Your fantasy team suffered a loss. Maybe a player got injured. Maybe he's just not playing well. Either way, you get to play the waiver wire now. It's all good when you're looking through the list of names, hoping to find the spark that will ignite your squad to the playoffs and beyond. But when it's in the with new, it has to be out with the old. Sometimes, it's easy to see the player that no longer deserves a spot on your roster. Sometimes ... not so much. Don't worry. We're here to help. Consider us the break up counselor that will help ease the separation.
All ownership percentages based on NFL.com leagues
Doug Martin, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (94.9 percent owned)
Turns out that a lot of us (myself included) were way too high on the Bucs offense this year. This unit has been underwhelming all season long and Martin has been one of the chief culprits. Since returning from his season-opening four-game suspension, Martin has been average at best this year failing to reach even 75 rushing yards in a single game. That might be acceptable if he offered anything as a receiver. He doesn't. His two catches (for six yards) on Sunday brought him to a grand total of seven receptions all year. An underachieving runner in an underachieving offense doesn't need to take up space on your roster.
John Brown, WR, Arizona Cardinals (53.5 percent owned)
So much for the idea that 2017 would be a bounce-back year for Brown. The first items of concern came early when the speedy receiver struggled to get fully healthy in the preseason. Then David Johnson got hurt. Then the Arizona offense went into a funk. Then Carson Palmer got hurt ... and things really went south. What passes for a Cardinals aerial attack is basically force-feeding Larry Fitzgerald while the rest of the pass-catchers in the offense pick up the scraps. Brown has topped 50 receiving yards just twice all season and has just one game with more than three catches -- all the way back in Week 1. If that wasn't bad enough, now Brown has turf toe that could keep him off the field for who knows how long? It's time to move on.
Derek Carr, QB, Oakland Raiders (89.4 percent owned)
The past two weeks, I've written about quarterbacks who are candidates to drop and my mentions have been aflame with plenty of stans telling me why I'm wrong. Raider Nation ... I await your retort. But really ... the 2016 Raiders offense was always greater than the sum of its fantasy parts. This year, it looks about as it should -- in other words, it's pretty meh. Carr himself has been about average or below average in a variety of quarterback metrics with no indication that an explosion is on the way. You're not starting him every week, so why hold a roster spot when you can stream the position off the waiver wire?
Broncos D/ST (82.8 percent owned)
Speaking of positions you can stream off waivers ... there's the Broncos defense. This unit has been living on its name value for a while now. In reality, it's been a below average real-life defense and an even worse fantasy unit. Heading into Monday Night Football, the Broncos are the 29th-ranked fantasy defense with just five interceptions (to 22 TD passes allowed) and a mediocre 22 sacks. In fantasy football, we sometimes get sucked into rolling with big names. We need to stop that. Dropping the Broncos is how the healing begins.
Joe Mixon, RB, Cincinnati Bengals (94.7 percent owned)
I've lost count of how many weeks were supposed to be "the week" for Mixon to breakout. But now it's Week 12 and fetch still hasn't happened. It's time to stop trying. The Bengals offensive line isn't opening holes and Mixon isn't going anywhere. The little fantasy value the rookie had has been buoyed by a couple of touchdowns in recent weeks but the Bengals offense isn't set up for Mixon to have lots of touchdown upside. Beyond this, his yardage totals don't inspire any real level of confidence. The Cincinnati backfield is a no-go right now.
Marcas Grant is a fantasy editor for NFL.com and a man who is thankful to Matt "Franchise" Franciscovich for the heads up on the Tame Impala B-sides/remixes album that just hit Spotify late last week. Tweet him about what's in your earbuds or fantasy questions @MarcasG. Or find him on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat (marcasg9).
