The Cut List – Who to Drop for Fantasy Football Week 17

Welcome to Championship Week! And if you're reading this, congratulations on making it to the final weekend. It's not an easy task, but here we are.

Now that we're in Championship Week, we don't need to be too cautious about who we're dropping. The only question you need to ask yourself is this, "do I want this player starting for my opponent?" "Is this player I'm dropping a potential upgrade for my opponent?" If the answer is yes or even maybe, hang onto them. If the answer is no, they can be cut. It really is that simple.

Let’s look at some of the players you can safely send to the waiver wire for Week 17. We can't touch on every cuttable player, especially for every league size, but we'll cover some of the most cuttable players entering Week 17. As always, if you have any specific questions, give me a follow @RobFFSlayer and shoot me a message.

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Quarterbacks to Cut in Week 17?

Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders – 71% Rostered

Let's keep this really simple – the Raiders play the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17. There are very few defenses that have been as unkind to quarterbacks as the 49ers have been this year. They're tied for the fourth-fewest fantasy points allowed to quarterbacks this season at just 14.2 per game. When you combine that with the up-and-down nature of Derek Carr's 2022 fantasy season and the "you never know what you're going to get" season of the Raiders' offense in general and it becomes clear fantasy managers should be steering far, far away.

Carr is coming off a 6.36 point performance to the Pittsburgh Steelers and two weeks prior to that, in Week 14, he scored just 2.58 points against the Los Angeles Rams. Surprisingly, that wasn't even his worst performance of the season. No, no. In Week 8, he scored just 1.94 points against the New Orleans Saints.

There's been far too much variance in Carr's game to trust him in Championship Week even if he weren't playing one of the best defenses in the NFL. Fantasy managers are best looking elsewhere this week and with the negative matchup, there's no harm in dropping Carr.

Running Backs to Cut for Week 17?

Cordarrelle Patterson, Atlanta Falcons – 85% Rostered

Cordarrelle Patterson has seemingly been replaced by Tyler Allgeier to the point that Patterson can be sent to the waiver wire. This past weekend, Patterson played on just 26 of the team's 71 snaps. Not only that, but Allgeier ran more routes than Patterson and earned more targets. The Falcons have scored 20 points in just one game in the past two months. An offense as immune to scoring as Atlanta has been cannot support two fantasy running backs and right now, Patterson is the odd man out.

While some fantasy managers may look at their Week 17 matchup against the Cardinals and think it might be worth rolling the dice because Arizona has been such a good matchup for running backs, I'd advise against it. It makes all the sense in the world for the Falcons to hand the keys over to Allgeier and see what they have in their rookie running back.

Kareem Hunt, Cleveland Browns – 75% Rostered

Kareem Hunt made this list last week and due to Nick Chubb missing the first two days of practice, I felt obligated to update Hunt's section, but as Hunt has done all season, he once again disappointed. If you haven't cut him by now, you are more than able to now. In hindsight, he was a cuttable player all the way back in Week 12.

He hasn't scored more than 10 half-PPR points since Week 8. That was also the last time he was given more than 10 carries. This past weekend was the first time he recorded more than two catches since, you guessed it, Week 8. Last season, the Browns made a point of using Chubb and Hunt in combination with each other, but this year, it's been pretty much the Nick Chubb show. Hunt has been, by and large, irrelevant.

He is nothing more than a handcuff at this point and it's fair to question just how good of a handcuff he'd be. Hunt has been largely ineffective this season even with the minimal opportunities he's received. He's been one of the biggest disappointments of the fantasy season and with Chubb healthy leading into championship week, go ahead and get rid of the dead weight.

Samaje Perine, Cincinnati Bengals – 57% Rostered

Samaje Perine is in a somewhat similar boat to Kareem Hunt, other than the fact that he hasn't been bad. Still, he's just Joe Mixon's backup and with Mixon healthy leading into Week 17, Perine can safely be sent to the waiver wire. While he had been somewhat splitting work with Mixon recently, that changed this last weekend.

While he still played 35 of the team's 84 snaps, he finished the game with just four targets and four carries. Perine has been an effective player this season with his limited touches, but now heading into Championship Week, his value had almost completely come from Mixon's handcuff. Fantasy managers can safely send him to the waiver wire now.

Wide Receivers to Cut for Week 17?

Treylon Burks, Tennessee Titans – 45% Rostered

Treylon Burks is simply not startable right now. Not with Malik Willis starting at quarterback. In three starts this season, Willis has 234 passing yards – total. That's 78 per game. He has zero passing touchdowns. He's averaging just 16 pass attempts per game. Even if Burks handles a ridiculous 30% target share, that's not even five targets per game. There's absolutely zero upside right now in the Tennessee passing game the floor is literally a goose egg.

In fact, Burks almost recorded a goose egg in Week 16. Luckily, he finished with 15 yards... rushing. That's right, he had one carry for 15 yards. He had zero catches on just two targets. The matchup in Week 17 isn't a good one either. As talented as Burks appears to be, fantasy managers simply cannot start Burks in Week 17.

Tight Ends to Drop in Week 17?

Surprisingly there are no tight ends that stand out as true cut candidates this week based on the higher rostership percentages. Typically, if there's a chance to hate on Tyler Higbee, I'll take it, but with the Rams' so limited at receiver, Higbee could be worth holding onto. In Week 16, he had the best game of his season scoring two touchdowns and racking up 10 targets. With a Week 17 date against the Chargers, Higbee could once again be a viable option. Derwin James, the Chargers' premiere tight end stopper left early in their Monday Night game due to a concussion and if he were to miss the contest, Higbee would see a slight boost to his value. Greg Dulcich continues earning targets on a putrid Denver offense, but is one of the lone bright spots. Cole Kmet gets an excellent matchup against the Detroit Lions, as does Hunter Henry against the Miami Dolphins. All of the marginally rostered players are in good spots leading up to their Week 17 contests.

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