Fantasy football fallout of NFL cutdown day

With no preseason NFL games and fewer padded practices to monitor, making fantasy football adjustments based on preseason news has been different (and more difficult) in 2020 than in most recent seasons. But the past few days have brought us some of the most actionable pieces of news we’ve been able to scrounge up this preseason: Cuts.

Teams had until 4 p.m. ET Saturday to get their rosters down to 53 players, and while some of the moves started earlier in the week, there was a flurry of activity Saturday to get them to the 53-man mark. Below, we’ll go position-by-position at some of the cuts that matter for fantasy football … or don’t, because a lot of the moves were fairly inconsequential.

Quarterback

Dolphins cut Josh Rosen

With Ryan Fitzpatrick still around and Tua Tagovailoa joining him, there was no room anymore for the 2018 top-10 pick, Rosen. The chances of him ever having a significant fantasy impact at this point are slim, and the chances that happens in 2020 are even slimmer. Some team will likely take a flyer on Rosen as a project, but that’s about it.

Jaguars cut Mike Glennon, Joshua Dobbs

Gardner Minshew was already locked in as the Jags starter, but these moves leave only rookie sixth-rounder Jake Luton out of Oregon State as Minshew’s backup. The team struck gold with a rookie sixth-rounder from the Pacific Northwest a year ago in Minshew, but that’s not likely to be a lightning-strikes-twice sort of thing.

Running back

Jaguars cut Leonard Fournette

This one’s been covered to death, but just to acknowledge it again: Fournette is now with Tampa Bay, making that situation a quagmire, while Jacksonville is down to some combination of Ryquell Armstead, Devine Ozigbo, Chris Thompson and James Robinson … and Armstead is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Tread lightly when investing in any part of this backfield, though there’s a decent ceiling if any one guy seizes the bell-cow role.

Washington cuts Adrian Peterson

That sound you’ve heard for weeks now, the one that reached ear-crushing decibels a couple days ago, is the Antonio Gibson drumbeat. The rookie third-rounder with 77 career touches in two years at Memphis has been ranked as high as RB11 in some places (seriously, look and you’ll find it) now that Peterson is elsewhere. With Peterson (and Derrius Guice) gone, Gibson is the premier name in a backfield that also includes Peyton Barber, Bryce Love and J.D. McKissic. It’s true that Gibson has an enormous ceiling — especially given the mishmash of names around him — but there’s a lot of risk in a rookie without a lot of experience on a bad team.

Chiefs cut DeAndre Washington

Once Damien Williams opted out, it became clear (if it wasn’t already) that Clyde Edwards-Helaire was likely to be the bell cow in Kansas City, but Washington was one of the prime names rumored to back him up/spell him if he struggled. That’s out the window now, and Darrel Williams and Darwin Thompson will be Edwards-Helaire’s backups. If you’re looking to handcuff the LSU rookie, Darrel Williams (so many D.W.’s in Kansas City) is probably the way to go.

Buccaneers cut Dare Ogunbowale and Raymond Calais

This time a week ago, Ogunbowale was the odds-on favorite to be the third-down/pass-catching back in Tampa Bay. And it’s not that Leonard Fournette is going to fill that role so much as Ogunbowale and Calais were the easiest names to remove from a crowded RB room. Ogunbowale’s likely to catch on somewhere, but he’s not a fantasy factor unless something changes dramatically.

Raiders trade Lynn Bowden Jr. to Miami

This one comes as a surprise, as Bowden was a third-round pick just this year and was sent along with a sixth to Miami for a fourth-rounder. The Kentucky product must not have impressed in an abbreviated training camp. The move clears some targets for Josh Jacobs in Las Vegas and could lead to an eventually interesting shot for Bowden in Miami, with few sure things on that roster. He could get playing time as both a running back and a receiver.

Patriots cut Lamar Miller

We spent weeks wondering if the Patriots would sign some free agent, claim or sign Leonard Fournette, grab Adrian Peterson, give the job to Miller, give the job to Damien Harris. And now here we are, into Week 1, and Sony Michel is almost certain to be the starter. Nobody got added, Miller got cut, Harris is likely out for Week 1. Michel’s upside remains exactly what it was — risky RB2 — but at least there’s a bit more clarity in New England than there was.

49ers cut JaMycal Hasty

Hasty drew good reports out of camp, but he's a victim of being in possibly the most crowded backfield in the league, with Raheem Mostert, Tevin Coleman and Jerick McKinnon on the roster (plus fullback Kyle Juszczyk) and Jeffery Wilson around as well. Reports are Hasty is a strong candidate to land on the team's practice squad, where he'd be an injury away from a roster slot. Still, it's hard to envision a route to any fantasy value anytime soon.

Panthers cut Reggie Bonnafon

It was pretty clear over training camp that Mike Davis had leapfrogged Bonnafon for the No. 2 role in the Carolina backfield. You don’t care about this much, but if you are interested in handcuffing Christian McCaffrey, now there’s no question at all.

