Week 5 was one of the craziest weeks in an already crazy season. We have never seen anything like we saw this weekend in terms of nine teams being impacted by games and bye weeks that were abruptly changed on the NFL schedule due to the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos game being postponed due to COVID-19.

Games Moved Because of the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots Cancellation

 
Those changes do not even include the bye week changes that were made to make those game changes possible. Denver and New England will have their bye week in Week 5 due to the game being moved to Week 6. The Los Angeles Chargers had a bye Week in Week 10 moved to Week 6. The Miami Dolphins bye week moved from Week 10 to Week 6. The Jacksonville’s Jaguars went from having a Week 7 bye to Week 8. Finally, the New York Jets bye went from Week 11 to Week 10.

Good luck to fantasy owners that thought they had a good mix of bye weeks on their roster or had good matchups when their star players were on bye. That may have all changed with the NFL Schedule shuffle. Throw in a season-ending ankle injury to Dak Prescott and a groin injury to Dalvin Cook, and the craziest season in NFL history continues to throw curveballs to the league and fantasy owners that are trying to set lineups amidst all the chaos.

There could be more changes going forward too, so fantasy owners are going to need to keep adjusting in this pandemic climate that is here to stay for the rest of the season. Most people are looking to find live bodies to their team, not players to cut. However, there are still players that are being owned in way too many leagues that need to be added to the waiver wire. If you are looking to shed some unproductive players from your fantasy team, here are some players to consider.

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Quarterbacks

Jimmy Garoppolo (SF)
Garoppolo was a popular waiver-wire addition coming back from injury and he had a great matchup against the Miami Dolphins. He is currently owned in 29.8 percent of ESPN.com leagues and 35 percent of Yahoo.com leagues. He did not respond, completing seven passes in 17 attempts for 77 yards, no touchdowns, and two picks. He was benched for C.J. Beathard after both the game and his bad performance were out of hand.

I do not see a reason to keep owning him at this point. We are talking about a player that was the 17th ranked fantasy quarterback last year and he is not setting the world on fire in 2020. He also is up and down with the potential for a monster game or an egg, regardless of matchup. He averaged only 16.25 points per game before this disaster of a game and the 49ers have the Los Angeles Rams and a road game at the New England Patriots on deck. I cannot see streaming him with the current schedule and he just does not put up big enough numbers to justify holding onto hoping he picks it up later in the year.

Daniel Jones (NYG)
I had recommended cutting Jones before he played Dallas, who had one of the worst defenses in the NFL. For the people hoping Dallas would cure the Giants passing game, Jones had just 222 yards passing and no passing touchdowns. He has not thrown a touchdown pass since Week 1. I am surprised he has not been benched in real life yet, he needs to be more than benched in fantasy leagues. He should not be on any fantasy rosters after that disastrous performance against Dallas. There is no upside to owning a streaming player that cannot be productive in extremely favorable matchups.

Running Backs

Malcolm Brown (LAR)
Brown has not done much in fantasy since scoring two touchdowns in the opener. He has not topped 40-yards rushing in the last three weeks. Brown was third on the Rams in rushing attempts in Week 5 with just eight rushes, thanks to Cam Akers returning to health. I think Akers and Darrell Henderson are destined to lead this team in running back touches and Brown is going to end up being an afterthought that has 5-7 rushing attempts per game. Brown does have some value as a bench stash in deeper leagues because an injury to Henderson or Akers would increase his fantasy value. In 8-10 team leagues, it just does not make sense to keep him if he is going to tally only 20-40 yards rushing most games.

Jordan Howard (MIA)
Howard is owned in 32 percent of Yahoo.com leagues and 31.4 percent of ESPN.com leagues, even though he was a healthy scratch this week. It does not make a lot of sense to own a player that has more carries (18) than rushing yards (14). It’s time to ditch him this week, he should have been cut by all fantasy owners weeks ago. I cannot believe he is still owned in over 30 percent of fantasy leagues, which amounts to 30 percent of fantasy owners having a dead roster spot.

Duke Johnson (HOU)
I guess you could stash Johnson hoping that David Johnson will be injured at some point and Duke Johnson can become the starter. I just look at three carries for eight yards against Jacksonville and I do not see the point of being a Duke Johnson owner after this week. The Jaguars had given up the sixth-most points to fantasy running backs entering Week 5 and Johnson did not fit into the game plan. It is hard to trust him at this point and even if David Johnson were to go down with an injury, I cannot see them giving Duke Johnson more than 8-10 touches per week. They would probably be in the market to sign a running back and form a timeshare rather than give Duke Johnson the bell cow role. There is just not much upside in holding onto Duke Johnson at this point.

Wide Receivers

A.J. Green (CIN)
Green’s status as a fantasy option continued its collapse this week when he was held without a catch. Green now has 18.9 fantasy points through five games and now he is dealing with a hamstring injury. This does not look like an improving situation. It just keeps going from bad to worse when it comes to Green’s fantasy stock. I was on board with cutting him last week, at this point, it just makes even less sense to hang onto Green. He is all floor with no upside in fantasy football.

Russell Gage (ATL)
Gage had a nice start to the season, tallying 114 yards in the opener and scoring a touchdown in Week 2. Since then he has posted two receptions for 26 yards, two receptions for 22 yards, and two receptions for 16 yards. The biggest problem is that Matt Ryan has not topped 300-yards passing since Week 1 and he has one touchdown and two picks since Week 3. It is hard for a fantasy receiver to excel with a struggling quarterback. Gage also has not been the same player since suffering a concussion in Week 3. I would have a hard time playing Gage right now and he does not seem like a bench stash unless you are in a deep league with few options on the waiver wire.

Anthony Miller (CHI)
Miller had a good game on Thursday Night Football when you compare it to some of his other games. He tied his season-best four receptions. He was efficient in posting those four receptions on four targets. The problem is they went for only 28 yards and he failed to find the end zone. Miller is losing his job to Darnell Mooney. Mooney out-snapped Miller 41-26 on Thursday Night Football. It did not translate to a huge game for Mooney, as he had only two receptions for 15 yards. This offense just is not explosive enough to support multiple fantasy wide receivers, but Mooney is the player with more upside at this point. Miller just cannot make a living in fantasy football seeing four targets per game as the third receiver in this offense.

Tight Ends

Mo Alie-Cox (IND)
Alie-Cox looked like he could be poised for a breakout role after he tallied 111 yards against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2, but it just is not translating into enough playing time going to justify holding onto him in fantasy leagues. Alie-Cox saw only one target on Sunday while Trey Burton saw five targets and Jack Doyle saw two targets. I think Alie-Cox could have fantasy value if the Colts make him the featured tight end. Unfortunately, tight end is not a glamorous enough position that you can hold onto the third tight end on the Colts. I think Alie-Cox will probably be relevant again later this season with an expanded role, but until you can confidently stream him, he is not worth owning.

Greg Olsen (SEA)
Olsen had just one target for 20 yards and now he heads into the bye week before coming back to face the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7. Olsen did have 13 targets in Week 3 and Week 4 combined, but then crashed to one target in Week 5 and the touchdown scored by a Seattle tight end went to Will Dissly. Tight end is a crowded position in Seattle. Olsen will have a good game here or there, but he has not scored a touchdown in the last four weeks and he has too much competition from other tight ends on the roster.

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Derek Lofland is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Derek, check out his archive and follow him @DerekLofland.