Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
I always preach patience when it comes to dropping players, especially the ones you invested heavily in during the draft, but 8 weeks have passed which is more than enough time to take an objective look at some of the high priced draft assets that have disappointed so far this season. I’ve listed players below that are still owned in over 50% of Yahoo leagues, but probably shouldn’t be. These are mostly players that had high price tags during the draft but have disappointed enough that you aren’t sure what to do with them. Every year there are plenty of high-priced players that disappoint, so don’t feel bad about making a mistake on any of these guys.
Just to be clear, I am not recommending you cut any of these players right away. I’m just saying that if you are already considering cutting these players for whatever reason, I wouldn’t judge you. Some of these guys are acceptable / mediocre starters, but if you are trying to win it all mediocre just doesn’t cut it.
2014 Cut List:
WR Roddy White (96%) – Has only one game this season with over 75 receiving yards. He’s still probably worth a spot on our bench, but I dropped him this week in a league with only 4 bench spots. White will be 33 next week and has clearly lost a step or two. He’s not the Roddy White you remember and is probably not worth starting the rest of the season.
WR Michael Floyd (93%) – He’s fourth on the team in targets and just barely above little used TE John Carlson. To make matters worse, Floyd has only caught 19 of his 43 targets and has been surpassed by rookie John Brown as the Cards primary deep threat. I pegged Floyd for a breakout season this year and haven’t dropped him yet, but he’s certainly not in any of my starting lineups this week.
WR Michael Crabtree (89%) – Is averaging just over 3 catches per game over the last 4 weeks and hasn’t cracked 50 receiving yards since week 3. The 49ers aren’t passing much and when they do Crabtree hasn’t been the primary target as expected this year. He’s on 89% of rosters because of his awesome numbers in college and spot on a high profile team, but Crabtree is averaging roughly the same amount of fantasy points per game as Greg Jennings and Allen Hurns both of whom are on the wavier wire in most leagues. Richard Sherman was right about Crabtree being mediocre.
WR Marques Colston, Saints (84%) – Is averaging just 4 catches per game over the last 5 weeks. Colston is 31 and looks slower than ever this year. He’s still a part of the Saints offense, but not close to Brees’ first option and is strictly a possession guy at this point of his career. I wouldn’t feel comfortable starting Colston in standard formats and if he’s not worth starting and doesn’t have any upside… then he probably isn’t worth a spot on your bench either.
WR Torrey Smith, Ravens (84%) – He’s always been a boom-or-bust player, but this year it’s been almost all bust. Last week’s ZERO catch, 2 target game was the tipping point for me. For the season Smith is only averaging only 5 targets per game and just over 2 catches. If not for Smith’s previous success he would have been on the waiver wire weeks ago in most formats.