Fantasy Football Players to Drop Before Week 10: Kirk Cousins and More

With bye weeks becoming more and more of a factor, waiver moves are going to be extremely crucial for fantasy rosters. You are going to have to add players to pick up and start to replace players on bye, but it’s important to know which players you can safely drop when making those moves.

Players to Drop Ahead of Week 10

Kirk Cousins | QB | Las Vegas Raiders

Roster percentage: 62.4% (ESPN), 62% (Yahoo)

Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins and the Raiders had a Cinderella start to the season. Las Vegas opened the year 3-0, and Cousins was leading the league in touchdown passes.

It’s safe to say they’ve come back down to earth.

The Raiders are now 4-5 and Cousins is coming off a brutal game against the 49ers, throwing for 216 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. He salvaged his fantasy day with a tush push score from the goal line, giving him four top-13 fantasy finishes over his last four games. However, if you’ve been starting Cousins to replace an injured Lamar Jackson or struggling Justin Herbert, it might be time to move on,

With each Raiders loss, the screams for top overall pick Fernando Mendoza only grow louder. And while Cousins’ overall numbers are pretty good, he hasn’t been playing as well as of late. Up next for the Raiders is a home matchup with Seattle before two road games in Denver and Cleveland, all of which are tough spots. If he continues to struggle going into their Week 13 bye, it is entirely possible we see Mendoza under center in Week 14, especially if the Raiders are 4-8 by that time.

Devaughn Vele | WR | New Orleans Saints

Roster percentage: 58.1% (ESPN), 51% (Yahoo)

Devaughn Vele

For the first half of the season, Devaughn Vele emerged as a viable FLEX option for fantasy rosters. With first-round rookie wideout Jordyn Tyson sidelined from Weeks 1-8, Vele operated as the clear second option in the Saints' often pass-heavy offense, running 92% of the routes, while sporting an 18% target share and averaging 6.4 targets and 12.3 PPR PPG. Of course, everyone understood that Vele’s fantasy relevance was only temporary.

Time’s up.

Tyson made his highly-anticipated NFL debut on Sunday. To no one’s surprise, the rookie was limited in his first game, running just 35% of the routes. However, when he was out there, Tyson was getting targets, which matches everything we saw from him throughout his collegiate career. Tyson was targeted on 25% of his routes against Cleveland, while Vele’s TPRR fell to below 10%. This passing game is going to continue to flow through Chris Olave and Tyson. And the more Tyson’s usage and playing time are ramped up, the more obsolete Vele will be in fantasy.

Kyler Murray | QB | Minnesota Vikings

Roster percentage: 50.1% (ESPN), 53% (Yahoo)

Kyler Murray

An obvious one, but you can surely move on from Kyler Murray, who is dealing with a “hamstring injury” that just so happened to pop up after a tough loss against the Lions last week.

Translation? Soft benching.

Perhaps Murray truly is injured. And tests reportedly revealed a Grade 2 hamstring strain. But the fact remains that he simply wasn’t playing well enough, and a move to Carson Wentz felt inevitable anyway. Murray currently ranks outside the top 20 quarterbacks in fantasy points per dropback (0.43), yards per attempt (6.6), play-action completion rate (49.3%) and play-action catchable pass rate (55.2%). It also hasn't solely been a Murray issue. Kevin O’Connell has regressed as a play-caller so far this season, while the marriage between Murray and his offensive scheme hasn’t been the smoothest through nine weeks.