Fantasy football often requires tough decisions that can impact your season’s trajectory. Knowing when to move on from players is just as important as drafting the right ones. Sometimes, expectations don’t match performance, and big names can disappoint in key moments. Explore which unexpected players are making waves by missing the mark this year in fantasy football.
Cut: Matthew Golden, Green Bay Packers
Rostered: 53%
Not every Round 1 wide receiver can pan out. In every draft class, there will be busts. Sometimes, they are surprising. Other times, they are Matthew Golden.
In one of the most predictable flops in recent memory, Golden just isn’t an NFL-caliber wide receiver. This isn’t revisionist history. I wrote about it in August.
Everything about Golden’s prospect profile screamed bust. Sure enough, here we are more than halfway through the season, and Golden has shown absolutely nothing.
The rookie’s slow start is to be expected. There was a brief period where we thought maybe he might be starting to put it together. It turns out that was just the two worst defenses in the league making him look moderately competent.
Over his past three games, Golden has had a total of 10 targets, nine receptions, and 50 yards. Christian Watson’s return provided more competition from a superior talent.
As if that isn’t enough, Golden picked up a shoulder injury in the Packers’ home loss to the Panthers and did not play on Monday night against the Eagles.
Golden was on this list last week, but he is still on far too many rosters. Let’s correct that this time around.
Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Rostered: 50%
This sure feels like a lost season for Chris Godwin. After missing the first three weeks of the year, the veteran wide receiver returned in Week 4 and looked pretty good. He saw 10 targets, but only caught three of them for 26 yards. Then in Week 5, he had the same stat line on four targets, albeit against a much more formidable opponent.
In that game, Godwin picked up a mysterious fibula injury. Despite not being placed on IR, he’s now missed four games. The latest reports from NFL insiders indicate that Godwin will be out until at least late November.
There’s undoubtedly a chance Godwin returns in Week 13 or 14 and ends up being healthy and contributing, but it gets increasingly unlikely by the week. If you need to replace injured players or cover bye weeks, Godwin is expendable.
Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers
Rostered: 38%
Early in the season, we thought each passing week got us closer to Brandon Aiyuk’s return. Now, each passing week makes it less and less likely that the San Francisco 49ers WR will contribute anything this season.
We are now in Week 11, and there is no indication that Aiyuk’s 21-day practice window will be opened. With the team on bye in Week 14, it’s hard to imagine Aiyuk playing before Week 15. It’s equally challenging to envision fantasy managers willing to put Aiyuk in fantasy lineups the first week of the playoffs.
READ MORE: Fantasy Football Cut List Week 11: Chuba Hubbard, Chris Godwin, Brandon Aiyuk, and Others
Are you suddenly going to feel good about starting him in the semifinal? The final? The more you begin to think about the scenario in which Aiyuk finds his way into your lineup at some point this season, the more you realize there isn’t one. If you need the IR spot, do not hesitate to drop Aiyuk.
Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons
Rostered: 32%
Last week’s international game was actually fantastic. The Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts played an overtime thriller that saw Jonathan Taylor post one of the 10 most outstanding running back fantasy performances of all time.
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Amidst all of the good we saw, there was also Darnell Mooney. For reasons none of us will ever know, he saw eight targets in this game. Naturally, he caught just one for 17 yards. That’s now three straight games with one reception. Mooney has now caught a total of three of his last 14 targets.
The box score tells enough of a story, but watching Mooney play is somehow so much worse. He belongs nowhere near an NFL field, let alone your fantasy rosters.