Week 10 Fantasy Football Drop Candidates: Chuba Hubbard, Jared Goff and More

So far this season, I have broken down my recommended fantasy football players to drop by position. This week, I'm switching things up, for two reasons.

Firstly, I've simply run out of relevant tight ends and quarterbacks to suggest dropping. And second, which players are droppable depends massively on how deep your league is — a player can be useless in a shallow format and a must-hold in larger leagues.

With that in mind, today's drop candidates will be split up by league size, not position — let's get started.  

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Deep League Drop Candidates

RB Brashard Smith, Kansas City Chiefs (22.3% Rostered)

Things couldn't have set up better for Smith this week. Isiah Pacheco was sidelined by a knee injury, and the Chiefs were trailing for substantial portions of their matchup with the Bills. Even still, the rookie saw just three rush attempts and one target on 10 snaps, an 18% snap share.

His path to legit fantasy-relevant volume is clearly even thinner than we hoped, so he is droppable in the vast majority of redraft formats. 

RB Michael Carter, Arizona Cardinals (17.4% Rostered)

Carter was cut by the Cardinals heading into Week 9, but he returned to Arizona's practice squad and was activated for their Monday night matchup with the Cowboys. You wouldn't know it by looking at the box score, though, as he didn't play a single offensive snap, let alone handle a touch.

Especially with Trey Benson due to come back eventually, Carter is an easy drop in all leagues. 

WRs Jayden Higgins/Jaylin Noel, Houston Texans (19.3%/7.2% Rostered)

Nico Collins and Christian Kirk returned for the Texans in Week 9. Houston's coaches immediately put their rookies back on the shelf. Higgins posted a 40% route participation rate, fourth among the team's WRs; Noel was even worse at just 11%, running the same five routes as backup TE Harrison Bryant.

Especially given that the Texans' offense isn't exactly an explosive unit that we can count on to support multiple weapons, both of the Iowa State rookies are droppable … especially Noel.

TE Chig Okonkwo, Tennessee Titans (17.3% Rostered)

Okonkwo is averaging less than five half-PPR points per game. With rookie TE Gunnar Helm seeing more work, he hasn't hit even a 60% route participation rate since Week 2.

He's clearly one of many TD-dependent members of the Tight End Wasteland at this point, and touchdowns aren't exactly flowing in Tennessee's offense. It's time to move on. 

Average League Drop Candidates

QB C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans (64.6% Rostered)

Stroud's 15.8 fantasy points per game rank 26th among quarterbacks. He has finished in the top-12 weekly quarterbacks just twice all season, and the top 10 only once.

Given that he was also useless for fantasy last year, there's no reason to expect this to change. There are almost certainly comparable (if not better) QB options on waivers in any 1-QB league, so don't let Stroud waste a spot on your bench. 

RB Chuba Hubbard, Carolina Panthers (86.6% Rostered)

This is maybe a tad aggressive, as I considered putting Hubbard in the shallow section. But with just five attempts and one target on 11 snaps in the Panthers' win over the Packers, his new role behind Rico Dowdle doesn't seem to be one that will provide standalone value.

That means Hubbard is just a handcuff on a mediocre offense — that's a droppable player even in standard-sized formats. 

WR Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills (59.2% Rostered)

After scoring 21.2 half-PPR points in Week 1, Keon Coleman has averaged just 4.5 points over his last seven games. In theory, averaging an 18% target share and a 27% air yards share from Josh Allen should allow him to produce more than that, but it simply isn't happening.

At this point, even if he has a good game or two, would you really trust him in your lineup? If the answer is no, drop him. 

Shallow League Drop Candidates

QB Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (83.7% Rostered)

In shallow leagues, I don't recommend holding backup quarterbacks. And ranking as the QB17 with just 17.5 points per game, Goff is (hopefully) a backup QB in shallow formats.

This pick is really that simple — if you're not starting Goff in a given week, he's probably not worth holding. He has just one top-10 fantasy finish all season, and only two finishes inside the top 12. 

WR Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns (70.6% Rostered)

I actually covered Jeudy in last week's article. Given that the Browns were on bye in Week 9, nothing has changed in the veteran's situation.

In deeper formats, being Cleveland's WR1 means he isn't the worst player to hold. In shallow leagues, 3.2 half-PPR points per game is the only number you need to know.  

TE T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings (85.9% Rostered)

Hockenson was also featured last week, but his situation did change in Week 9 … for the worse. In three games with J.J. McCarthy as their primary quarterback, the Vikings are now averaging a pass rate 3.3% below expected. In all other weeks, they were at 4.6% above expected.

Hockenson's share of the passing offense pie in Minnesota was already small; now the whole pie is shrinking as Kevin O'Connell tries to protect his young QB. He's a safe drop in shallower leagues.