Players to Drop in Fantasy Football (9/19)

After (nearly) two weeks of the regular season, we can finally end the honeymoon period with our fantasy drafts and take honest stock of our fantasy rosters. It is time to start churning the back end of our rosters and moving players we drafted for players who have shown the ability to contribute fantasy points this season.

This article will be biweekly, looking at playing trends and scoring efforts to determine the players who are rostered that just don’t need to be anymore. As always, these drops are 100% contingent on your leagues and settings.

Leagues that have deeper benches may have to hold some of the players listed in this article just due to a lack of replacements. Take everything below with a grain of salt and look at it through the lens of your league settings and roster configurations.

Quarterback

Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers

We don’t need to spend too much time on this blurb. Trey Lance was knocked out of Sunday’s game with a gruesome-looking lower-body injury, leading to Jimmy Garoppolo taking over the rest of the game. Based on the use of an air cast and a cart, Lance’s 2022 season is done, and he can be considered droppable from here on out. Prioritize adding Jimmy G if you want a quarterback who can provide a solid fantasy floor thanks to an array of explosive weapons in the passing game.  

Daniel Jones, New York Giants

The Giants are 2-0, but both wins have shown Brian Daboll’s plan for the 2022 season – play ball-control offense with Daniel Jones and hope they’re in a position to win the game at the end. Jones is averaging just 27.5 passing attempts and 182.0 yards per game in both of the Giants’ wins this season. Jones has just three touchdowns and one interception this season (although he’s thrown a few passes that should have been interceptions as well). One of the appeals of Jones is his work in the run game, but he has just 16 carries for 46 yards in two weeks.

Jones just isn’t getting the passing volume to be a viable fantasy quarterback through two weeks of the regular season.

Running Back

Ronald Jones, Kansas City Chiefs

Two games and two healthy scratches for Ronald Jones. Jones may have salvaged his job with the team’s last preseason game, but he is still running behind Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Jerick McKinnon and Isiah Pacheco in the Chiefs backfield.

Isaiah Spiller, Los Angeles Chargers

Like Jones, Isaiah Spiller has been inactive for both of the Chargers games and finds himself way down in the team’s pecking order. The team has shown that they trust Sony Michel and Joshua Kelley ahead of the rookie. It would take a series of injuries for Spiller to see game action, making him completely droppable in redraft leagues.

James Cook, Buffalo Bills (TBD following MNF)

James Cook was active for Buffalo’s Week 1 game against the Rams but fumbled his first touch and played just one more snap after that. Even so, Cook was running behind Devin Singletary and Zack Moss in Buffalo’s backfield and was unlikely to have a major role regardless of the fumble. The appeal of Cook was a potential pass-catching role, but the team opted to use Moss (six targets) and Singletary (two targets) in that role thanks to their ability to serve as pass-blockers as well.

Of the players on this list, Cook is worth holding the most, but his grasp on a bench spot should become far less solid if we see him struggle to get on the field again Monday night against the Titans.

Wide Receiver

Skyy Moore, Kansas City Chiefs

There was plenty of excitement for Skyy Moore after the former Western Michigan receiver was drafted into an ambiguous wide receiver corps in Kansas City. Through two games, it feels safe to say that there will need to be some injuries ahead of Moore for him to have any kind of fantasy impact.

Moore has played just 15 offensive snaps in two games of the 2022 season and is serving primarily as the team’s punt returner. The Chiefs’ wide receiver snaps have been condensed down to JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Mecole Hardman throughout the first two weeks. When Hardman was forced out for a series of snaps in Week 2, the team opted to replace him with heavier tight end sets and Justin Watson.

It would likely take a significant injury to Smith-Schuster for Moore to get some serious run, making him very droppable until he shows signs of life in the Chiefs’ offensive pecking order.

Jalen Tolbert, Dallas Cowboys

The theme of the rookies in this article is a general failure to launch. Jalen Tolbert had pushed up draft boards because of a thin Dallas wide receiver room, and despite that, he hasn’t been active in either of the Cowboys’ first two games. Reports indicate he has struggled to grasp the playbook, making him droppable in redraft leagues.

Kenny Golladay, New York Giants 

There was hope that Kenny Golladay would enjoy a career resurgence with the Giants after the team hired Brian Daboll. Through two games, an outcome where Golladay is fantasy viable is a pipe dream.

Golladay played in 77% of the team’s offensive snaps in Week 1 and caught both of his targets for just 22 yards. In Week 2, Golladay played just two total snaps and was behind Richie James and David Sills for the entirety of the game. Golladay was gone and had his locker cleared out by the time reporters were able to get into the locker room after the game, so his time with the Giants may be running low. His time on your fantasy bench should be over regardless.

DeVante Parker, New England Patriots

The Patriots offense has had highs and lows throughout the last two weeks. However, some trends have emerged. New England’s passing attack is running through Jakobi Meyers (13 receptions) and Nelson Agholor (nine receptions) and not much else. Camp reports indicated that DeVante Parker had established himself as a trustworthy piece of the Patriots offense, but he’s earned just four targets and one reception in two games.

Parker may eventually develop some touchdown upside, but until that consistently happens, he’s just clogging rosters on the bench.

Tight End

Hunter Henry, New England Patriots

Through two weeks, Hunter Henry is on the field plenty but is functioning more as an inline blocker than a receiving threat. Henry caught two of his three targets for 20 yards in Week 1 before following it up with a goose egg in Week 2. It doesn’t take much to be a fantasy viable tight end, but through two weeks Henry hasn’t even been able to achieve that goal.

Noah Fant, Seattle Seahawks

There was some hope that Noah Fant could emerge as a fantasy viable third target in Seattle’s passing attack. The good news? Through two games, Fant is the team’s third target. The bad news? It hasn’t made him fantasy viable. The veteran tight end has just five receptions for 27 yards in two games and is doing more blocking than route-running. He’s also competing with reps on the field (and in the passing attack) with Will Dissly.

I can’t blame fantasy managers for holding out and hoping that Fant works his way into some red-zone situations, but this offense looks to be designed around a consistent run game and taking deep shots down the field to Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf.