Players To Drop In Fantasy Football Ahead Of Week 3: Kaleb Johnson, Braelon Allen, and More
Geoff Ulrich breaks down who you should cut bait with on your fantasy football rosters as we enter Week 3 of the season.
Cutting bait on those investments you’re already underwater on sucks, but just like Warren Buffett always says, “throwing good money after bad is for non-ball knowers… avoid it like the Bengals avoid good pass protection."
That’s why I’m here to give you some of the best names you need to consider dropping NOW in fantasy football, before they drag your team down under the burden of another wasted roster spot, or worse, another week with a big, fat, single-digit fantasy score.
As always, you can pair the advice here with the fantasy football rankings, projections, and other cool tools from a Fantasy Life+ subscription (Use code “GRIND” for 20% off).
Let’s drop it like it’s hot.
Week 3 Fantasy Football Drops
Not gonna lie, people, we took some big hits in Week 2. Joe Burrow is gone for three months, Jayden Daniels got banged up, J.J. McCarthy is out multiple weeks, and Justin Fields suffered a concussion.
Per usual, there were also a ton of busts in the fantasy football world, as several players either dropped back to earth after a hot Week 1 or simply continued to go scorched earth and not produce. Some of these Week 2 busts are worth waiting on, and some you needed to cut bait on yesterday.
Without further ado, Week 3’s most pertinent Drop candidates are below.
Kaleb Johnson | RB | PIT
Johnson’s hole to climb out of to regain fantasy relevance grew exponentially against the Seahawks. With the score 17-14 in the 3rd Quarter on Sunday, Johnson was given a special team opportunity as a returner and promptly let a ball sail over his head and into the end zone. With the new kickoff rules in place, it allowed the Seahawks to field the return and score a TD.
I gave you the heads-up on this one last week, but the writing is on the wall now; it’s drop time. Johnson was the third back in all preseason for the Steelers and is clearly behind Kenneth Gainwell, who played 26 snaps and mirrors a lot of what Jaylen Warren can do as a receiver.
We can debate talent forever, but the chances of Johnson carving out a big role with the attention to detail that Aaron Rodgers expects seem slim to none in 2025.
Potential replacements: Quinshon Judkins, Cam Skattebo, Bhayshul Tuten
Adam Thielen | WR | Vikings
Thielen isn’t even the number two option in the Minnesota offense, as he played behind Jalen Nailor (47 snaps, 30 routes) vs Atlanta, who was always on the field in two-WR sets with Justin Jefferson, with Thielen (38 snaps, 27 routes) coming in on in three-WR sets. Nailor is also just the better receiver at this point and works better with McCarthy’s cannon of an arm.
With Jordan Addison due back in Week 4, there is nothing but fond memories to hold onto with Thielen. He’ll be a reliable depth player for the Vikings, but his path to fantasy relevancy is narrow at best. If you’ve been holding onto Thielen as an early-season option with the Addison suspension, this is your notice that you don’t have to do that anymore.
Potential replacements: Elic Ayomanor, Dyami Brown, Wan’Dale Robinson
Braelon Allen | RB | Jets
The talk all preseason was about the Jets using Allen alongside Breece Hall in a sort of Thunder and Lightning tandem to keep opponents off guard, but that hasn’t transpired. The Jets offense is just 23rd in TOP, and Allen’s own inefficiency has been part of the problem. He’s averaged just 2.5 yards per carry on eight carries to date and looks like a poor fit for this run scheme. He played just 19% snaps in Week 2 while Hall was on pace for a 70%+ snap share, before garbage time.
At this point, Allen may not even be the direct handcuff to Hall, considering Isaiah Davis is the more well-rounded back and better receiving back. If you’re holding Allen, there are likely multiple young backs with better situations and more upside to go after this week on the waiver wire.
Potential replacements: Quinshon Judkins, Cam Skattebo, Bhayshul Tuten
DeMario Douglas | WR | NE
After a poor Week 1 where Douglas only connected on two of his seven targets from Drake Maye (but saved his fantasy day with a TD), he saw his snap count dwindle to just 15 against Miami, and received just one target.
Both Mack Hollins and Kayshon Boutte saw increased time on the outside vs Miami, while Stefon Diggs played more inline from the slot. Not a great trend if you own Douglas.
The Patriots' receiver room was crowded from the get-go, and right now, it appears like Douglas is the odd man out. If you can flip him for Boutte, that would be somewhat ideal, but there are likely other names on the waiver wire with much more secure playing time and targets in front of them.
Potential replacements: Kayshon Boutte (if available), Elic Ayomanor, Dyami Brown, Wan’Dale Robinson
Colston Loveland | TE | Bears
Loveland has just two catches for 12 yards through two games, and his only target vs the Lions came on the final drive with Tyson Bagent in at QB. Woof.
