Week 16 of the fantasy football season reminds me of Game 7 of the World Series. In Game 7, all hands are on deck. You can see starting pitchers turn into relief pitchers, and managers will make moves they would not normally make in another situation because they don’t have to worry about another game. Any move that puts the manager in a better position to win is a great move, and there is no need to worry about tomorrow.

The same applies to this part of the fantasy football season. There are players you can cut in Week 16 that you would not normally cut in other situations, simply because you aren’t going to use them this week, and the new year means a new roster. There is no tomorrow, giving you the freedom to be more aggressive in your roster decisions.

There are a couple of things to consider when you are cutting players. First, make sure to look at your opponent’s roster. Let’s say he or she has a great roster but is a little weak at wide receiver. You don’t want to cut a good receiver you aren’t going to use, allowing him or her to pick up your former player to use against you in the championship. Good players on the bench aren’t a bad thing because you’re not playing against them yourself.

Also, don’t get too carried away with this strategy. The New Orleans Saints allow the fewest points to fantasy running backs in the NFL. That does not mean you bench Dalvin Cook for the fantasy championship, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you cut him. I talked about what happens when you bench star players that shouldn’t be benched in my article last week, and that still applies in Week 16.

Good luck to everyone in the championship game, and I hope this is the week you bring home a title and can call yourself a champion. Thank you to all the people that read my article every week — it has been a great year. It has been the strangest fantasy football year I have ever seen with all the craziness of the world due to the pandemic. It has also been a fun year, and the football season flew by as it does every season. Football was a very welcomed distraction, even if it meant postponed games, Tuesday and Wednesday Night Football, and all the other oddities that came with this season.

Here are the players that I would consider cutting heading into the most important week of the fantasy football season. I hope everyone has a Happy Holidays and a Great New Year. Here’s to hoping that 2021 is a much better year than 2020. The bar was set very low this year, but we need a great year after the one we just experienced.

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Wayne Gallman Jr. (RB – NYG)
This is one of those players that you would normally just tuck on the bench for next week that you can safely cut this week. The Ravens are 18th against fantasy running backs, so it’s not a tough matchup, but you need to look at what has happened to Gallman’s touches over the last four weeks. He has gone from 24 carries in Week 12, to 16 in Week 13, to 12 in Week 14, to nine in Week 15. He had single-digit carries for the first time since Week 6 last week.

As a result, his fantasy points have crashed with the last four weeks as follows: 16.6, 13.5, 8.8, and 2.9. He isn’t getting the ball as much as he was when he was working his way into the weekly RB1 situation. Baltimore has been playing better in recent weeks, and I could see them jumping out to a big lead early in the game and Gallman having another game with less than 10 carries. There is no reason to hang onto him in redraft leagues unless your opponent is a dumpster fire at running back. I would almost want to play against Gallman this week, but you will have to decide what makes sense in your situation. What makes sense is not playing him.

Wayne Gallman Jr. Declining Fantasy Production Since Week 12

Todd Gurley II (RB – ATL)
Gurley hasn’t been the same since the bye week, and it has been abundantly clear why the Los Angeles Rams ate over $20 million in dead money to move on from him. It’s a shame that a player as special as Gurley wasn’t blessed with health, but he is only 26 and has the knees of a 40-year-old. Things are so bad right now that the Falcons have announced Ito Smith as the starter to end the year.

Anybody that has watched Falcons games for the last month already knows that Gurley has been done for a long time. Smith hasn’t set the world on fire, with 29.2 fantasy points in the last five games, but he’s been significantly better than Gurley and his 12.4 fantasy points in four games. Gurley is still the RB19, but keep in mind he was the RB6 after nine weeks. He is the RB71 since Week 11. There is no reason that he should still be owned in 92.6 percent of ESPN leagues and 92 percent of Yahoo leagues. With the announcement that he is no longer the starter, it’s time to move on from Gurley.

Chase Claypool (WR – PIT)
This is one where you have to ask yourself if you’re helping your opponent by giving him a good player to pick up — or if you want your opponent to make the claim and fail. Claypool was a great story earlier in the year, but as Pittsburgh’s season has imploded, his fantasy value has gone in a similar direction. Since Week 12, he has averaged only 5.6 fantasy points per game and is the WR72.

