- Fantasy football managers are looking for answers for struggling players
- Who can they drop to make additions on the waiver wire?
- Read below for players to drop from your fantasy football team
There’s always those players that you drafted to your fantasy football team that are incredibly difficult to drop. Whether you took them in the early rounds or you just had a strong belief in the preseason that they would break out. I’m here to help you finally let go, with a number of players to drop in week 4 of fantasy football.
With three weeks of the NFL season under our belt there is enough sample size for us to make those difficult decisions. Some of your league mates may see these drops as a surprise, but let them rot on their bench not yours. Your bench spots are going to become extremely valuable once the bye weeks come.
Darnell Mooney (WR) – Chicago Bears
I wouldn’t blame you if you’ve already dropped this guy, but it’s hard to do knowing that you drafted him in likely the seventh round. Especially when he racked up 140 targets with this same QB just last season. But there are a number of reasons why triple digit targets aren’t a realistic possibility at this point.
First off, the Bears are running the football on over 65% of plays. Justin Fields has just 23 pass completions on the season. Yes, this team is 2-1 on the season, but we all know that isn’t sustainable. Mooney was expected to be a high volume option who likely won’t score many touchdowns. Now it seems as though that volume has disappeared.
There are plenty of low passing volume offenses that have been able to support fantasy relevant wide receivers. Think DeVonta Smith and AJ Brown last season. But Mooney has managed just a 17.9% target share so far, which ranks 47th at the position. He’s made just two receptions so far, enough is enough.
Chase Claypool (WR) – Pittsburgh Steelers
Many people may not have noticed this in the first few weeks of the NFL season, but Chase Claypool’s role has completely changed in Pittsburgh. In the first two years of his career he had been running roughly 80% of his routes from out wide. With the selection of George Pickens in this years draft and departure of JuJu Smith-Schuster that’s changed drastically. This season his route percentage from out wide is just 13.9%.
So what does this mean for you? Well there’s a significant difference in fantasy evaluation from the slot and out wide. In the slot you need to have volume, as you aren’t likely to see the same type of ADOT as you would outside the hashmarks. The problem for Claypool is that he has to play alongside Diontae Johnson, who is a target monster on this team.
Claypool is the type of player you stash on your bench to play in a hot streak as he could hit explosive plays but it was fairly unpredictable. Now he’s at the lowest average depth of target of his career (7.9 yards) and his yards per route run is just 0.73. No volume and no explosive plays should mean no roster spot on your team for the Canadian wideout.
Isiah Pacheco (RB) – Kansas City Chiefs
Hopefully you weren’t too over-influenced by the preseason hype train that was Isiah Pacheco. But if he’s still sitting on your bench you need to know that even with an injury he isn’t the next man up. Even in the case of an injury this would still be a split backfield.
The Chiefs have been splitting this backfield up consistently over the first three weeks. Pacheco may be second in carries on the season but hasn’t recorded a single reception, so he sits third in total touches on the season. NFL week 3 was even more glaring, as he had just a 9% snap share.
#Chiefs Week 3 RB Usage
– Jerick McKinnon: 51% snaps, 7 carries, 1 target
– Clyde Edwards-Helaire: 41% snaps, 7 carries, 5 targets
– Isiah Pacheco: 9% snaps, 3 carries, 0 targetsCEH remains a RB2 but is sharing too much be anything more than that right now
— Michael F. Florio (@MichaelFFlorio) September 25, 2022
The Chiefs are throwing the ball on 62.2% of plays, that’s where the running backs have been able to add to their fantasy point total and ultimately find the end zone. If Pacheco firmly sits third behind both Edwards-Helaire and McKinnon for passing down work there’s just no upside in hanging onto him. This is already a low volume rushing offense.
Hunter Henry (TE) – New England Patriots
For all of us fantasy managers that didn’t take a tight end in the first 8 rounds, it’s time to talk. Hunter Henry is an absolute must drop right now, those end zone targets aren’t saving us. He and teammate Jonnu Smith have split red zone targets two apiece.
Things are looking much different in New England then they did last season. In 2021 Henry ran nearly triple the amount of routes Smith did, fast forward to this season and the gap has closed. Not only that though, Smith has been targeted more despite running less routes. His 1.29 yards per route run is more than triple Henry, meaning he’s been more successful in his routes and demanding target share.
Henry was never considered to be a reliable, respectable floor player. The problem is that he’s being outplayed and that could have an impact on how he’s deployed in the red zone. We can’t forget that the offensive play caller isn’t the same one he had last season.