OK, so it happened — again.
Last week, in this very column, I advised kicking Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams to the curb. Over the first month of the season, Williams was 24th in fantasy points among quarterbacks. He had logged 15 fantasy points all of once. While Jayden Daniels was lighting it up, Williams was, um, not.
So, of course, purely out of spite and to make this analyst look bad, Williams had the best game of his professional career — 304 passing yards, 34 rushing yards, two touchdowns, a QB6 finish for the week, and kudos from Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
“He’s just learning and growing, and you can see that in these games that we’ve had,” Eberflus told reporters. “He knows that. So, he’s just got to level up, keep leveling up, and every time we’ve challenged him, he’s done that ever since the summer.”
The unmitigated gall of some people.
Joking aside, it goes to show you that answering the question of “who to drop” is an inexact science. It’s certainly not ideal when a player who I’ve called out promptly has his best game of the season, but it’s going to happen. All I can do is pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back out there handing out pink slips.
Also, for what it’s worth — Williams’ teammate Keenan Allen is still in the wide receiver protection program — 80th in PPR points per game among wide receivers after five weeks.
Um, yikes.
Rostered percentages courtesy of Yahoo!
QB Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets (48 Percent Rostered — Droppable in Shallow Leagues)
No, you can’t drop head coach Robert Saleh, like the Jets did Monday, but you can drop the struggling veteran quarterback.
When Rodgers came out in Week 3 and lit up the Patriots for 281 yards and a pair of touchdowns while completing over 77 percent of his passes, it looked like the four-time MVP was “back.” Fast-forward two weeks and an equal number of dismal outings, and pundits like Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports are flat-out calling the 40-year-old “washed up.”
“Rodgers looks like a 40-year-old quarterback coming off a ruptured Achilles,” Kerr wrote. “Rodgers was a putrid 29 of 54 for 244 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions (54.9 rating) in the Jets’ loss to the Vikings. He averaged 4.5 yards per attempt and was 6 of 14 for 81 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions on third and fourth down. Rodgers and the Jets are 2-3 and have as many points scored in 2024 as they did in 2023 (93) after Week 5. Rodgers has just 1,093 passing yards, 6.0 yards per attempt, and a passer rating of 81.6 — all the worst through the first five games of his career.”
Rodgers’ defenders will say that it has only been five games … that New York’s allegedly improved offensive line isn’t doing him any favors … that he’s a Hall of Famer who just needs time. And sure, you could hold on to him and see how he performs in the Post-Saleh Era. But ask yourself, even as a bye-week fill-in, do you want the Rodgers we saw hobbling around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in your starting lineup?
It’s a rhetorical question. He’s being outplayed by Joe Flacco for cripes’ sake.
TE Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens (90 Percent Rostered — Droppable in Shallow Leagues)
That’s right — gotta go big with at least one.
You know things aren’t going according to plan when a five-catch, 44-yard effort is cause for a parade for a player who was once the No. 1 tight end in all of fantasy football. In the two games preceding that, Andrews had zero catches on two targets. But he told reporters he’s more worried about winning football games than making fantasy managers happy.
“I mean, all that [fantasy talk] is good and stuff, but they don’t know what’s going on inside this building and how we’re working and what I’m doing,” he said. “They’re not watching me every play. They’re not seeing the type of work that I’m putting in. And so, all good things come with time.”
The fact that nine fantasy points and change (in PPR) counts as “good things” shows you just how far Andrews has fallen — and that’s during a year when the entire tight end position has been a hot mess. Andrews has 14 targets for the entire season. Even in last week’s “rebound,” it was Isaiah Likely who got into the end zone — twice. And even Likely was on a milk carton in Weeks 2, 3 and 4. The Ravens’ tight ends are cannibalizing one another — and the only reason to expect change at this point is blind hope.
When Andrews goes 6/70/2 in Week 6, you can thank me — I appear to have a knack for reverse-jinxing guys out of slumps. I’m a helper.
RB Antonio Gibson, New England Patriots (38 Percent Rostered – Droppable in Most Leagues)
Remember the long-ago days of last week, when Gibson was going to be New England’s lead back because Rhamondre Stevenson couldn’t hold on to the football? It was rather ironic given Gibson’s fumbling issues in Washington, but it was understandable fantasy managers got a little excited when New England head coach Jerod Mayo openly said that Stevenson was being demoted for last Sunday’s latest affront to offensive football.
“Had a conversation with Rhamondre [Stevenson], and he won’t be starting,” Mayo said. “I’ll be upfront and transparent. But he will play. And he understands he has to protect the football going forward.”
The problem is that Mayo didn’t say for how long Stevenson would be demoted. It wound up being about a quarter, and by the end of New England’s loss to Miami’s JV team, Stevenson had twice as many carries as Gibson and the team’s only rushing touchdown. Every Patriot on your roster decreases your chances of winning by 12 percent — and wasting a spot on the second back for a brutal offense is just — no.
WR Gabe Davis, Jacksonville Jaguars (22 Percent Rostered – Droppable in All Leagues)
After the Jaguars lost Calvin Ridley in free agency, the team double-dipped to replace him, drafting Brian Thomas Jr. after signing Gabe Davis in free agency. There was a sideline spat last week between Davis and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but after the Jags’ first win of the season, Lawrence downplayed the kerfuffle while talking to the media.
“That happens in this game,” he said. “People that have played it know. People that haven’t probably don’t really understand all the emotions that go into it. … Gabe’s always good at communicating, so we got on the same page quick, and it was good.”
If Davis and Lawrence are on the same page, that would be a first for 2024. Even with tight end Evan Engram out most of the season, Davis has been targeted more than five times just twice, hasn’t caught more than three passes in a game this year, and has 12 catches for 159 yards total for the season. Unless you’re in a ridiculously deep league or Gabe Davis’ mom, there’s no point in rostering him right now.
WR Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns (49 Percent Rostered – Droppable in Most Leagues)
After four mostly underwhelming seasons in Denver, Jeudy joined the Browns in an offseason trade and then received an extension from the team because Cleveland. The 25-year-old told reporters earlier this season that he was determined to show he’s the first-round talent the Broncos thought they were getting and not the disappointment they unloaded on the Browns.
“Just making plays consistently,” Jeudy said. “Coming to Cleveland, that’s the biggest thing that I want to show is just being able to show that I am a playmaker, that I can consistently make plays. I just always want to be in the vision of the quarterback. So, wherever he scrambles to, I just try to be in his vision and, if he sees me, just make a play on the ball.”
There have been flashes with Jeudy — he’s actually hit double-digit PPR points in three of five games. But he’s yet to have a 15-point game, and the Cleveland offense is now officially dead last in the NFL in total yards per game. Jeudy in Cleveland is Jeudy in a nutshell — for all the talk about talent and the occasional tease, the numbers just aren’t there. Last week’s 1/16/0 line on three targets was the last straw. Make like Denver and cut him loose because the Browns are not in your fantasy league, so no one is going to compensate you for ridding your roster of dead weight.
(Photo of Aaron Rodgers: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Yell at him on X at @IDPSharks
