Dead Weight Report: Week 10 Droppables
At this point in the season, it’s time to get serious about your roster moving forward. Whether they’ve made the starting lineup or have been hanging out on the bench, we all have players who’ve underperformed. Should you hang on to them for another week or cut them loose now?
In this weekly article, I comb through the weak and underwhelming performances to see who’s droppable in favor of some waiver wire magic. There are many variables in determining a player’s remaining worth, including their own production, offense and health, among others, and all will be taken into consideration when determining each week’s dead weight.
Frank Gore, RB – Bills
As sentimental of a favorite as he is within the football community, it’s time to say goodbye to Gore, at least for the 2019 season. (We all know he’ll be back somewhere in 2020). Rookie Devin Singletary is healthy and saw 23 touches to Gore’s 11 in Week 9, which translated to 140 combined yards and a score compared to just 15 yards for Gore. This should be an indication of their respective workload moving forward which leaves Gore on the outs for a roster spot on any team looking for wins.
There are backs available with the potential for more carries than the 36-year-old Gore, so let him go gracefully and snag someone like Ronald Jones or J.D. McKissic.
Peyton Barber, RB – Buccaneers
Speaking of Ronald Jones, I’m calling the time of death on Barber as of this week. He saw a measly nine snaps on Sunday against Seattle, compared to Jones’ 42 and Dare Ogunbowale’s 21. There are 32% of fantasy owners who have been stashing and praying for Barber to turn it around this year, but the dream is now over. It’s time to free up your roster from those players whose production is not coming to fruition with each passing week.
Similar to Gore above, there are a handful of running backs who are emerging with a chance for more volume down the stretch, and Barber is not looking like one of them.
Anthony Miller, WR – Bears
Miller’s usage in the Bears' putrid offense has been trending downward with the return of Taylor Gabriel. In Week 9, he posted a big fat zero in the fantasy points department. I guess some of you are gluttons for punishment or have a baseless belief in a second-half renaissance for Miller, as he’s rostered in close to 20% of Yahoo! leagues.
With the fantasy playoffs just around the bend, send Miller packing in favor of a wideout on a more productive offense. Think Josh Reynolds, Kenny Stills or even A.J. Brown.
Phillip Dorsett, WR – Patriots
Of course, he may have one big game in him before the end of the season because that’s how the Patriots roll, but Dorsett is fading into the background in this New England offense. He hasn’t seen more than six targets since Week 4 and saw 10 fewer balls than newcomer Mohamed Sanu last week.
With N'Keal Harry activated from IR and set to return, he’ll most likely grab Dorsett’s three-wide set action. The 26-year-old Dorsett is still on 46% of Yahoo! rosters, but there are some wideouts in that same bracket with higher spots in their teams’ pecking orders.
Mitch Trubisky, QB – Bears
Some actually had him pegged as a potential league MVP at the start of the season, so I can understand why some fantasy managers are still rostering the Chicago quarterback as we enter double-digit weeks into the season. However, Trubisky is just not good. Or at least he’s playing terribly and not worthy of a roster spot in redraft leagues.
With the quarterback landscape changing as much as it has on a weekly basis, there should be some decent choices on your waiver wire with greater potential to increase your overall score. Look to Derek Carr, Kyle Allen or even Ryan Tannehill.
