Do you drop them or do you hold on to them? Should you fear their drop in usage? I’ll help you answer those! Every week I’ll be highlighting some players who are either losing opportunity on offense or underperforming based on their ownership percentage.
This can be used as a helpful way to decide on some players you can drop to waivers for the hot new items on the market. Maybe you’re on the fence about a bench player and seeing his name on this list will help you make that final decision!
I will only mention players with over 35% ownership in ESPN leagues because you can’t drop who you don’t have. I’ll also give my verdict on whether he’s a drop or a hold depending on if his drop in production may have other factors to it! All players are analyzed by their offensive snap% and their targets/touches week-to-week.
Let’s do this!
Zach Ertz – 96.9% Ownership
The injury to Zach Ertz this past week may be a blessing in disguise to Ertz owners. We drafted Ertz in the 4-5 rounds for the reliable floor that he’s provided in past seasons but that floor seems to have been eviscerated. With just two games with double-digit while almost every other receiving option in Philly was hurt, it’s finally time to give up. If Ertz were any other TE drafted in the later rounds he would’ve been dropped weeks ago.
Verdict: Unless you have an open IR spot on your rosters you can finally rid this man from your team.
Marvin Jones Jr. – 69.7% Ownership
This one hurts as a Lions fan. Marvin Jones Jr. has been the leading receiver in Detroit in terms of snaps in almost every game this season, never dipping below 88% of offensive snaps. Those snaps, however, are not translating to usage on the field. He’s been targeted a max of eight times which happened to be week one when Kenny Golladay was inactive.
Verdict: Matt Stafford is not throwing touchdowns like he was expected to this season which was Jones’ main attraction. I’m dropping Jones Jr. as there are more exciting options elsewhere.
Cam Akers – 59.9% Ownership
Every year we are given a stern lesson as to why we should not trust coach speak. McVay told us after their week 5 win against Washington that Akers was in line for more work against San Francisco. This was a clear lie as Akers’s usage took a nosedive. Akers was on the field for only 5% of offensive snaps, compared to 53% from Darrell Henderson and 45% from Malcolm Brown. Sure we could chalk it up to game script since they played behind the whole game, but it’s clear Akers is the RB3 on this Rams team.
Verdict: It’s always hard to drop an RB with potential, but his output is not helpful. If I own him I’m probably holding for one more week but it’s getting hard not to.
Mecole Hardman – 52.3% Ownership
Man, I was so on board for Hardman to have a solid showing against Buffalo. The ONLY argument I can think of for keeping Hardman is that the Chiefs ran the ball 46 times, the highest of any Andy Reid-coached game, so the opportunity wasn’t as rich as it could’ve been. That doesn’t explain why Hardman was only on the field for 40% of the offensive snaps. It appears that Demarcus Robinson is the Sammy Watkins replacement instead of Hardman.
Verdict: I’m dropping. I was hopeful that he’d ball out in Watkins’ absence but that appears to be Robinson’s role.
