Fantasy football: Who should you drop in Week 6? Aaron Rodgers and Mark Andrews are cuttable

Okay, so it happened – again.

Last week in this column, I recommended throwing Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams to the side of the road. In the first month of the season, Williams ranked 24th among quarterbacks in fantasy points. He had scored a total of 15 fantasy points. While Jayden Daniels lit it up, Williams was, er, not there.

So of course, purely out of spite and to make this analyst look bad, Williams had the best game of his pro career – 304 passing yards, 34 rushing yards, two touchdowns, a QB6 finish for the week and high praise from Bears head coach Matt Eberflus .

“He’s learning and growing, and you can see that in the games we’ve had,” Eberflus told reporters. “He knows that. So he’s just got to keep stepping up and every time we’ve challenged him he’s done that since the summer.”

The unmitigated insolence of some people.

All joking aside, it goes to show you that answering the question of who to dump is an inexact science. It’s certainly not ideal for a player I immediately challenged to have his best game of the season, but it will happen. All I can do is pick myself up, dust myself off and go back out and hand out pink panties.

Additionally, Williams’ teammate Keenan Allen is still in the wide receiver protection program and ranks 80th in PPR points per game among wide receivers after five weeks.

Um, oops.

Percentages listed courtesy of Yahoo!

QB Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets (48 percent in the squad – excludable in weak leagues)

No, you can’t dump head coach Robert Saleh like the Jets did on Monday, but you can dump the struggling veteran quarterback.

When Rodgers came out in Week 3 and torched the Patriots for 281 yards and two touchdowns while completing over 77 percent of his passes, it looked like the four-time MVP was “back.” Two weeks later and just as many dismal outings, and pundits like CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr are flatly calling the 40-year-old “washed up.”

“Rodgers looks like a 40-year-old quarterback who tore his Achilles tendon,” Kerr wrote. “Rodgers was a lazy 29 of 54 for 244 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions (54.9 rating) in the Jets’ loss to the Vikings. He averaged 4.5 yards per attempt and was 6 of 14 for 81 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions on third and fourth downs. Rodgers and the Jets are 2-3 and have scored as many points in 2024 as they did in 2023 (93) after Week 5. Rodgers has just 1,093 passing yards, 6.0 yards per attempt and an 81.6 passer rating – all of it the worst through the first five games of his career.”

Rodgers’ defenders will say it’s only been five games … that New York’s supposedly improved offensive line is doing him a disservice … that he’s a Hall of Famer who just needs time. And sure, you could keep him and see how he does in the post-Saleh era. But ask yourself – even as a bye week replacement – whether you want the Rodgers we saw hobbling around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in your starting line-up?

It’s a rhetorical question. For heaven’s sake he’s being duped by Joe Flacco.

TE Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens (90 percent in the squad – excludable in flat leagues)

That’s right – you have to make it big with at least one.

You know things aren’t going according to plan when a five-catch, 44-yard rush becomes cause for a save for a player who was once the No. 1 tight end in all of fantasy football. In the previous two games, Andrews had zero catches on two goals. But he told reporters that winning football games was more important to him than making fantasy managers happy.

“I mean, all that (fantasy talk) is good and all, but they don’t know what’s going on in this building and how we work and what I do,” he said. “They don’t watch me every game. They don’t see the type of work I do. And so all good things come with time.”

The fact that nine fantasy points and one changeup (in PPR) are considered “good things” shows how far Andrews has fallen in a year where the entire tight end position was a hot mess. Andrews has 14 goals for the entire season. Even on the “rebound” last week, it was Isaiah Likely who reached the end zone – twice. And even Likely was on a milk carton in weeks 2, 3 and 4. The Ravens’ tight ends are cannibalizing each other — and the only reason to expect change at this point is blind hope.

If Andrews hits 6/70/2 in Week 6, you can thank me – I seem to have a knack for getting guys out of slumps. I am a helper.

RB Antonio Gibson, New England Patriots (38 percent on the roster – eliminable in most leagues)

Remember the long-ago days of last week when Gibson was supposed to be New England’s leadoff man because Rhamondre Stevenson couldn’t hold the football? It was somewhat ironic given the problems Gibson had in Washington, but it was understandable that fantasy managers were a little upset when New England head coach Jerod Mayo openly said that Stevenson was due for the latest affront to offensive football was demoted last Sunday.

“Have a conversation with Rhamondre (Stevenson) and he won’t start,” Mayo said. “I will be open and transparent. But he will play. And he understands that he has to protect football in the future.”

The problem is that Mayo didn’t say how long Stevenson would be demoted. It ended up being about a quarter, and at the end of New England’s loss to Miami’s JV team, Stevenson had twice as many carries as Gibson and the team’s only rushing touchdown. Each Patriot on your roster reduces your chances of winning by 12 percent – and wasting a spot on the second defensive end because of a brutal offense is just no.

WR Gabe Davis, Jacksonville Jaguars (22 percent on roster – eligible for elimination in all leagues)

After the Jaguars lost Calvin Ridley in free agency, the team double-crossed to replace him, signing Brian Thomas Jr. after signing Gabe Davis in free agency. Last week, a sideline argument broke out between Davis and Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but after the Jags’ first win of the season, Lawrence downplayed the argument while speaking to the media.

“That’s what happens in this game,” he said. “People who have played it know. People who haven’t done it probably don’t really understand all the emotions involved. … Gabe is always good at communication, so we quickly got on the same page and it was good.”

If Davis and Lawrence agree, that would be a first for 2024. Despite tight end Evan Engram being out for most of the season, Davis has only been targeted more than five times twice and hasn’t caught more than three passes a game in this one year and has 12 catches for a total of 159 yards this season. Unless you play in a ridiculously high league or are Gabe Davis’ mother, there’s no point in drafting him right now.

WR Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland Browns (49 percent on roster – eliminable in most leagues)

After four mostly disappointing seasons in Denver, Jeudy was traded to the Browns in an offseason trade and then received a contract extension from the team over Cleveland. The 25-year-old told reporters earlier this season that he was determined to show he was the first-round talent the Broncos thought they were getting, rather than the disappointment they caused the Browns.

“Just play consistently,” Jeudy said. “When I come to Cleveland, the biggest thing I want to show is that I can show that I’m a playmaker and that I can make plays consistently. I just want to always be in the quarterback’s vision. Wherever he moves, I just try to be in his sight and when he sees me, just play with the ball.”

There have been flashes from Jeudy – he actually reached double-digit PPR points in three of five games. But he has yet to have a 15-point game, and the Cleveland offense now officially ranks last in the NFL in total yards per game. Jeudy in Cleveland is Jeudy in a nutshell – for all the talk of talent and the occasional teasing, the numbers just aren’t there. Last week’s 1/16/0 line on three targets was the final straw. Do like Denver and let him go, because the Browns aren’t in your fantasy league, so no one will compensate you for ridding your roster of dead weight.

(Aaron Rodgers Photo: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Yell at him on X @IDPSharks