As bye weeks begin in Week 6, it’s getting into the most important part of the season as far as fantasy football roster management is concerned. Through the first five weeks roster management was important, but start-sit decisions were the primary focus. Now you need to make sure that you have a well stocked bench with viable replacements. That means players you are stashing that have no value right now are probably not important, unless you play in deep leagues.
Week 6 is the first week of the season that we have bye weeks. This week the Falcons, Jets, Saints, and 49ers are on bye. There are a decent amount of players that have been in your starting lineup that will now be forced to occupy one of your bench spots. If you do not have viable replacement options, you need to add through the waiver wire, and you may have some difficult cut decisions to make. The rest of this article will give highlight several players that are potentially clogging your rosters that you can cut to make room for actual by week replacements.
Quarterback
At this point in the season it appears that most fantasy football teams are only rostering 1 QB. Only 16 QBs that are rostered in greater than 50% of rosters according to ESPN. In general these QBs deserve to be in the starter conversation on a weekly basis. So instead of highlighting a player that could be a roster clogger for the majority of leagues I am digging a little deeper.
Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers (35.9% Rostered, 6.2% Started)
In his starting debut for the 49ers, Lance threw for 192 yards with one interception and no touchdowns. He was able to add an additional 89 yards rushing, which boosted his fantasy football scoring. However, Lance suffered a knee sprain that could sideline him for some time. The 49ers have also suggested that when Jimmy Garoppolo is healthy he will get the starting job back. I do think that Lance is the better fantasy option, but until he is healthy and gets the full support of the coaching staff he a huge risk.
I am ok with you holding onto Lance for if/when he eventually does take over the starting role. But keep in mind you are at the risk of wasting a roster spot for the entire season. That is not something I am trying to do. At this point in the season, we need to try and accumulate wins and points. A bench player is not going to help you do that. I would much rather add an ‘injury prone’ running back that could end up with a lead back role at some point.
Running Back
Devin Singletary, Buffalo Bills (75.2% Rostered, 15.3% Started)
Devin Singletary was previously on a Clogger Watch List, but he followed that game up with a decent performance. In Week 4, Singletary had 14 rushes for 79 yards. He did not have a touchdown in the game, so he still left fantasy managers wanting more. The problem with Singletary is that his snap share has steadily been decreasing as the season has been progressing.
In Week 1 Singletary had the backfield pretty much to himself while Zack Moss was a healthy scratch. Since Moss has been back, it seems the latter is becoming the RB1. In Week 5, Singletary was only on the field for 26% of the offensive snaps (season low). He only had six rushes for 26 yards – both also season lows. This type of usage and production are not sustainable for fantasy football. Singletary should not be in any starting lineups. With his utilization, it is hard to imagine him being relevant at any point unless there is an injury to Moss.
Wide Receiver
Curtis Samuel, Washington Football Team (50.8% Rostered, 1.3% Started)
Curtis Samuel is a player I was very high on to start the offseason. With a lingering groin injury this summer, I was growing more skeptical each day. I really liked Samuel’s fit with the Washington Football Team this offseason. I was prepared to stash Samuel on my IR until he was officially activated by the team.
Samuel was eased back into play in his first game and only played on 37% of the snaps. He did run routes on 50% of his snaps and caught all four of his targets. However, after only five snaps in Week 5 Samuel, reaggravated the injury. At this point, it seems that Washington will give Samuel more time to recover and will not rush him back.
Rivera says Curtis Samuel remains on a week to week basis. "Were not going to expose him to a more serious injury"
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 11, 2021
If Samuel is active in Week 6, starting him would be a giant risk. His lingering injury could sideline him at point.
Will Fuller, Miami Dolphins (60.1% Rostered, 1.1% Started)
Will Fuller was on the roster clogger list last week, but he is still rostered on more than 50% of fantasy football rosters. Fuller was ruled out for Week 5 prior to the release of that article; then Fuller was moved to the IR. I still believe that if you have an IR spot available you should be stashing him. If you do not have the IR spot, you would be wasting a bench spot on Fuller. It is unlikely that you would plug Fuller into your starting lineup immediately upon his activation from the IR.
In his two active games this season, Fuller has only caught four of his eight targets for just 26 yards. He did leave his Week 4 matchup early, and only played on about 26% of the snaps. He has been running routes on a high percentage of snaps, so it does seem like the Dolphins want him to be involved. But with his health seemingly always an issue, it is going to be hard to have him in your starting lineup.
Tight End
Robert Tonyan, Green Bay Packers (69.4% Rostered, 32.3% Started)
Robert Tonyan was featured in the roster clogger watch list last week due to his disappointing start to the season. His Week 5 performance has officially turned him into a roster clogger. After receiving seven targets in Week 4, Tonyan only saw two the following game. Of his two targets, he only had 8 receiving yards.
If these were targets in the red zone that would be one thing, but Tonyan had zero targets in the redzone in Week 5. In the first four weeks, Tonyan had a red zone target in every game. With the lack of consistent involvement in the offense and high value targets, Tonyan should not be in any starting lineups. Tonyan will likely have some decent games, but it will be impossible to predict them.
Jonnu Smith, New England Patriots (59.8% Rostered, 24.7% Started)
Jonnu Smith is on the roster clogger list for the third week in a row. This may be the most concerning week of them all. He played on 40 of the 64 offensive snaps. Unfortunately, Jonnu only ran eight routes, had two targets, and one carry.
Jonnu Smith signed a $50M contract with NE in offseason. He ran six routes on 33 Mac Jones dropbacks yesterday.
— Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) October 11, 2021
In the Patriots Week 5 matchup against the Texans, Hunter Henry outproduced Smith by a wide margin. Henry had about three times as many routes run as Jonnu Smith. Henry caught six of his eight targets for 75 yards and a touchdown. Smith has been unstartable for the past couple of weeks – yet his start percentage increased from Week 4 to Week 5. If you are starting Jonnu Smith you need to consider streaming the position or making a trade.
Roster Clogger Watch
Kenyan Drake, Las Vegas Raiders (72.4% Rostered, 10.6% Started)
With Josh Jacobs out of the lineup in Week 2, Kenyan Drake played on a season high 71% of the offensive snaps. In that game, Drake had seven rushes for nine yards, and an additional 46 yards on five receptions. After that game, Drake has dropped in snap percentage each week – to a season low 18% in Week 5. In that game, Drake only had two carries for 11 yards and zero receptions.
Drake is being phased out of this offense based on his decreased utilization and production. With Gruden resigning as the head coach, I want to see if Drake’s utilization changes at all when the new coach steps in. It’s an internal hire, so I am not expecting much to change. If we do not see improvement in his usage and production next week then it will be time to drop Drake in fantasy football.
