Fantasy Football: 3 Players You Can Drop After Week 3
Week 3 was the weekend of the backups. Luke Falk, Daniel Jones, Kyle Allen, and Teddy Bridgewater headlined the Sunday slate with results ranging from forgettable to unforgettable. Jones and Allen will likely be featured in waiver wire columns for Week 4. Jets fans are left hoping Sam Darnold is medically cleared after their bye. Meanwhile, some other disappointing performances will force us into difficult roster decisions as the NFL bye weeks begin.
Week 2 Review
Our previous drop candidates included:
Donte Moncrief – His second-half benching led to him being inactive in Week 3. Pittsburgh traded drops for turnovers along with other offensive misfires against San Francisco. Even if Moncrief returns to the active roster, the offense without Ben Roethlisberger isn’t worth investing in past the primary personnel.
Dion Lewis – There was hope that a negative game script would aid Lewis’ usage. Tennessee trailed essentially the entire game and Lewis’ snaps only increased by 3 points. His touches? The same as in Week 2. Atlanta’s defensive injuries set up a positive game environment in Week 4, but Lewis’ usage has been too limited even to use him as a flex.
Darrell Henderson – Logged 0 snaps for the second week in a row. It’s Malcolm Brown’s job for now.
Dante Pettis – From the doghouse to the penthouse, Pettis had the largest target share for San Francisco receivers in Week 3. He’s still a rotational player (behind Marquise Goodwin and Deebo Samuel), but his usage will be worth monitoring headed forward.
Drop Candidates
Justice Hill, RB, Baltimore Ravens
17% Yahoo Ownership
Mark Ingram was forced out of town by Alvin Kamara. Ingram benefited from playing in New Orleans with Drew Brees. Well, Ingram now leads the league in rushing touchdowns (5) and is tied for second in opportunities from inside the 10-yard line. His RB touch share went from 35.9% in Week 1 to 66.6% in Week 3. Unfortunately, Justice Hill has been left out of the action as Ingram and Gus Edwards (along with Lamar Jackson) have dominated the committee. His snaps have decreased each week limiting him to a single carry in Week 3. His pass-catching ability combined with his speed should keep him on your radar, but, for now, he’s best left on the waiver wire.
Kyle Rudolph, TE, Minnesota Vikings
50% Yahoo Ownership
Kyle Rudolph has amassed six total targets as a starting tight end. Six. Fortunately, they’ve all come while the Vikings are in the red zone. Unfortunately, they’ve either been off-target or dump-off passes requiring the 29-year old, non-athletic tight end to scramble for the end zone. It hasn’t worked out well. Rudolph is fourth in target share on his team, splitting targets with a rookie, and part of an offense that's passing at the lowest rate in the league. It’s time to drop Rudolph and acquire a viable streaming target ahead of Week 4.
Keke Coutee, WR, Houston Texans
23% Yahoo Ownership
Keke Coutee entered the season injured which was expected to hamper his 2019 production. However, on top of that, the Texans traded for two more pass catchers in Duke Johnson and Kenny Stills. Johnson's 3.6 aDOT (while in Cleveland) and route tree overlapped with how Coutee had been used in 2018. To make matters worse, with established perimeter threats in DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller, Stills would likely see the majority of his targets from the slot forcing Coutee to share his role. We've seen this play out on the field so far in 2019. Johnson's production hasn't met expectations, but he's still seen 10% of the team's targets. Stills has run over 60% of his routes from the slot. As a result, Coutee's snaps were almost cut in half in Week 3 (28%). While Coutee is attached to a productive offense, his targets and touchdown equity aren't conducive to a fantasy starter at this time. Unless an injury occurs, Coutee should be placed on the waiver wire for a higher-upside option.
Trend to Note
Latavius Murray, RB, New Orleans Saints
Prolific passers increase the size of the offensive pie. It allows teams to support both primary and ancillary assets for fantasy purposes. Remove the quarterback and the touchdown equity decreases for everyone. We saw that in action in Week 3 for New Orleans. They played in a positive game script the entire game making it difficult to draw definitive conclusions, but the results are concerning. Latavius Murray saw his lowest snap share this season (21%). New Orleans’ matchup against Dallas (32.3 points per game) in Week 4 will likely press them into a different game script. While Kamara saw his largest snap share of the season (88%), it's worth monitoring the situation going forward as the Saints adjust to life without Drew Brees.