If you own him, you likely drafted him in the same range as Tyler Warren, Tucker Kraft, or Evan Engram. Two of those guys are balling out, while two of them (Loveland and Engram) have been complete busts. It’s annoying, but just know you’re not alone.
I still hold out some hope for Engram because A. He’s a proven performer, and Sean Payton tends to feature different receivers every week, and B. He doesn’t have any direct competition at TE (not withstanding the random Adam Trautman TD).
Loveland, on the other hand, is feeling it from all directions. The Bears have directed 85% of their 68 pass attempts to date towards WRs or RBs, with Loveland seeing just 3 targets. To make matters worse, he is playing less than Cole Kmet, who saw his usage rise a little in Week 2, after he played on 62 snaps and ran 32 routes—compared to Loveland’s 36 snaps and 20 routes.
With Rome Odunze balling out and DJ Moore needing his weekly Diva WR touches, there just is never going to be a whole lot leftover for Loveland. I’d move on if there is a TE floating out there with better opportunities in the short term.
Potential replacements: Harold Fannin Jr., Ja’Tavion Sanders
On Watch: (Not Dropping Yet, but the finger is on the trigger)
Matthew Golden | WR | GB
Via the Utilization Report on Fantasy Life, Golden’s 8% target share and 11% targets per route run rate are just fifth-best among Packers WRs. That’s not great. Even in a game where Jayden Reed left early, he still managed just two receptions and 15 yards vs the Commanders. Savion Williams was getting designed runs, Dontayvion Wicks was getting primary targets on first down, but Golden was very limited.
Golden was inches away from coming down with a 40-50 yard bomb that would have made his stat line vs the Commanders look a lot nicer, but even with Reed out of the picture, he never looked like the focal point of this offense.
You can’t drop him with Reed out just yet, because you have to see if the Packers scheme up more looks for him going forward, but things need to improve fast.
Rashod Bateman | WR | BAL
Instead of taking a step up and becoming more of the 1B option in this offense, Bateman has been overshadowed by DeAndre Hopkins, who has connected on multiple deep passes from Lamar Jackson and essentially eaten into a lot of Bateman’s upside. I won’t even mention Devontez Walker and Tylan Wallace, who both went for more yards vs the Browns than Bateman.
Bateman is still second among all Ravens WRs in routes run and snaps played by a wide margin, so I wouldn’t panic and just outright drop him just yet. However, you can’t love how the season has started. If there was a bigger name like Wan’Dale Robinson or potentially even Troy Franklin out there on waivers this week, I probably wouldn’t hesitate to drop Bateman.
Aaron Jones | RB | MIN
Aaron Jones went down late in the game on Monday Night Football with a hamstring injury, but even before then, there were warning signs that his time as the lead back in Minnesota is coming to an end.
Despite starting, Jordan Mason still out-snapped him in the first half, 16-13, and played a majority of early downs. Mason has been the far more efficient back to date, outproducing Jones from a yards per carry perspective, 4.1 ypc vs. 3.5 ypc. At just 26, he’s also shown the ability to take larger workloads already in San Francisco, where he played on over 80% of the snaps in multiple games.
I’d not hesitate to drop him in the coming weeks if he can’t get over this recent injury quickly.
Droplets (quick ideas for rosters that need improvement)
Drop your useless QB2 (Trevor Lawrence/Cam Ward/J.J. McCarthy) for Russell Wilson or Jake Browning?
Jake Browning has shown real upside in the Bengals' offensive scheme in the past and will have two elite WRs to throw the ball to every week. That alone makes him an every-week consideration for anyone streaming QBs. The upcoming schedule isn’t necessarily the greatest (MIN-DEN-DET-GB), but there are two startable games in there.
Russell Wilson is another streaming player with potentially more upside than some of the popular QB2s that were drafted before the season started. He’s got two home games in a row and then plays the Saints in Week 5.
Drop Isiah Pacheco for Kareem Hunt (or Brashard Smith!, or Elijah Mitchell!!)?
I’ll admit, I sort of forgot about Pacheco when putting together my initial list and may have included him in the “On Watch” section if I hadn’t, as the RB situation in KC is untenable at best. I don’t necessarily advocate a drop for Pacheco straight up for Mitchell or Smith, but there is a good chance one or both of those names will be getting a bigger shot soon. I do think Kareem Hunt will stay involved and may even take over “starting duties” and push Pacheco to a smaller role, so making a straight-up swap for Hunt isn't something I’d be against. For stash purposes, Mitchell is likely the name I’d try to be out in front of.
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