9 Fantasy Football Players to Drop or Hold (Week 15 Waiver Wire)

Let’s take a look at players our analysts consider on the fringe as you weigh your fantasy football waiver wire additions for the week. And also be sure to check out all of our fantasy football waiver wire advice.

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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Advice: Drop or Hold?

DROP RECOMMENDATIONS

Droppable:

• Jonathon Brooks
• Kirk Cousins
• Dallas Goedert
• Diontae Johnson
• Trevor Lawrence

The NFL debut of rookie RB Jonathon Brooks was delayed until Week 12 while he recovered from an ACL tear he sustained last November in his final season at the University of Texas. Unfortunately, Brooks suffered a non-contact knee injury Sunday in his third game with the Panthers and appears to be done for the season.

The Falcons are on a four-game losing streak, and Kirk Cousins has thrown zero touchdown passes and eight interceptions during the skid. The benching of Cousins for eighth overall draft pick Michael Penix Jr. is imminent. Feel free to kick Cousins to the curb.

Dallas Goedert has been placed on IR with a knee injury and isn’t eligible to return until Week 18 — a week after the end of the fantasy playoffs in most leagues.

The Ravens gave Diontae Johnson a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team after he refused to enter a game against the Eagles. Johnson will serve the suspension in Week 15, and it’s hard to imagine him contributing much over the rest of the regular season. Since the Ravens traded for him, Johnson has played 22 snaps over three games, recording a single 6-yard catch on five targets. Johnson is still being rostered in 38% of Yahoo leagues. It’s time to cut bait.

Trevor Lawrence was placed on injured reserve and will miss the rest of the season after sustaining a concussion on an illegal hit by Texans LB Azeez Al-Shaair in Week 13.

Droppable with a chance of regret:

• Alexander Mattison
• Wan’Dale Robinson
• Tyjae Spears

Alexander Mattison has missed the last three games with an ankle injury. In his absence, the Raiders have been auditioning Sincere McCormick at running back, and the former undrafted free agent from the University of Texas-San Antonio has looked good. It seems unlikely that Mattison will be put back in a featured role upon his return. Yards per carry isn’t a great stat, but it’s telling that Mattison is averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season, and McCormick is averaging 5.5 yards per carry (albeit on a relatively small sample of 32 rushing attempts). Although his schedule is favorable down the stretch, Mattison seemingly has very little fantasy value.

Wan’Dale Robinson is averaging 8.2 yards per catch over his career and has scored four touchdowns in 34 NFL games, so he needs catch volume in order to pay fantasy dividends. Robinson hasn’t recorded more than five catches in a game since Oct. 20, and he’s reached 50 receiving yards in only one of his last seven games. Robinson’s fantasy value is miniscule even in full-point PPR leagues.

Going into the season, a lot of people in the fantasy community believed that Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears would split work in the Tennessee backfield pretty evenly. But Pollard is now operating as a workhorse for the Titans. Spears has just 10 carries and three receptions over his last three games. He’s purely a handcuff with no stand-alone value.

Don’t drop yet:

• Jayden Reed

Over his first nine games of the season, Jayden Reed averaged 81.1 yards from scrimmage per game and scored four touchdowns. Over his last four games, Reed has averaged just 22.8 yards from scrimmage, although he’s scored three TDs over that span. Reed investors were no doubt dismayed that the receiver was completely shut out last Thursday against a Detroit defense that had been getting carved up by slot receivers. But don’t spite-drop Reed, who has favorable matchups coming up against the Seahawks, Saints and Vikings.