Week 8 Fantasy Football Drop Candidates: TreVeyon Henderson, David Njoku and More

We are back for another week's worth of players to drop in fantasy football!

As we approach the halfway point of the season, it's officially time to start giving up on highly-drafted players who simply aren't getting it done. Spoiler alert, but that can even include exciting upside rookies.

Without further ado, here are the players at each position you can consider letting go of heading into Week 8.

Check out the top waiver wire options at each position every week. Explore the best in-season fantasy football tool to manage your team and get league rankings with the Fantasy Assistant. Use our trade analyzer and trade value charts to break down trade scenarios with Fair Trade ratings.

QB C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (66.7% Rostered)

This isn't the first time I've recommended giving up on Stroud … or even the second. But the 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year is somehow still rostered in two-thirds of leagues despite having been an essentially useless fantasy QB for a year-and-a-half at this point, so here we are again. 

Seven weeks into the season, Stroud is averaging 15.9 fantasy points per game. That ranks 20th among quarterbacks, behind multiple far less-rostered options. He has more finishes outside the top-20 weekly quarterbacks (three) than inside the top 12 (one). 

We can argue about whether this is all Stroud's fault. Houston's offensive line is dreadful, their run game is nonexistent, their playcalling is baffling, and their weapons are mediocre. But there's no reason to think any of that will change anytime soon.

If anything, things are only trending in the wrong direction, as Nico Collins (the Texans' only above-average playmaker at this point) is likely to miss at least one week with a concussion. There's no light at the end of the tunnel here. It's long past time to drop Stroud. 

Honorable Mention: J.J. McCarthy, MIN (previously featured); Justin Fields, NYJ (previously featured); Joe Burrow, CIN (previously featured)

On Thin Ice: Kyler Murray, ARI

RB TreVeyon Henderson, New England Patriots (87.5% Rostered)

With scant options at the running back position, I've debated including Henderson in this list multiple times already. But I've always held off. For a while, it simply would've been too early to drop an explosive rookie running back with second-round draft capital. Then, Antonio Gibson's season-ending injury opened up an opportunity in the Patriots' backfield.

But it wasn't Henderson who seized that opportunity. Instead, 2024 UDFA Terrell Jennings handled five carries on eight snaps in the Patriots' win over the Titans. After the game, Mike Vrabel was seen declaring Jennings the team's new five-minute back. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Jennings is going to be fantasy-viable, or even necessarily hurt Henderson's workload (all five of his carries came on the Patriots' final two drives). But it's certainly not good that Henderson played only one more snap and saw three fewer touches than a guy I'd never heard of before Sunday. 

Henderson's real problem is that he simply hasn't played well. He ranks dead last among qualified running backs in PFF Grade, eighth-worst in yards after contact per attempt, and second-worst in yards vs. expected per attempt.

To be fair, some of his issues are likely systematic — Rhamondre Stevenson also ranks near the bottom of each of those leaderboards. But at this point, despite his repeated fumbling issues, Stevenson is the Patriots' clear RB1, and Henderson is an afterthought.

In deeper leagues, you can hold the rookie (at the very least, he has handcuff value). But in shallower formats, it's time to move on — there is simply no reason he should still be among the top-30 most rostered RBs. 

Honorable Mention: Michael Carter, ARI (previously featured)

On Thin Ice: RJ Harvey, DEN; Nick Chubb, HOU

WR Marquise Brown, Kansas City Chiefs (41.2% Rostered)

Hollywood actually had a respectable fantasy outing in Week 7. He only caught two passes for 14 yards, but one of those receptions was in the end zone, so he finished with 8.4 half-PPR points. The benefit of playing with Patrick Mahomes is that you will get plenty of chances to score TDs, so Brown isn't a must-drop in deeper formats. 

But in shallower formats, Rashee Rice's return is the end of fantasy viability for the current WR24 overall in fantasy scoring. Brown ran a route on just 45% of Mahomes' dropbacks on Sunday. That was even while Rice was still getting acclimated, with a 43% participation rate of his own. As Rice ramps up, Brown's role will only get smaller. 

As long as Kansas City remains at full strength, Brown will be at best their fourth target, behind Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Travis Kelce. Even with Mahomes once again producing at an MVP level, he's not going to support four weekly fantasy options. Brown will join Tyquan Thornton and JuJu Smith-Schuster as a purely TD-depednent ancillary piece — and that's not a fantasy asset worth rostering in most formats. 

Honorable Mentions: Josh Downs, IND (previously featured); Cooper Kupp, SEA (previously featured)

On Thin Ice: Jakobi Meyers, LV; Jerry Jeudy, CLE

TE David Njoku, Cleveland Browns (78.9% Rostered)

Genuinely, one of the hardest things I do each week is pick the tight end to feature in this article (at least now that I can't keep picking on Evan Engram every week). There aren't many widely rostered tight ends, and most of them obviously belong on rosters.

Even looking lower down the list, it's not like I would shock anyone by pointing out that Cade Otton (31% rostered) isn't a consistent option. Tight end is a scarce enough position that the standards for fantasy relevance are remarkably low. 

With this in mind, this week's pick of Njoku is not a must-drop in all formats. However, let's just take a step back and look at the basic facts. Njoku has finished as a top 15 half-PPR tight end just once all season. He has yet to return to practice while dealing with a knee injury that kept him sidelined in Week 7. Even when he was healthy, he was competing for routes and targets with another talented receiving tight end (Harold Fannin Jr.) on arguably the league's worst offense.

The underlying numbers aren't any better. Even in his five fully healthy weeks, Njoku was averaging just a 14% target share and a 12% air yards share in Cleveland's offense. His 74% route participation rate was solid, but not truly elite enough to stand out.

His 59 PFF Receiving Grade is both the worst of his career (not counting an injury-shortened 2019) and lower than Fannin's, which is 68.9. Unless he gets traded to a better situation (and it's hard to predict exactly where that would be), I don't see Njoku providing top-12 fantasy numbers this season. That means he's not worth holding on your bench while he remains injured, unless you happen to have an empty IR slot.

Honorable Mention: Evan Engram, DEN (previously featured twice); 

On Thin Ice: T.J. Hockenson, MIN