Bears cut Artavis Pierce

Do we care about Pierce? No, not really. But between this and the fact that the Bears didn’t appear particularly interested in Fournette or Peterson, we should conclude that either they are fairly sure in David Montgomery health and/or they are very enthusiastic about Cordarrelle Patterson as a ball-carrier. (Or maybe there’s going to be a Ryan Nall-aissance?)

Rams cut John Kelly

Like the Pierce move above, this doesn’t mean that much, except that we can probably conclude the Rams aren’t too concerned about Darrell Henderson long-term.

Raiders cut Theo Riddick

A lot of the “sky is falling” folks about Josh Jacobs’ receiving outlook (and I’m one of them) probably feel a little silly now, with Riddick gone and Lynn Bowden traded to Miami. The moves leave Jalen Richard as the primary backup to Jacobs (with Devontae Booker there as well), and while Richard is going to have a receiving role in Las Vegas, Jacobs’ ceiling continues to climb.

Lions cut Jonathan Williams

Williams, whose back-to-back hundred yard games for the Colts in Weeks 11 and 12 last year was one of the most out-of-nowhere performances in a while, was never likely to be a big factor in Detroit, but at least that’s one less name to worry about.

Wide receiver

Patriots cut Mohamed Sanu

New England certainly has to regret sending a second-rounder to Atlanta for Sanu last year, as his Patriots career ends with 207 receiving yards and one score over eight games, battling injury the whole time. Considering New England’s patchwork receiver corps behind Julian Edelman, Sanu must still be struggling to get healthy, because there should have been a spot for him. Expect the Patriots targets to be mostly concentrated to Edelman, James White, N'Keal Harry and whoever might (or might not) develop at tight end.

Washington cuts Trey Quinn

Mr. Irrelevant from the 2018 draft, Quinn popped up as an interesting name as a PPR option out of the slot a time or two over his two years in Washington, but his tenure with the team ends with 15 games, 273 yards, 2 touchdowns and zero games with more than 50 receiving yards. His departure clears things up a bit behind Terry McLaurin, with Steven Sims the No. 2 and Antonio Gandy-Golden likely the No. 3, plus Antonio Gibson seeing targets out of the backfield.

Cardinals cut Hakeem Butler

Butler was a monster in 2018, his last year at Iowa State, going for 1,318 yards and 9 touchdowns. NFL teams weren’t buying it though, as Butler fell to the fourth round of the 2019 draft. He never saw the field in Arizona after breaking his hand in the preseason and was buried on the one of the league’s deepest depth charts this year. Someone will likely give Butler a shot, but the chances we care about him in fantasy before 2021 at the earliest are slim.

Packers cut Jake Kumerow, Reggie Begelton

The contest for No. 2 receiver behind Davante Adams never really seemed to include Kumerow or Begelton (despite Aaron Rodgers calling Kumerow a lock to make the roster as recently as Friday), but at least now there are fewer names to monitor. Allen Lazard is the No. 2 receiver if you’re drafting, but both Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Equanimeous St. Brown are worth monitoring just in case.

Falcons cut Laquon Treadwell

Treadwell even going to Atlanta wouldn’t have made much of a ripple (not after four years and 701 total yards in Minnesota) if not for his first-round pedigree that gave Atlanta the chance to start 11 first-rounders on offense. But that’s more trivia than anything actionable, and Treadwell didn’t impress in camp. The release appears to lock Russell Gage into the No. 3 receiver role, one in which he had a few flashes in 2019 after Mohamed Sanu’s departure.

Dolphins cut Chester Rogers

It wasn’t so much that Rogers was considered that big a name, but rather that Allen Hurns and Albert Wilson opting out opened up the No. 3 role in Miami for the ex-Colts receiver. That didn’t pan out, and the Dolphins now have a mishmash of names (Isaiah Ford, Jakeem Grant, Mack Hollins, Gary Jennings among them, plus newly acquired RB/WR/gadget option Lynn Bowden) to battle for targets after DeVante Parker, Preston Williams and tight end Mike Gesicki.

Seahawks cut Paul Richardson

If Richardson was likely to have any sort of career resurgence, back where it all started for him was his best shot. But he’s now six years into a career with only one year with more than 300 yards or two touchdowns, so the ship has likely sailed, and with the Seahawks re-signing Josh Gordon, there was no space for Richardson.

Kicker

We don’t really care about kickers in fantasy these days, unless they are Justin Tucker. But it is at least worth noting who a team’s kicker actually is, so…

Bills cut Stephen Hauschka

Buffalo kicker: Tyler Bass

Bears cut Cairo Santos

Chicago kicker: Eddy Pineiro

Colts cut Chase McLaughlin

Indianapolis kicker: Rodrigo Blankenship

Rams cut Austin MacGinnis and Lirim Hajrullahu

Los Angeles kicker: Sam Sloman

Patriots cut Nick Folk and Justin Rohrwasser

Patriots kicker: Good question

Jets cut Brett Maher

New York kicker: Sam Ficken