Fantasy football managers constantly evaluate which players deserve a spot on their rosters as the season unfolds. Early hype doesn’t always translate into reliable production, leading to tough drop decisions each week.
This season has featured some particularly notable disappointments, leaving fantasy managers questioning several high-profile names. Read on to discover which players may no longer be worth holding onto in your fantasy football league.
Cut: Matthew Golden, Green Bay Packers
Rostered: 63%
Not every Round 1 wide receiver can pan out. In every draft class, there will be busts. Sometimes, they are surprising. Other times, they are Matthew Golden.
In one of the most predictable flops in recent memory, Golden just isn’t an NFL-caliber wide receiver. This isn’t revisionist history. I wrote about it in August.
Everything about Golden’s prospect profile screamed bust. Sure enough, here we are more than halfway through the season, and Golden has shown absolutely nothing.
The rookie’s slow start is to be expected. There was a brief period where we thought maybe he might be starting to put it together. It turns out that was just the two worst defenses in the league making him look moderately competent.
Over the past three weeks, Golden has had a total of 10 targets, nine receptions, and 50 yards. Christian Watson’s return provided more competition from a superior talent.
As if that isn’t enough, Golden picked up a shoulder injury in the Packers’ home loss to the Panthers. Golden was on this list last week, but he is still on far too many rosters. Let’s correct that this time around.
Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Rostered: 60%
This was a very sad way for Mike Evans’ 1,000-yard receiving streak to come to an end. With a broken collarbone, Evans will be sidelined for at least two months. While he does have an outside shot of returning before the end of the NFL regular season, he almost certainly will not. Even if he does, we’re talking about Week 17…maybe.
The most likely scenario is that if Evans can get back on the field this season, it will be for the NFL playoffs. It’s unlikely he will contribute anything for fantasy managers this season.
If Evans is sitting on your IR and you don’t have more injured players than IR spots, by all means, hang onto him. It doesn’t cost you anything. But the moment Evans starts costing your roster space, you have to let him go.
Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills
Rostered: 55%
The Buffalo Bills returned from their bye in Week 8, and it was more of the same from Coleman. He caught three of four targets for 30 yards. He’s now failed to score more than 7.5 points in five of his last six games. If not for a fluke touchdown three weeks ago, it would’ve been five straight.
This past week against the Kansas City Chiefs, in a game where Josh Allen threw for 273 yards, Coleman had two catches for 17 yards.
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Coleman had a rough rookie season and has shown no improvement as a sophomore. He cannot separate and thus does not earn targets. His Week 1 explosion was purely a product of the sheer amount of plays the Bills ran in negative game script. There is no upside with Coleman. Drop him.
Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns
Rostered: 57%
Jerry Jeudy was a popular bust candidate heading into this season. I certainly won’t be taking a victory lap for getting this one correct. It wasn’t exactly a bold claim. But I will not profess to have expected anything like what we’re seeing.
The Cleveland Browns don’t exactly have a loaded pass-catching corps. Jeudy isn’t just not producing; he’s not even earning targets.
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Jeudy saw a mere four targets in the Browns’ demolition of the Miami Dolphins three weeks ago. Then, in their last game, he caught zero passes. It marked the fourth time in his last six games that he saw five targets or fewer.
While he did see 13 targets three weeks ago, he only caught five of them for 43 yards. Those 9.3 points represent his second-highest output of the season.
The last time Jeudy hit double-digit fantasy points was back in Week 1. He barely got there with 11.6. Through half the fantasy season, Jeudy has been barely startable once. It’s hard to justify continuing to roster him.