The Athletic has live coverage of fantasy football week 1 advice, rankings, sleepers and more.
This is the debut of our weekly column dedicated to drops. Months ago, when we asked for feedback on our section, “having some more advice on drops” kept popping up. So we asked Gary Davenport, two-time FSWA Football Writer of the Year, if he’d accept the challenge. He has, and the season will be better for it. Enjoy!
There is certainly no shortage of articles telling you who to pick up each week. Grab this guy. Roster that guy. But what you don’t see a ton are columns telling you how to make room on your roster for that snazzy new waiver pickup. Who needs to be sent packing. Who needs to turn in their playbook and hit the bricks.
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Well, that’s what “Drops” is going to do this season at The Athletic. This is the place to come to find out who should be voted off the island. To blow off some steam about the underperforming jerk whose one catch for three yards just cost you a matchup.
It’s going to be part advice. Part support group. All snark. And when that guy I advised dropping scores three touchdowns two weeks later, there will probably be some tears and denial.
You’d think I’d be used to being wrong by now. But it’s still rattling.
Now, since no games that count have been played yet, it’s hard to compile much of a list of guys who gots to go. But there are a few players who even before the season starts have shown that all they are doing is clogging up a roster spot better spent elsewhere.
But before we get to those, a word on the 800-pound gorilla of fantasy roster headaches right now.
What the Heck Do We Do About Jonathan Taylor?
It’s not bad enough that the Colts and Taylor couldn’t agree to terms on a contract extension. Or that the Colts couldn’t find a trade partner willing to offer acceptable compensation in a trade package to move the 24-year-old. No, the Colts had to add injury to insult by leaving Taylor on the Physically Unable to Perform list — effectively sidelining him for at least the first four games of 2023.
While speaking to the media, Colts general manager Chris Ballard admitted it was far from an ideal situation, although he expressed optimism that all hope was not lost.
“I’m not going to sit here and give you some rosy picture, like, ‘Oh, everything’s OK,'” Ballard said. “It sucks for the Colts. It sucks for Jonathan Taylor. And it sucks for our fans. It just does. It’s where we’re at and we’ve got to work through it and we’re going to do everything we can to work through it. Relationships are repairable. They’re repairable.”
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Know who else it sucks for Chris? Us. It sucks for us.
Can you tell how many Taylor shares I have?
The most bizarre part of this fiasco is that by placing Taylor on PUP, the Colts handed him four games of service time. He’s that much closer to free agency—or being franchise tagged in 2024 and this whole nightmare repeating itself.
In fantasy leagues with IR spots, Taylor being on PUP at least makes things simple — he can be stashed there for the time being while we all hope against hope that either player and team agree to a deal or a trade comes to fruition. Even in leagues without IR spots, this early in the season a roster spot can be spared easily enough.
But at some point, other injuries are going to start piling up. The bye weeks are going to get here. That clogged roster spot is going to become an issue. And while I’d love to say that there’s been some sign that things will improve and the situation will be resolved positively, there’s been nothing to indicate that’s going to happen any time soon.
Sadly, I think the time is going to come when fantasy managers are going to face the toughest of calls where Taylor is concerned — and the available options are going be the equivalent of deciding whether to spend your Friday having a colonoscopy or a vasectomy.
Either way — ouch.
WEEK 1 DROPS
Isaiah Hodgins, WR, New York Giants
Hodgins emerged as Daniel Jones’ go-to target late in the 2022 season, including a big game against the Vikings in the playoffs. But after the Giants added tight end Darren Waller and wide receiver Parris Campbell in the offseason, Hodgins told reporters that he felt the need to go to his bag of tricks to try to stand out in training camp.
“I know I’m not the fastest blazer in the world, but I try to win with my route-running and my physicality — knowing that I have some gifts that other people don’t,” said Hodgins. “I try to work on top-of-the-route stuff, being deceptive and selling stuff with my eyes and shoulders, and having good hips. I focus on my strengths and use them to my advantage.”
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However, from all indications, Hodgins is behind both Darius Slayton and Campbell in the pecking order at wide receiver in New York. Throw in Waller, and we’re talking about at best the No. 4 option in the passing game for a team that ranked 25th in the league in pass attempts last season.
Devin Singletary, RB, Houston Texans
There was a time when I thought Singletary could pose a real threat to Dameon Pierce’s fantasy value. In fact, I thought there was a genuine possibility that Singletary could out-point Pierce. He’s a more accomplished receiver. A superior pass protector. And Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans continues to talk up the importance of Houston establishing the running game.
“I think the biggest thing is (for) the offense to get going, you have to be able to run the football,” Ryans said, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “You have to be able to establish the run game, have to get tempo going early, whether it’s (the) run game or having successful completions. Whatever it takes just to get your offense moving, and the run game definitely helps that.”
The thing is, though, it became very clear early on that this is not a committee attack. The Houston backfield belongs to Pierce, including a large percentage of the passing-down work. Singletary isn’t a committee back. He’s a handcuff to Pierce on arguably the worst team in the entire NFL. Unless Pierce gets hurt, Singletary is waiver wire fodder.
Kadarius Toney, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
There are some players who the fantasy community just flatly refuses to give up on — and Toney is most assuredly one of them. Despite this being Toney’s third pro season, it’s the 11th straight year that fantasy managers have been certain this is the year Toney becomes a star. And with Toney back on the practice field and Patrick Mahomes talking the young wideout up, you can bet the rent that the Toney Express will start picking up steam again.
“The talent that he has, the competitor that he is to be able to go out there and have that weapon, would definitely be a huge positive,” Mahomes said, via Chiefs Wire. “He’s done a great job and the practices that he’s been in so far. I’m looking forward to him continuing to step up and be even better and be more like his normal self, which I mean, honestly, going out there the first day and first few days and seeing him, he looks like KT (Kadarius Toney) and so I’m excited for that. He put a lot of time in that rehab process so that he can get himself ready, hopefully, to play in this first week.”
The problem is that Toney just cannot stay on the field — he missed most of camp and the preseason after having yet another surgery on his knee. While he’s been out, Skyy Moore has impressed, and there’s also veteran Marques Valdez-Scantling and of course Travis Kelce to contend with. We’ve seen this movie before. Toney has a big game. Everyone loses their mind and blows their FAAB on him. And then he gets hurt and vanishes for a month and a half. Stop the ride. I want to get off.
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Zamir White, RB, Las Vegas Raiders
With Josh Jacobs holding out most of camp and the preseason, White was afforded what amounted to an extended audition as the No. 1 running back for the Raiders. The 23-year-old former Georgia star ran with the starters for most of the offseason, and head coach Josh McDaniels lauded White’s attempts to round out his game while speaking with reporters.
“He’s putting in a lot of time and effort into trying to be a complete player, not just a guy that has the ball and can do something with it,” McDaniels said. “He wants to be good in blitz pickup, he wants to improve in the passing game. And all those things are part of a young back’s progression.”
After watching White’s extended audition though, something has become apparent — he’s not especially good. Sure, he can run through a hole if it’s there, but he’s neither especially explosive nor creative. He barely averaged three yards a carry on the ground, and White was a non-factor in the passing game. White isn’t Josh Jacobs’ successor. Or his handcuff. He’s a fourth-round plodder who at best would be the early-down part of a committee if Jacobs got hurt.
Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @IDPSharks.
(Top photo: Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
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