Week 5 Players to Drop in Fantasy Football: Time to Move on from Michael Pittman

Now that we are four weeks into the NFL season, the sample size is large enough. We mostly know who everyone in fantasy football is, which means we also know whether or not we should keep certain players on our rosters.

Here are the players you can absolutely consider dropping ahead of Week 5.

Players to Drop in Fantasy Football Week 5

Michael Pittman Jr. | WR | Pittsburgh Steelers

Roster percentage: ESPN (78.2%), Yahoo (59%)

Michael Pittman

As a fantasy football analyst, it’s fun to see the calls you got right during the offseason.

But it’s important to acknowledge the calls you got wrong.

All offseason, I was convinced that Michael Pittman, not DK Metcalf, would operate as the Steelers’ WR1. The fit with Aaron Rodgers seemed better, at least to me. But after four weeks, it’s officially time to accept defeat.

Pittman was held under 20 yards in his second straight game, quickly becoming an afterthought in this Pittsburgh passing attack. He now ranks second on the team with 80% of the routes, but is just fourth on the team with an ugly 12% target share.

I had hopes for Pittman because I thought his skill set matched what Rodgers wants to do at this stage of his career. As his career has progressed, Rodgers has become a lot more reliant on quick-hitting slant routes and timing concepts. Over the last two seasons, no quarterback has targeted slant routes more than Rodgers (96).

Pittman, meanwhile, was often used on such concepts, especially on RPO plays, during his time in Indianapolis. This past season, his 15 targets off slant routes were good for the eighth-most in football. And while he’s actually running slants a career-high 10.1% of the time, the designed RPO looks are going to Metcalf.

The connection between Rodgers and Pittman just hasn’t been there, while Roman Wilson is quietly emerging as the WR2 in this offense. Feel free to move on.

Players to drop Pittman for:

Keon Coleman, BUF (DJ Moore injury)

Dohnte Meyers, CIN (Ja’Marr Chase & Tee Higgins injuries)

Roman Wilson, PIT

Chris Godwin | WR | Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Roster percentage: ESPN (60.1%), Yahoo (74%)

Chris Godwin

Speaking of admitting defeat, I was very bullish on Chris Godwin this year. But one year after the Bucs' passing attack looked broken, it hasn’t shown any signs of being fixed.

With or without Baker Mayfield.

Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels made his debut on Sunday, passing for 148 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions against Green Bay, averaging just 5.5 yards per attempt. Godwin finished the day with six receptions for 31 yards on seven targets, which will somewhat play in full PPR formats, but it's certainly nothing to write home about. The Bucs are struggling mightily right now, lowering the fantasy upside of everyone in this offense. And with Mayfield expected to miss anywhere from the next three to six weeks, it’s suddenly difficult to feel great plugging any Tampa Bay players into your lineups.

Godwin does get a juicy Week 5 matchup against the Cowboys, and it comes during the first slate of bye weeks. So perhaps you can hold onto Godwin for one more week if you don’t have great wide receiver depth. And while Godwin isn’t a must-drop player, I absolutely wouldn’t fault you for cutting him.

Darren Waller | TE | Carolina Panthers

Roster percentage: ESPN (35.2%), Yahoo (33%)

Darren Waller

Darren Waller was a popular tight end streamer add this week, and it made all the sense in the world. A home matchup with a Detroit defense bleeding fantasy points to tight ends on top of seeing added volume with Jalen Coker out, Waller projected very well. But it was the Tetairoa McMillan show on Sunday, as the young wideout caught 14 of 16 targets for 192 yards and two touchdowns, limiting Waller to just three catches for 36 yards. The good news? Waller’s involvement continued to climb, as his 64% route rate was easily his highest in a game this season.

With Carolina set to go on bye in Week 5, Coker likely returns to the lineup for their next game. That could bump Waller’s route rate back below 60%, while the main appeal of adding him off waivers in the first place was the juicy matchup against the Lions.

Players to drop Waller for:

Mike Gesicki, CIN

Hunter Henry, NE

Tyler Higbee, LA Rams

T.J. Hockenson, MIN

Kyler Murray | QB | Minnesota Vikings

Roster percentage: ESPN (65%), Yahoo (67%)

Kyler Murray

Kyler Murray was a popular late-round sleeper who could emerge into a top-12 fantasy quarterback.

But through two full games, the results aren’t very good.

The fit with Murray and Kevin O’Connell’s offense just hasn’t been the smoothest to this point, though to be fair to Kyler, he has only had nine dropbacks with Justin Jefferson on the field so far. Still, not being able to score a single touchdown at home against the Dolphins seems tough to do, regardless of Jefferson’s availability. We’re also not seeing the rushing production from Murray that can be so beneficial for fantasy. His scramble rate is down, while his designed rush rate of 1% is well below his 11% rate from his final season with the Cardinals.

There have been plenty of injuries and poor play at the quarterback position this season, but after scoring just 11.5 fantasy points against the Dolphins, you can absolutely move on from Murray.

Players to drop Murray for:

Jacoby Brissett, ARI

C.J. Stroud, HOU

Kirk Cousins, LV