rush). He has single-digit fantasy points in four of his last five games, and the Texans have matchups that he is unlikely to dominate in the next two weeks. If you aren’t starting Dell, then you should cut him. And if you’re starting Dell, then we will see you in 2025.
Running Backs
David Montgomery, Detroit (99% rostered)
David Montgomery is out for the season with a knee injury.
Nick Chubb, Cleveland (78% rostered)
Nick Chubb hasn’t been a useful fantasy football asset this season, and he broke his foot in this game. You can move on from him.
Kareem Hunt, Cleveland (58% rostered)
Hunt’s use bounced back in week fifteen, totaling 13 carries, after getting 12 combined in the two previous games. Unfortunately, he finished with just 49 total yards, which creates a distinction without a difference. While he was more useful this week than he was in the last two, he is still a fantasy football usefulness black hole. He gets the Texans and Steelers, who rank in the bottom ten in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs, in the next two games.
Gus Edwards, L.A. Chargers (52% rostered)
Gus Edwards just doesn’t have the juice. With J.K. Dobbins looming (he could return for week 17) and Gus Edwards totaling 24 carries for 91 yards across the last three games in his absence, it’s unlikely that we find any fantasy football production worth worrying about for the rest of the season with Edwards. He gets the Broncos and Patriots, who both rank in the bottom half in fantasy points allowed to opposing running backs, in the last two weeks of the season.
Tight Ends
This list doesn’t include Dallas Goedert (57% rostered) or Evan Engram (65% rostered) as those fellas are likely rostered by folks who have wrapped up their season.
Cade Otton, Tampa Bay (77% rostered)
Otton has zero top-ten finishes since he finished as TE3 against the Chiefs in week nine. Since then, he has had more finishes outside the top 25 at the position (three) than he has finished inside the top 15 (one). Mike Evans’ return, Jalen McMIllian’s emergence, and the focus on the running backs have relegated Cade Otton to fourth-fiddle on most plays, at best.
Jake Ferguson, Dallas (76% rostered)
If Ferguson was going to produce, it would have been against the Panthers this week. That looming matchup is the only thing that kept him off of this list in recent weeks, despite failing to top 8.5 PPR points since week five and notching five straight games under 6.5 PPR points. This week, he finished with two catches for 23 yards on four targets against the best possible matchup. He just doesn’t have the chemistry with Cooper Rush and has fallen out of favor in fantasy leagues.
Dalton Schultz, Houston (58% rostered)
They only make two things in Texas: steers and fantasy football tight end busts, and Dalton Schultz doesn’t look much like a steer to me. Schultz has been an abject disaster for those who roster him in fantasy leagues this season; he has just one finish inside the top ten this season (and just three inside the top fifteen). If you don’t have any better options on the waiver wire (I promise that you do), then you can point to the matchups (Kansas City and Baltimore) as reasons to hang onto Schultz. But, that isn’t something that I would co-sign.
