Week 9 of the NFL season is in the books, so we move on to Week 10 roster decisions.

Before we begin, I want to address one of my selections for this article last week that caused a solid debate on Twitter. Last week, several people questioned my sanity when I suggested that Jonnu Smith was a player that people should cut in fantasy football. A lot of the argument centered around tight end being a position devoid of talent and that Smith would, at the very least, have significant trade value.

I reread the article, and I think I could have been a little clearer that you should attempt to trade him first. I also think that’s a given with any player on this list. I am writing a strategy article for people in PPR and standard-scoring leagues, 10-team leagues and 16-team leagues, leagues with different amounts of bench spots, leagues with and without IR spots, and different levels of fantasy expertise among the various owners. There is no way that this list is an absolute for every league, and decisions will vary depending on who is available on your waiver wire.

I think both sides were vindicated in that argument. Smith did not see a target in the first half and tallied two targets, two receptions, and 32 yards. He was not even the most targeted tight end on his team, and that would have been another dismal fantasy performance — except one of the receptions was a touchdown. Tight end is such a weak position, which was good enough for Smith to finish as the TE8 for the week.

I still stand by what I wrote. Smith had an ADP of 164 this year, and he was not drafted in a lot of leagues. Fantasy managers were picking him up as a waiver wire addition when he started the season on a scoring spree, and he has since fizzled out due to injuries and the return of A.J. Brown. The Indianapolis Colts have yet to allow a touchdown to a tight end this season, so I think the chance he builds on that touchdown reception in Week 10 is very low. He is still a player trending in the wrong direction.

Regardless, I love the debate, and I try to make this article interesting. I don’t want to be a hot take writer and tell you to cut Lamar Jackson because he had 170 yards and no touchdown passes against the Colts, knowing that it will create a Twitter meltdown. However, I also want this article to be about once-viable players that are struggling and that you need to ask yourself tough questions about their future on your roster.

Here are some more players that I think people need to think about heading into Week 10. In addition to all the other players I write about, we will be talking about another big-name tight end this week.

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JaMycal Hasty (RB – SF)
The 49ers have had to use more lineup combinations due to injury than anyone should ever have to use, but the team has still tallied 241 rushing attempts for 1,071 yards and 15 touchdowns. They lead the league in rushing touchdowns right now despite not having a back with more than 60 total carries on the season.

What is becoming frustrating in San Francisco is that there is no rationale for the running back rotation, and running backs have a ceiling of 15 carries and a floor of one carry. Jerick McKinnon had three carries for -1 yard in back-to-back games, and Hasty looked like the emerging lead back in the offense. Then Thursday Night Football arrived, and McKinnon had 12 carries for 52 yards and three receptions for 16 yards. That was almost more touches than the 18 touches he had in the last three games. As a result, Hasty had four rushes for three yards and two receptions for 10 yards. This was after posting nine, nine, and 12 carries in his previous three games.

The reality is that Hasty has been in the rotation for four weeks, and he is the RB43 through that span. He is averaging only 5.9 fantasy points per game. It looked like he was going to break out, but instead, he bombed in Week 9 with very few touches. Despite their success as a team on the ground, it is hard to trust any individual running back in this offense, and I would look for other options.

49ers Weekly Fantasy Point Distribution Between RB1 and RB2

James White (RB – NE)
It’s painful to watch what the struggling Patriots offense has done to some of their reliable skill position players. White registered just 4.4 fantasy points on Monday Night Football in Week 9. He had two rushing attempts for no yards and four receptions for 24 yards. Even in a game where they were down 20-10 at the half and 27-17 at the end of the third quarter, he could not make an impact. You cannot own a receiving back with this little production and upside, so White can safely be dropped in all formats.

Joshua Kelley (RB – LAC)
Austin Ekeler is still not back from his injury, and Justin Jackson left Sunday’s game with a knee injury. You would think that would have been great news for Kelley. Instead, Kalen Ballage led the backfield with 15 carries, and Kelley was second with nine carries. He turned those into only 28 yards and no touchdowns. The only thing that salvaged his fantasy day was five receptions for 31 yards, but he was still just the 25th ranked running back on the weekend.

The problem with outright cutting him is that if Jackson misses this week, Kelley probably sees 10-12 touches against the Dolphins’ 20th-ranked defense against running backs, which will cause some managers to keep him. That could be the right move in some leagues, but this is still a player who is trending down. As soon as Ekeler and Jackson are healthy, I could see Kelley being the third or fourth back in this rotation, and he may only see a couple of touches per game.

Kelley is only averaging 3.2 yards per carry and 7.4 yards per reception, and he has one touchdown on the season. Over the last three weeks, he is the RB39 in a situation that should be more favorable to his fantasy production. Fantasy managers will have to decide if he has trade value, if they stick it out for another week, or if they just move on altogether. He is clinging to fantasy relevance in a situation where injuries to other players should cause him to break out.

