Dead Weight Report: Week 7 Droppables

With six teams getting to watch from their respective couches this week and the insane amount of injuries around the NFL, this week’s Dead Weight Report was not easy to write. However, I did find some expendable players we can exchange for some waiver wire love because we should always be looking to improve our fantasy rosters.

If you’re looking for some players to stash for future use, I have you covered there as well.

Baker Mayfield, QB – Browns

Not only is Baker Mayfield underperforming this season (except for in commercials where he’s quite good), but the 26-year-old QB is also dealing with a dislocated shoulder. After six weeks, Mayfield is the QB24 in fantasy points per game and is facing several difficult matchups, plus he still has another six contests until the Browns’ bye week.

Mayfield is droppable in single-QB leagues even without his injury. He's someone to monitor moving forward in Superflex and 2QB formats.

Myles Gaskin, RB – Dolphins

I fully expect to get yelled at on Twitter if he has a good game next week, which could happen, but for those of you sick of the yoyo life that is rostering Myles Gaskin, it could be freeing to let someone else worry about him for the rest of the season.

Gaskin sits at RB34 in half-PPR points per game with an unimpressive 9.2, but if we take out his Week 5 performance of 26.9, it goes down to an even more pathetic 5.7 half-PPR point average in five contests. It’s clear we can’t count on the Miami backfield for any type of consistency in usage or production. If you’re tired of the weekly battle, let Gaskin go in favor of someone like J.D. McKissic or Michael Carter.

Jonnu Smith, TE – Patriots

The New England TE room was an enigma heading into the season, but we’re getting some clarity on which TE is the one to roster moving forward. Jonnu Smith has been out-targeted 10-4 the past two weeks by Hunter Henry. He is on the field for just 55% of the snaps compared to Henry’s 71%.

While the TE pool is considerably dry, you still may want to consider streaming weekly based on matchups instead of hoping for it to be a Smith day each time you set lineups moving forward.

Nyheim Hines, RB – Colts

Nyheim Hines is the type of player who tends to linger around rosters for too long, as managers keep waiting for his PPR prowess to bail them out. Well, we’re in Week 7—the near halfway point in the fantasy regular season for most—and it’s not looking so hot for Hines in 2021. He’s only seen 13 touches in the past three contests, while Jonathan Taylor is handling nearly triple the volume and outscoring him 21.1 half-PPR points per game to 7.0 for Hines. It also appears Indy wants to get Marlon Mack more involved, too, perhaps to showcase him for potential trade partners.

In deep PPR leagues, Hines still has value for his receiving floor, but in standard or even half-PPR leagues with 12 teams or fewer, it may be time to let him go.

Josh Gordon, WR – Chiefs

Kansas City may be waiting for Josh Gordon to get fully acclimated back into the NFL or for him to completely grasp their system before getting him more involved in the offense, but in the fantasy football world, we don’t have time to wait. The 30-year-old WR has been on the field for a total of nine snaps, with just one target in two contests, in an offense that is lacking a true No. 2 WR.

It’s time to let go of what could have been for Gordon and swap him out for a legit bye week fill-in like Darnell Mooney or Tim Patrick.