Drop these players to make Week 12 fantasy waiver wire pickup room
By Jennifer Eakins, 4for4
Special to Yahoo Sports
With under a handful of games to go before the fake postseason, it’s imperative to trim the fantasy fat from our rosters and maximize weekly output. While sometimes we get emotional attachments to players or feel like we’ll experience some sort of FOMO after they’re dropped, we have to shake it off and realize it’s for the betterment of the squad.
Here is this week’s list of players who are possibly weighing down your respective rosters as we head down the stretch. If you’re looking for some players to stash for future use, I have you covered there as well.
Emmanuel Sanders, WR – Bills
Some may see this as an overreaction to Week 11, but when looking at Emmanuel Sanders' past four contests, he’s just not holding his own for fantasy purposes. The 13-year veteran has averaged a brutal 4.7 half-PPR points per game since the Bills’ bye and is coming in as the WR77 in that four-week time frame.
With Dawson Knox back in the mix, things may not get any better as far as targets go after Stefon Diggs and the emerging TE. Buffalo also has two contests against the Patriots, who sit fifth in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to opposing WRs on tap, plus a battle with the Panthers in Week 15, who rank fourth in that category. Someone like Van Jefferson, Darnell Mooney or Elijah Moore could serve your roster better.
Ryan Tannehill, QB – Titans
During draft season, Ryan Tannehill was being selected as the QB12 — an automatic fantasy starter — in the hopes he would repeat last year’s 21.5 fantasy points per game campaign as the overall QB11. The wheels seem to have come off for Tannehill and the Titans' offense, as he’s averaging just 14.0 points per contest over the past three weeks, landing as the QB21 in that time frame.
His No. 1 WR, A.J. Brown, is wildly inconsistent and oft-injured this season, and Tannehill lost his main weapon Derrick Henry for what’s most likely the rest of 2021. A tilt with New England’s blistering defense in Week 12 won’t help his cause, then Tanny is off in Week 13. In single-QB formats, you should be able to find a viable replacement on the waiver wire, one with preferably an easier rest-of-season schedule like Derek Carr or even Jimmy Garoppolo.
Alex Collins, RB – Seahawks
Dropping the next man up in a backfield right after the starter had season-ending surgery may not seem ideal, but in this case, it can be done, unless your roster is riddled with injured RBs. Alex Collins has been consistently mediocre without Chris Carson so far, posting yardage totals of 44, 47, 35, 44, 41 and 36, with one outlier 101-rushing-yard game over the last seven contests.
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While Seattle is known for constantly establishing the run, Collins has not been making it happen and Rashaad Penny can’t stay healthy. Perhaps DeeJay Dallas or Travis Homer is the answer there, but we can do better than Collins’ single-digit weekly output moving forward.
T.Y. Hilton, WR – Colts
Forget about the name here. T.Y. Hilton is not the player he was in 2018, or even 2020. The 32-year-old has two or fewer catches in all but one contest this season and hasn’t put up a fantasy-relevant performance since Week 6.
The Colts still have a bye week ahead of them in Week 14, plus difficult tilts with the Patriots and Raiders coming up, who rank fifth and ninth, respectively, in aFPA to WRs this season.
David Johnson, RB – Texans
I understand starting RBs are tough to come by in 2021, but David Johnson is not going to happen this season in Houston. Since technically becoming the lead back for the Texans, Johnson has 19 carries for a whopping 33 yards with seven total receptions for 44 yards and zero touchdowns.
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The 29-year-old just can’t be trusted as a fantasy option with so much at stake moving forward and can be safely dropped in all formats. The waiver wire is thin at RB this week, but take a chance on Ty Johnson or DeeJay Dallas; they can only go up from Johnson’s RB55 performance over the last three weeks.
This article originally appeared in its full form on 4for4.com
A proud alumna of the UGA Grady College of Journalism, Jennifer Eakins has been working in the sports industry for well over a decade. She has had stints with CNN Sports, the Atlanta Hawks and the Colorado Rockies. Her first fantasy football draft took place in 1996 where she selected Ricky Watters with the first overall pick, and she has been a fantasy degenerate ever since.
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