Daniel Jones (QB – NYG)
Jones crashed and burned again last week with 212 yards and one touchdown pass against the Washington Football Team. He tallied 4.88 fantasy points after having been in double-digits for three weeks. There is some appeal to playing him against the Eagles; he had his best game of the season in Philadelphia with 21.68 fantasy points a few weeks ago. That was also the game where he had an 80-yard run, and without that play, he had just 13.68 fantasy points. He’s not likely to have that type of play in his stat sheet again, and he has a bye week in Week 11. If you aren’t going to play him this week, it is not worth burning a dead roster spot for two weeks.

Cam Newton (QB – NE)
I view Newton as a streamer you pick up off waivers, not someone you have to hold on your roster every week. Newton was solid in fantasy on Monday Night Football, tallying 274 yards passing, 16 yards rushing, and two rushing touchdowns. That resulted in 24.56 fantasy points and a QB8 finish. If you stream quarterbacks and played him this week, you were rewarded with a solid fantasy game against a terrible opponent.

However, I don’t think you saw anything on Monday Night Football to suggest that New England’s offense is going in the right direction, and I don’t think anything suggested that Newton will suddenly be reliable every week. The Patriots have a tough home game against Baltimore on deck, and the Ravens are the eighth-best defense against fantasy quarterbacks. I think the only justification for holding onto him is that you need him for Week 11 against the Houston Texans and don’t think he will stay on waivers until next week. You definitely should not be holding him to play against the Ravens.

Michael Gallup (WR – DAL)
Gallup had a shot with another quarterback this week, but the result was a WR71 finish with 5.1 fantasy points. I am surprised that his rostership is still at 56% in Yahoo leagues and 47.8% in ESPN leagues. He has failed to eclipse seven fantasy points in six of his nine games this year, and he has posted double-digits just one time. I do not see any reason to keep holding onto him at this point.

Henry Ruggs III (WR – LV)
I love 72-yard touchdowns as much as the next person, but I cannot believe what that one play has done for Ruggs’ rostership. I wrote about that last week, and it’s stunning to me that Ruggs III still has 50.6 percent rostership in ESPN leagues and 41 percent rostership in Yahoo leagues. Since that 72-yard touchdown reception in Week 5, Ruggs has tallied 8.4 fantasy points. He is the WR104 in that timespan. It’s not worth rostering him in hopes that he breaks a long touchdown again.

Laviska Shenault Jr. (WR – JAC)
Shenault Jr. had posted 11.6 and 11.4 fantasy points in Week 4 and Week 5, and he looked like he was headed toward flex value. In the last three games, he has posted 2.6, 5.9, and 0.4 fantasy points. He has been dealing with injuries and played with a backup quarterback making his first start this week, but Jake Luton had 304 yards passing this weekend, and Shenault Jr. hurt that total because he had one reception for negative one yard.

I think it’s time to move on from the rookie. While he may become relevant again later in the season, he cannot sit on a fantasy bench with 8.9 fantasy points in three games. He is the WR108 in that timespan. His fantasy hype was short-lived, and he needs to start producing to justify a roster spot.

George Kittle (TE – SF)
Kittle is still rostered in 80.8 percent of ESPN leagues and 71 percent of Yahoo leagues, so I think it is worth having a conversation about him. At this point, fantasy managers still have him on their roster despite knowing about the broken foot. They have had a week to decide to cut him or keep him, and many kept him and went with the dead roster spot in Week 9

The decision will come down to three factors: 1) Does your league have an IR spot, 2) How many bench spots does your league have if there is no IR spot, and 3) Are you in a keeper league? If you have an IR spot, it’s pretty simple, you just move him there and hope that he will return at some point this season. You can leave him there unless you have a better player that needs to go in the IR spot.

If you do not have an IR spot and you are in a keeper league, you have to ask yourself how realistic is it that you will keep him in 2021. That will depend on the number of keepers, where you drafted Kittle, and what the price is for keeping him.

If you have to waste a roster spot in redraft leagues, it is very problematic to keep Kittle. This is not a two-week injury, no matter how much Kittle wants to talk about wanting to play in a couple of weeks. His head coach estimates that he may miss eight, which would not put him on track to return until Week 16 or Week 17. The 49ers may fall out of playoff contention due to all their other injuries, and they may opt to just sit him the rest of the year rather than risk aggravating the injury in a meaningless game. You could be holding onto a player that never plays again this season.

I do not think there is going to be much of a trade market in a redraft league, and the upside of having him for one game against the Arizona Cardinals or Seattle Seahawks is not worth six weeks of a wasted roster spot. I think that the 49ers will fall out of playoff contention in the tough NFC West, and Kittle won’t play another down in 2020.

Mike Gesicki (TE – MIA)
He had his best game since Week 5 by posting four targets, three receptions, and 42 yards. Even at an anemic tight end position, that was good for just a TE24 result. His next two opponents are the Chargers and Broncos. The Bolts are 24th against fantasy tight ends, and the Broncos are 12th. I think you can do better than him as a streaming option; Gesicki is averaging 2.3 fantasy points over his last three games and ranks as the TE52 since Week 6.

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