Players To Drop In Week 5 Fantasy Football: Time To Cut Ties With Cooper Kupp
Geoff Ulrich breaks down the players to cut ties with ahead of the Week 5 waiver wire run.
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 Cowboys avoid playing defense”.
That’s why I’m here to give you some of the best names you need to consider dropping NOW, 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).
More bad news on the injury front. Malik Nabers (ACL) is done for the season, and Lamar Jackson (hamstring) didn’t finish last week’s game. Some of you will have major moves to make going into Week 5 waiver wires, and with that in mind, if you’re going hard after a QB or WR, here are some names to bait on now to help open up some space on your roster.
Week 5’s most pertinent Drop candidates are below. Let’s drop it like it’s hot.
Week 5 Fantasy Football Drops
Cooper Kupp | WR
Even in a game vs the Cardinals where the Seahawks were clearly trying to use Jaxon Smith-Njigba more as a decoy early on, Kupp could only manage 4 receptions for 26 yards and now looks in real danger of being passed by Tory Horton on the depth chart–who only had one catch vs the Cardinals, but has flashed with a team high 16.9 aDOT. Outside of Week 2, where he managed 7 receptions and 90 yards on 9 targets, Kupp’s been limited to under 35 yards in his other three games, and he’s at career lows for aDOT (4.9) and yards YAC/r (5.4).
I venture to say I'd rather go with some of the more boom or bust options out there if you’re a Nabers starved owner (see the last section) than take the 5.0-7.0 points per game you’ll be getting with Kupp most weeks. You gave it a good go, but it’s time to move on.
Potential replacements: Darius Slayton, Elic Ayomanor, Jalen Coker
Nick Chubb | RB
Outside of one long TD run in Week 2, where the Buccaneers allowed him to score so they could get the ball back quicker, Chubb has been uber inefficient in this Texans offense. To date, he’s averaging 4.0 YPC, which is 1.1 yards beneath his career average, and his 1.2 yards after contact (per attempt) is a career low.
To make matters worse, Chubb looks in danger of losing his starting job altogether. The Texans finally decided to take the training wheels off Woody Marks last week in their blowout win vs the Titans, and he responded by going for 69 yards and a TD on 17 carries, to go along with 4 receptions and 50 yards receiving.
As of now, the potential for Chubb to be a useful fantasy asset going forward looks bleaker than the future of a protagonist in a Charles Dickens novel. He’s a high-priority drop candidate going into Week 5.
Potential replacements: Woody Marks, Blake Corum, Tyjae Spears, Kendre Miller
Trevor Lawrence | QB
Despite having every weapon imaginable going into 2025, Lawrence just hasn’t been able to unlock any upside from his receivers this season. Going into Week 5, he’s thrown for just 5.9 yards per attempt, has just 5 TDs vs 4 INTs, and is QB22 in FP per game. After last week’s win vs the 49ers, who limited him to 174 yards and 5.6 YPA, he’s now had three games where he’s recorded less than 12.0 FP.
Lawrence also doesn’t appear intent on risking his body anymore in the run game, as he’s yet to make a rush longer than 10 yards in 2025 and is averaging just 8.0 rush yards per game. To put this output in perspective, he averaged 21 rush yards per game in his last full season back in 2023.
The schedule isn’t going to do you any favors here either. His next three games are against the Chiefs, Seahawks, and Rams, who all rank as above-average pass defenses. If you need space, he’s more than droppable with far better upside available at his position on the waiver wire in most leagues.
Potential replacements: Michael Penix, Matthew Stafford
Jonnu Smith | TE
I thought there might be some upside lurking with Smith this season, who has excelled in Arthur Smith's schemes before and might latch on as a number two option with a veteran QB. Alas, none of those upside scenarios have come to fruition through four weeks. Smith is averaging a career low 5.1 yards per reception and has been used sparingly around the line of scrimmage on low upside routes. To date, his best output was a five-catch, 15-yard performance vs the Jets in Week 1, where he fortuitously found the end zone.
Since then, his usage has gone downhill and culminated last week when he managed a season-low two receptions and six yards. The Steelers also seem committed to getting Darnell Washington involved, who played on 91% of the snaps vs Minnesota and also had two targets. At this point, it’s almost impossible to see Smith emerging as a winner in this congested TE rotation anytime soon.
Potential replacements: Theo Johnson, Isaiah Likely
Darnell Mooney | ATL
Mooney popped up in Week 3 with 11 targets but played a poor game vs the Panthers as he managed just four receptions despite the big workload. As a result, he lost work in Week 4, and only saw one target vs Washington. The issue with Mooney is that, on top of being behind the Eight Ball and missing all of camp, he also left the Commanders' game early with a hamstring injury and is now battling with a rejuvenated Kyle Pitts for secondary targets.
I’m a little torn on Mooney because he’s a solid number 2 WR, but I also fully expect the Falcons to pound Drake London and Bijan Robinson with targets the rest of the way, much like they did vs Washington. Unless you have a deeper bench or have London and want him as a sort of semi-handcuff the rest of the season, he’s someone I wouldn’t hesitate to move on from.
Potential replacements: Darius Slayton, Elic Ayomanor, Jalen Coker
On Watch: (Not dropping yet, but the finger is on the trigger)
Rashod Bateman | BAL
Bateman couldn’t follow up on his big Week 3 and has now had three games where he’s scored less than 4.0 points in PPR scoring. Gross. The only reason he didn't make the drop list this week was the potential for Cooper Rush to start in Week 4, which may change some of the dynamics in the Ravens offense.
I don’t have high hopes for Bateman, but giving him a week with Rush potentially starting makes sense to see if you can sell high next week if he rebounds.
Calvin Ridley | WR
Ridley still leads the Titans with a 21% target share on the season (via the Utilization Report), but he is starting to get bypassed by Elic Ayomanor in usage and hasn’t been able to connect with Cam Ward for a big week as of yet.
Everything associated with the Titans is hot garbage right now, so Ridley is not on an island, but at some point, we need to see it from the consensus number one WR in Tennessee.
Keon Coleman | WR
Coleman showed so much promise after his Week 1 explosion, but he’s shrunken back into being somewhat of a non-important part of this Bills offense since then, averaging just 3.75 targets between Weeks 2 and 4.
Part of Coleman’s issue is game script, as the Bills have been getting big leads early on and then just feeding James Cook to close out games, but with Dalton Kincaid breaking out and Khalil Shakir being such a great after-the-catch receiver, there just isn’t much left for Coleman to work with in terms of targets.
Droplets (quick ideas for rosters that need improvement)
Fill your Malik Nabers void with Adonai Mitchell, Marvin Mims, Elic Ayomanor or Darius Slayton?
I’m not gonna lie, if you lost Nabers this week, the pickings out there in WR land look somewhat slim. If you are in need, my recommendation? Shoot for the moon. You just lost what was likely your WR1 and aren’t going to replace that void with a guy who gets 3-4 targets every game and averages 30 yards.
Here are four guys who could realistically produce better than expected results, or at least some big spikes weeks, the rest of the season.
- Adonai Mitchell: Had the most brain-dead play of the year last week, but also had a 20.5 aDOT and was one yard away from a 4-96-1 line. He’s one injury away from being a consistent big-play threat every week.
- Marvin Mims: Has started slowly, but last season reeled off a seven-game stretch where he reeled off six TDs and had two 100+ yards games. Not outlandish to think he can still turn it around.
- Elic Ayomanor: Potentially emerging as the number one option for Tennessee. At some point, one of their WRs is going to emerge as viable for fantasy.
- Darius Slayton: Don’t overthink it. His downfield usage should increase with Nabers out.
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