The Cut List - Who to Drop for Fantasy Football Week 10

Each new week of NFL games gives us more information to make better, more informed decisions. That’s crucial when figuring out who to add and who to cut. It can be difficult to admit we were wrong on a particular player. For example, using a high draft pick on someone and cutting them so early in the season can be demoralizing. However, the only thing worse than making a mistake is not being able to admit we made one in the first place.

Don’t be afraid to make bold decisions, but be careful not to be too reactionary. Bad weeks are going to happen. Sometimes, opportunity doesn’t always translate into box-score success. The flip side of that is true, too. Sometimes, the box score can look amazing despite poor utilization. This article will help you determine who to send packing and how to value players whose value is falling.

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The Parameters

There are a few different categories here. Anyone listed under the “Insert Position to Cut for Insert Week” can be safely cut. Seems pretty self-explanatory, correct? No surprise there. We'll focus on players with rostered percentages higher than 40% to keep this a little more straightforward. Otherwise, we could name many players for every position every week.

The following two categories are “Uh-Oh…” and “On the Hot Seat.” If a player is listed under “Uh-Oh…” that doesn’t mean they’re a cut… yet. It just means their value is falling. That could be due to several reasons. Maybe it’s due to repeated inefficiency. Perhaps it’s due to a change in role and utilization. Whatever the reason, these players are not as valuable today as they were before last week’s games.

The other category is “On the Hot Seat.” This one is also pretty self-explanatory. These players do not need to be cut, although if you’re on the hot seat, there’s certainly an argument to be made that they could be cut if you’re in a tough roster predicament.

These players should be given one final shot to make your roster. Especially early in the season, we don’t want to overreact to a change in utilization or a bad week or two, but we also don’t want to ignore it. Players in this section are a bad week away from being on the cut list.

One of the final categories we'll sometimes touch on is "Hold On." These players may have had some bad weeks, but their utilization is good, indicating better days are ahead. Hold onto them. On occasion, we’ll also identify sell-high and sell-low players. A sell-high player is one whose production has spiked, but maybe their role creates questions about whether the production is sustainable.

These players have increased their value recently, so it makes sense to see if you can trade them at peak value. Players who are sell-lows are often players with a lot of name value. These players are best explained as “get some value for them while you still can before their value falls to nothing.”

Fantasy Football Quarterbacks to Cut for Week 10

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys - 80.5% Rostered

Prescott has struggled for most of the season. He has just one game with more than 17 points and five games in which he failed to score more than 14. He left his game early this past weekend but still has three consecutive games without scoring 14 points. He made this list last week as a "hold" due to his favorable upcoming schedule, but Prescott now looks like he could be placed on IR. He sustained a hamstring injury that will sideline him for multiple weeks.

More about Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott now being expected to miss “several weeks” with a hamstring injury, via @toddarcher:https://t.co/JNd5SYhJ0A

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 4, 2024

With Prescott now expected to miss multiple weeks, fantasy managers can send Prescott to the waiver wire. He was a hold last week, not because of anything he's done this year, but because of upcoming schedule. Now, he won't be able to take advantage of that.

Other Players to Cut:

• Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears - 54.2% Rostered
• Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets - 52.1% Rostered
• Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts - 45.9% Rostered
• Daniel Jones, New York Giants - 14.5% Rostered

Fantasy Football Running Backs to Cut for Week 10

Jordan Mason, San Francisco 49ers - 86.4% Rostered

Christian McCaffrey was back at practice yesterday. The team opened his practice window, and based on reports, McCaffrey is set to return in Week 10. In Week 8, rookie Isaac Guerendo seemed to take over the San Francisco backfield. Guerendo appears to have moved ahead of Mason on the depth chart with Mason's shoulder injury. Moving forward, I would rather have Guerendo on my roster as CMC's handcuff than Mason.

At this time, it seems safe to say that if CMC were to get injured again, Guerendo would have earned a role, and it would, at the very least, be a committee approach between Mason and Guerendo. Guerendo was the more efficient and effective runner in the final weeks of Mason's run.

