Players to Drop for Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups in Fantasy Football

We're nearly a quarter of the way through the NFL season after four weeks of brilliant fantasy football action. It's still a bit too early to hit the panic button, even if some of your mid-round draft picks are already busts. But, don't be afraid to cut ties with some injured players or some underwhelming late-round picks.

Week 5 Waiver Wire

You'll regret cutting ties with high-upside players too early, but you also don't want duds hanging around taking up valuable bench space.

Fantasy Football Players to Drop

With that in mind, here are three players--all rostered in at least 50 percent of Yahoo! fantasy football leagues--that you can drop to make space for Week 5 wavier wire pickups.

1. Jahan Dotson, WR, Washington Commanders (51% Rostered)

Rookie wideout Jahan Dotson struggled over the last two weeks of his season. A TD saved his Week 4 fantasy effort, but he's tallied just 5 catches for 53 yards in those two weeks. He also landed on the injury report ahead of a Week 5 clash with the Tennessee Titans. Head coach Ron Rivera indicated this hamstring issue could cost Dotson at least a week or two, meaning it's time to trade in on the potential upside for a more secure option. Curtis Samuel and Terry McLaurin are clearly preferred options in this offense, evidenced by their 22% and 16% target shares, so I'm comfortable pushing Dotson towards fantasy free agency until he fully recovers from this injury.

2. Devin Duvernay, WR, Baltimore Ravens (63% Rostered)

A trio of early touchdowns had some thinking Ravens WR Devin Duvernay could be the surprise fantasy performer of the season. He's not, trust us. His fantasy ranking has been tanking after opening the season as WR9 thanks to a 2-TD performance. Duvernay finished Week 2 as WR17, finished Week 3 as WR21 and now checks in at WR27. The injury to Rashod Bateman gives me slight pause, but Baltimore's top pass-catcher is only listed as day-to-day, so we're expecting him to suit up in Week 5. Duvernay holds just 11% of the team's target share. By contrast, Mark Andrews leads at a 32% clip and Bateman at 19%. Duvernay's value will continue tanking because of this lack of volume.

3. Carson Wentz, QB, Washington Commanders (55% Rostered)

Carson Wentz got off to a terrific start, both on the field and from a fantasy perspective. Fantasy's QB4 through the first two weeks, Wentz' season came crashing down once facing some more talented defensive teams. He's thrown 2 interceptions and 1 TDs in the last two weeks, and rated as QB27 in that span. He's still thrown the ball 40+ times in every contest, but that resulted in just 211 and 170 yards, respectively, across Weeks 3 and 4. Unless you're playing in a deep 2QB league, it's best to cut your losses if you began the season expecting to see a different Wentz. He's rated as just QB21 in The Duel's Rest of Season rankings.

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Adam Taylor McKillop is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Adam Taylor also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username atmckillop. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.