Fantasy Football: 3 Players You Can Drop After Week 10

Every week, basically every fantasy website in the industry puts out a waiver wire column -- here's ours for this week. But in some instances, the real problem isn't deciding who to pick up; it's figuring out which players to part ways with.

Knowing when to drop an under-performing player is a tough call, but I'm here to help you out. Dead weight on your fantasy roster can be particularly harmful during bye weeks. These are the players you don't feel comfortable cutting but who prevent you from picking up someone else. Maybe you even get roped into starting them in a pinch.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to explore any trade possibilities before cutting a player. But the issue with many of these guys is that their value is already low, so they may be difficult to move. If you can't move them, fine -- that's when you can consider dropping them to address other needs on your roster. But don't just drop them without doing any market research in your league.

These are tough decisions to make -- if they weren't, I wouldn't need to write this article. But it doesn't have to be so hard. After this past week, here are some players you can drop and why you can do so.

All NFL projections via our numbers at FanDuel Research, and NFL odds references are to FanDuel Sportsbook. Statistics via NFL Next Gen Stats and Pro Football Focus unless otherwise stated.

Fantasy Football Players to Drop After Week 10

Sam Darnold, QB, Minnesota Vikings

Remember when Sam Darnold was an MVP candidate?

That was fun.

But after last week, we can safely say the party is over.

Darnold had his worst game since his 5.3-point dud in London last week, managing just 9.4 fantasy points in a 12-7 win over one of the worst secondaries in the NFL – the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Despite the soft matchup, Darnold only completed 63% of his passes for 241 yards. Most concerning was his truly atrocious 0:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He’s now thrown as many interceptions in the last two games (5) as he did in the first seven.

Granted, last week was just the second time Darnold failed to reach 15 fantasy points. He’s still finished as the QB13 or better in six of nine games and is tied for fourth in touchdown passes (17).

But we’ve seen Darnold go back to hold habits the last two games, and his upcoming schedule doesn’t do him any favors. Darnold will take on the Tennessee Titans and Chicago Bears on the road the next two weeks – secondaries ranked `12th and 1st in schedule-adjusted pass defense. It lightens up a bit after that, but he then has to face Chicago, again, and Green Bay (10th in adj. pass defense) in the fantasy playoffs.

According to PFF, the Vikings have a bottom-10 quarterback schedule from Weeks 15-17.

Darnold had clawed out of the streamer designation with some hefty passing numbers earlier in the year, but his recent play and upcoming schedule banish him back with the masses. He can be dropped in any single-quarterback format in favor of passers with better matchups.

Jordan Mason, RB, San Francisco 49ers

I was (relatively) bullish on Jordan Mason's fantasy value before last week. Even with Christian McCaffrey returning, I figured the San Francisco 49ers would still feed Mason on early downs in an effort to preserve CMC for the postseason.

That did not happen.

McCaffrey handled an 88.5% snap rate and 27 adjusted opportunities (carries plus 2x targets) in his season debut. In turn, Jordan Mason played just 3 snaps.

Now, there’s obviously no world where you’re starting Mason with CMC back. There just isn’t enough volume to go around – the Niners have made that clear.

But I’d argue Mason isn’t even worth stashing as a handcuff. Rookie Isaac Guerendo had flashed in recent weeks, anyway, and he also saw 3 snaps in CMC’s return – one of which came in the red zone.

So, if McCaffrey goes down again, I don’t think it's a given that Mason takes over his workload. And even if he does, Mason hadn’t proven to be a very valuable fantasy asset in recent weeks. He hasn’t cracked double-digit fantasy points since Week 4 and did not see more than 3 targets in any game this season.

That’s just not the recipe for fantasy success. Mason can be safely dropped in any 10 or 12-team league.

Javonte Williams, RB, Denver Broncos

Javonte Williams has seemingly lost hold of this Denver Broncos backfield over the last two weeks.

From Weeks 1-8, Williams handled a 57.8% snap rate and 19.8 adjusted opportunities per game. He had a 45.3% route participation and saw 45.7% of Denver’s red zone rush attempts.

Then, in Week 9, Javonte still earned 18 adjusted opportunities and a 54.4% snap rate, but three other Denver backs saw a red zone rush attempt while Audric Estime and Jaleel McLaughlin combined for 16 adjusted opportunities. Estime saw all of his work in the second half, taking snaps directly away from Javonte.

Then, Sean Payton came out and said Estime would get more work in the second half of the year. That led to a changing of the guard in Week 10 as Williams played just 29.1% of snaps and saw just 1 rush attempt. He hardly played in the second half, while Estime earned 14 of Denver’s 17 running back rush attempts and led the backfield with a 45.5% snap rate.

That’s something I’d anticipate more of going forward, and it makes Javonte difficult to hold onto in fantasy. I wouldn’t drop him just to drop him, but if there’s a waiver wire add with more potential upside, I wouldn’t hesitate to cut him loose. We see inefficient veterans lose work to rookies every year down the stretch, and it’s hard not to see that happening here given how last week went.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.