Other Players to Cut:

• Zack Moss, Cincinnati Bengals - 71.2% Rostered
• Zamir White, Las Vegas Raiders - 34.7% Rostered
• Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas Cowboys - 32.6% Rostered
• Antonio Gibson, Washington Commanders - 27.8% Rostered

Fantasy Football Wide Receivers to Cut for Week 10

Christian Watson, Green Bay Packers - 50.3% Rostered

Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Tucker Kraft have two double-digit games. Watson doesn't. Doubs, Reed, Wicks, and Kraft have all scored 15 or more half-PPR points in a game. Watson hasn't. The Packers have a bye in Week 10 and come back against the Bears and 49ers.

Other Players to Cut:

• Gabe Davis, Jacksonville Jaguars - 30.4% Rostered

Fantasy Football Tight Ends to Cut for Week 10

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears - 57.2% Rostered

Kmet has scored 63.8 half-PPR points. 42.2 of those points have come in two games, and 18.0 of those 42.2 points came via touchdowns. That means in his other six games, Kmet has scored just 21.6 points or roughly 3.6 half-PPR PPG. Kmet scored less than 5.0 half-PPR points in five of his eight games. With how poorly the Bears' offense, specifically quarterback Caleb Williams, is playing, fantasy managers can cut Kmet.

Other Players to Cut:

• Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans - 51.7% Rostered
• Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens - 39.8% Rostered
• Tyler Conklin, New York Jets - 27.6% Rostered

On The Hot Seat

WR Jaylen Waddle, Miami Dolphins - 89.1% Rostered

Waddle is getting close to being a "cut." He's been brutal this season, and some of that is due to Tua Tagovailoa's injury. His production, even in Tagovailos's starts, has been sub-par. He has scored just 33.3 half-PPR points in his four starts, which amounts to an 8.3 half-PPR PPG average. He has games 13.7, 6.5, 6.5, and 6.6.

Dolphins target shares from Tua in 2023:

Tyreek Hill 31.1%
Jaylen Waddle 22%
De'Von Achane 10.3%

From Tua this year:

Tyreek 25.8%
Achane 20.4%
Jonnu Smith 19.4%
Waddle 13.7%

— John Daigle (@notJDaigle) November 4, 2024

The biggest problem here is his target share and target volume. Tagovailoa has started four games, and Waddle has 17 targets. That amounts to just over four per game, putting him on pace for only 72 targets over 17 games. Right now, Tyreek Hill and De'Von Achane are dominating the target volume.

Hold On

RB Travis Etienne Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars - 90.6% Rostered

Look, I get it. Etienne isn't anything close to what you were expecting. He's one of the biggest busts of this fantasy season, and having that kind of daily reminder of how you messed up in the first, second, or third round can be incredibly difficult. That is all true. It still doesn't mean we should be cutting Etienne. Unfortunately, we need to change our expectations. That can suck, but it doesn't make him a cut. Think about it: early in the year, Tank Bigsby was one of the best handcuffs in fantasy football.

Bigsby was on every waiver wire article, and then Etienne got hurt, and Bigsby was a major hit. Now, Etienne is Bigsby, but we shouldn't expect Etienne to be as irrelevant as Bigsby was early in the season. As Etienne gets back up to speed following his hamstring injury, Etienne will still handle 8-12 touches a game, which will include 1-3 receptions per game. That'll keep Etienne on the RB3 radar. Etienne would return to his must-start status if Bigsby were to get hurt.

Bench Etienne. Change your expectations of him. He's a flex player with high contingency value. He's not the top-15 running back you thought you were getting, but he's not a cut.

WR D.J. Moore, Chicago Bears - 95.9% Rostered

No, we're not cutting Moore. He's been brutal this season. Caleb Williams has been bad. The Chicago offense, in general, has been dreadful. All of that is true, and if you're in an 8- or 10-team league, I could understand more. However, in any 12-team leagues and likely, even competitive 10-team leagues, Moore is a hold.

Like Etienne, we need to adjust our expectations. He's not a top-15 receiver. He's not even a top-24 or top-30 receiver. However, who will you be adding with more weekly potential than Moore? He's currently 20th in targets per game among receivers. It's been ugly. He's only had one good game this season. I get all that, but his volume requires him to stay on fantasy benches. He's not a weekly starter, but he's still a very strong WR3/4 start. Don't drop him just because you're mad he wasn't what you expected him to be when you drafted him.

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