Dead Weight Report: Week 11 Droppables

I can’t write this column each week without singing the theme song from Octonauts, a kid’s show that was on the Disney Channel at one point but I think it’s only on YouTube now. My son was a massive fan of the cartoon when he was younger and there was a lot of “Creature Report...Creature Report” sung around this house. The show is about a crew of underwater explorers who go around and help marine animals in their natural habitats.

I guess I consider myself a fantasy football explorer who helps managers rid their teams of players no longer serving them, or at least for the sake of this intro, so it all ties together.

We should always be looking for roster improvements. Cutting players who aren’t producing is a necessary evil, especially as we head down the stretch to the playoffs. If you’re looking for some players to stash for future use, I have you covered there as well.

Julio Jones, WR – Titans

This drop may be a painful one for some of you. Or, perhaps, it will be very freeing. Either way, Julio Jones was placed on I.R. and won’t be available until after the Titans’ Week 13 bye. Hanging onto the hobbled wideout for maybe one regular-season matchup and then the fantasy playoffs is not the best practice for maximum output, especially with how his year has gone in Tennessee.

Jones has only eclipsed 59 yards once this season in six games and has yet to find the end zone in 2021. The Titans are 8-2 without his contributions and are finding viable playmakers in his absence. Do your roster and sanity a favor and trade the 32-year-old in for someone healthier and more productive like Rashod Bateman or Elijah Moore.

Marvin Jones Jr., WR – Jaguars

I’ve held off on including Marvin Jones Jr. in this column for a few weeks now but I believe the time has come. There are still 74% of Yahoo! managers holding out hope the Jaguars' offense will turn around, at least for fantasy purposes, but Jones’s output has become too erratic to count on.

The 31-year-old has posted double-digit fantasy days in just three of nine weeks so far, with two of those coming in his first two contests of the season. Since the Jaguars' Week 7 bye, Jones is averaging only 6.3 targets per game, which he’s turned into a combined total of just 14.1 half-PPR points in that time frame. It appears Jamal Agnew has become the only fantasy-relevant WR in Jacksonville and he’s doing it in creative, non-air ways.

Matt Ryan, QB – Falcons

Consistency has not been something Matt Ryan and the Falcons have found so far in 2021. He’s the fantasy QB19 through the first 10 weeks of the season, which isn’t awful, but you can do better for your roster moving forward.

Atlanta has a more difficult schedule for the remainder of the season, as five of their remaining eight opponents sit among the top 15 in QB aFPA, with Buffalo and New England as the two of the stingiest when it comes to allowing QB fantasy points. There’s also the fact Ryan’s arm appears to be toast, and he’s having trouble pushing the ball downfield. A few guys who are playing better right now with a few more favorable matchups ahead include Daniel Jones and Mac Jones.

Jamaal Williams, RB – Lions

Like many of you, I was heavily invested in Jamaal Williams this season, thinking he was given a hefty contract for a reason and he was in a great spot behind D'Andre Swift. The former Packer has been dealing with a thigh injury since Week 8, but even before that, he was only averaging 8.7 half-PPR points per game (RB49).

Letting go of any team’s technical No. 2 RB is tough, especially with the number of injuries to the position this season, but if you need the bench room, Williams is droppable at this point. We’re only about five weeks away from the fantasy postseason so every single point counts.

Russell Gage, WR – Falcons

I know there were some people excited about the potential of a Russell Gage breakout with Calvin Ridley out indefinitely but it doesn’t appear to be happening. Gage has zero catches in two of his last three games, sandwiched around a Week 9, seven-reception outing. He’s eighth in half-PPR points in the Falcons' offense over the past three weeks, behind the likes of Olamide Zaccheaus, Tajae Sharpe and even Younghoe Koo.

With New England up next, and tilts with the Panthers, Lions and Bills on the horizon, who all rank among the top 10 in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to WRs, letting Gage go is probably for the betterment of your roster. Some viable replacements in better spots are Bateman, Michael Gallup or even Marcus Johnson.