Fantasy Football 2015: Fantasy Droppables
Every week, the fantasy community as a whole moves en masse to grab players off the waiver wire. There is a widely ignored element on the other side of the equation, and that is the players who are dropped for the shiny, new toys. We want to give you the inputs for both sides. Not only will you continue to get our waiver-wire recommendations every Monday, but we’ll also let you know the players you can safely drop when you make your moves.
C.J. Anderson, RB, Broncos
Even if you weren’t high on Anderson heading into draft season, you could not have seen this coming. Five weeks into the season, Anderson, who was a late-first or early-second round pick, is droppable. Forget about 100-yard games, Anderson barely has a 100-yard season to this point. He has rushed for fewer than 50 yards in every game. His best game of the season was in Week 4, when he totaled 70 yards from scrimmage. Anderson is averaging 4.28 fantasy points per game in standard-scoring leagues, which puts him on par with 2014 Bryce Brown. Ronnie Hillman hasn’t been much better, and you’re likely in a shallow league if you’re thinking about making this move, but the fall from grace is complete. Anderson can be dropped in shallower formats.
Bishop Sankey, RB, Titans
When Sankey racked up 86 total yards and two scores on 14 touches in Week 1, it appeared that a bounceback season was underway. In the three games since, Sankey has resembled the player who disappointed so many fantasy owners last year. After his latest no-show, there’s no reason to protect him on your roster. Since that big Week 1 performance against the Buccaneers, Sankey has a total of 126 yards from scrimmage on 29 touches. In the last two weeks, he has a total of 12 carries. Conversely, Antonio Andrews has taken on a larger role in the offense. The latter isn’t exactly fantasy-relevant himself, but he has also helped zero out Sankey’s value. There’s no longer a reason to hold onto the second-year player out of Washington. He has a bit role in an offense that isn’t more than a league-average unit, at least for fantasy purposes.
C.J. Spiller, RB, Saints
You’ll probably have to be in a relatively shallow league to cut Spiller loose, but there’s no way to positively spin his first five weeks in New Orleans. He predictably dealt with an injury, and hasn’t turned into a meaningful player in the offense since making it back to the field. The Saints still love throwing to their running backs, but they aren’t exactly featuring Spiller. He had just four targets in the loss to the Eagles on Sunday, catching three of them for negative-8 yards. If not for overtime last week, he wouldn’t have even been on the minds of any fantasy owners, and that’s probably where he belongs. He doesn’t have any role as a runner, getting a total of nine carries in four games. He’s going to pop every now and again, but if you’re playing him, you’re betting on him doing something with about seven or eight touches. That’s almost always going to be a losing bet.
Roddy White, WR, Falcons
White caught four of his eight targets for 84 yards in the Falcons’ first game of the season. His WR1 days have long passed, but after that contest, it looked like he could again post WR2/3 numbers, especially given the passing volume in Atlanta’s offense. Since then, he has nine targets in four games, hauling in four of them for 31 yards. He went two straight games without a catch, and didn’t even have a target in a game in which Matt Ryan attempted 36 passes. Meanwhile, Leonard Hankerson has 32 targets, 18 receptions, 254 yards and two touchdowns. He suffered a minor rib injury on Sunday, but was able to return to the game. Hankerson is clearly the No. 2 receiver in Atlanta, and that makes him the guy who could post WR2/3 numbers alongside Julio Jones. White won’t be relevant in fantasy leagues this season, unless he gets a new address before the trade deadline.
Matthew Stafford, QB, Lions
The Lions benched Stafford for Dan Orlovsky, who, as our @SInow twitter account pointed out on Sunday, hadn’t thrown a regular-season pass since 2012. Stafford will likely be back under center on Sunday when the Lions host the Bears, but does it really matter for fantasy purposes? Stafford has been downright terrible this season, throwing for 1,205 yards, 6.18 yards per attempt, five touchdowns and eight interceptions. He hasn’t connected on anything down the field, but has been the same erratic quarterback on short and intermediate throws we’ve come to know during his time in Detroit. Given the depth at the quarterback position, you don’t need to let Stafford torpedo your fantasy team any longer. He’s not even a top-20 option at the position.
Photos: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images (Anderson), Chris Graythen/Getty Images (Spiller)