The Indianapolis Colts are the 11th-best team against fantasy wide receivers, and Claypool has offered nothing in recent weeks. If you aren’t going to use him this week, and there is someone you need on the waiver wire, I think it’s safe to cut him, given the state of the Pittsburgh offense. The only leagues he has significant value in are dynasty and keeper leagues, both of which allow you to carry players over to your 2021 roster. Claypool has a ton of upside in that situation, but not much in the redraft format.

Michael Pittman Jr. (WR – IND)
From Week 1 to Week 11, T.Y. Hilton was a fantasy disaster, ranking as the WR89. He turned that around in Week 12, and he is now the WR4 since Week 12. Pittman Jr. has been the big loser in that turnaround. While he once was a promising waiver wire addition, he has scored only 19.3 fantasy points over his last four games. He ranks as the WR78 through that span.

He is a great asset in keeper and dynasty formats, but he isn’t in redraft. The Colts offense is not good enough to support two featured wide receivers, and now that Hilton is carrying his weight at the close of the season, Pittman Jr. has been relegated to an afterthought. He can safely be dropped in a tough matchup with the Steelers’ 10th-best defense against fantasy wide receivers.

Christian Kirk (WR – ARI)
Kirk is just the WR91 since Week 10 with just 23.5 fantasy points in six games. The Cardinals offense runs through Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins, and Kenyan Drake (with a little Chase Edmonds sprinkled in, for good measure). Everybody else is fighting for the scraps at the dinner table, and Kirk is just not a solid fantasy option against the 49ers this week.

Ben Roethlisberger (QB – PIT)
The best stat I saw on Big Ben’s dreadful game in Cincinnati last night comes courtesy of Pro Football Focus. On throws of 10 yards or longer, Roethlisberger was a staggering 1 for 13 for 23 yards, one touchdown, one pick, and a QB rating of 33.17. He is now averaging just 6.2 yards per attempt on the season.

The league has figured out that a wide receiver needs to be close enough for Big Ben to give a high five for him to also complete a pass. If the Bengals can hold him to 170 yards and one touchdown, there isn’t much hope this is going to fix itself this season. I cannot see Big Ben playing well against the Colts’ 12th-ranked fantasy quarterback defense. I would move in another direction in Week 16.

Cam Newton (QB – NE)
Cam Newton has played 13 games this season. For most quarterbacks, that would be enough games to hit double-digit touchdown passes. Newton has thrown for only five passing touchdowns. The only thing keeping him fantasy-viable were his 489 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. The problem is that he hasn’t played well enough this year for three to be any chance the Patriots bring him back — except as a backup. His arm looks shot at this point, and he doesn’t appear to be a starting quarterback anymore.

This is the time of the year when coaches start benching underperforming veterans that don’t figure into their future plans. This is where Jarrett Stidham ends up earning a couple of starts so that Bill Belichick can see what he has at that position. Bill Belichick even left the door open for that possibility. That makes Newton a dicey start on Monday Night Football with no good fallback option to lean on in a tough matchup with the Bills. If you have been streaming Newton in recent weeks, it’s time to just cut him, as he has no more value in the 2020 fantasy season.

Eric Ebron (TE – PIT)
The Colts are fifth against fantasy tight ends, so it is not an intriguing matchup for Ebron against his former team. Also mixed into the equation is the implosion of the Steelers offense and a back injury that forced Ebron to exit Week 15 early. Ebron has to be at least questionable to play this week, and even if he does play, it’ll be in a tough matchup. Ebron’s offense is struggling as much as any team in the league, and I would look for other options in the final week of the fantasy season.

Jimmy Graham (TE – CHI)
Graham is still rostered in 36 percent of ESPN leagues and 27 percent in Yahoo leagues, so he is relevant enough to make my article. Graham is just the TE26 since Week 12, with Cole Kmet taking on a bigger role. Graham isn’t a good streaming option, although he does play against the Jaguars this week. I think I would rather roll with Kmet over Graham. Graham’s only hope at fantasy relevance is a red-zone touchdown.

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