Who do I drop? Quentin Johnston, Odell Beckham Jr. and more Week 5 fantasy football cuts -

Read The Athletic’s latest fantasy football drops advice.

As if fantasy managers didn’t have enough problems.

It’s not bad enough that Nick Chubb of the Cleveland Browns is lost for the season. That Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants and Austin Ekeler of the Los Angeles Chargers have both missed multiple games. That Najee Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers can seemingly do little more than fall forward. That Miles Sanders of the Carolina Panthers can’t even do that.

That’s just at running back —and the temptation to include those last two backs in this column is growing by the week. The attrition at the position has stopped me for now. But there’s temptation, I’m weak-willed and I tend to be petty about backs who carry the ball 13 times for 19 yards in a game.

You know who you are. Miles. Sanders.

But now the bye weeks are here too. Four teams (the Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers) are off in Week 5. So in addition to injured players potentially clogging up roster spots, you have guys who are just taking the week off to rest and spend time with their families and other incredibly rude and selfish activities.

It’s like they don’t understand that fantasy football is life and death.

It makes add/drops that much more complicated. Sure, you’re holding Chargers wideout Keenan Allen through the bye. But what about teammate Joshua Kelley? Cleveland running back Jerome Ford? Seattle receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba? Are they worth clogging up a spot for a guy who isn’t playing — or is it time to cut bait and grab a player who can help now?

Foreshadowing—one of those players made this week’s rather bland edition of drops. But don’t worry, things are going to get spicy soon enough. There are some bigger names and their fantasy relevance is hanging by a thread.

If things don’t turn around pretty quickly, some of those threads are going to get cut.

Roster percentages courtesy of Yahoo.

Joshua Kelley, RB, Los Angeles Chargers (55 percent) (Droppable in shallower 12-team leagues)

When Ekeler went down with a high-ankle sprain in Week 1, Kelley immediately became one of Week 2’s hottest pickups. Claims were made. FAAB was expended. Even Chargers offensive coordinator Kellen Moore appeared to be excited about Kelley’s opportunity to be the team’s lead back while speaking with Eric Smith of the team’s website.

“Just a big-time professional,” Moore said. “Obviously, we see the production on the field, but I think he prepares really, really well. He’s a great teammate to everyone. He knows his role. He embraces his role. When he gets those opportunities to take advantage of some chances there, he certainly takes advantage of them. As the season goes on, he’s a guy–like a number of these running backs–we’re going to need different guys to play different roles as the weeks go on.”

Since then, Kelley has had three games to show what he can do — and none were especially impressive. Kelley has topped 40 yards rushing once over the last three weeks. He’s averaged four yards a carry exactly zero times. And he has one reception and zero scores in all three games combined. There’s a good chance that Ekeler will be back after the bye, which means it’s bye-bye time for Kelley.

Kendre Miller, RB, New Orleans Saints (20 percent) (Droppable in all leagues)

There was a fair amount of buzz surrounding Miller after the Saints drafted the former TCU standout in the third round of this year’s draft. The 6’0”, 220-pounder missed the first two games of the season with a hamstring injury, but he got healthy just in time for a big opportunity in Week 3 with Jamaal Williams banged up — an opportunity Miller said he was eager to take full advantage of.

“I’m very excited, just getting back into football shape and working so hard to get back,” Miller said, via John DeShazier of the team’s website. “It just feels good to be back. You know, it’s been hard, most definitely, because preseason I had a little knee issue and then right when we were about to get started for real, I had the hamstring. But it feels good to be back.”

Miller’s big debut didn’t amount to much — nine carries for 34 yards splitting time with Tony Jones Jr. two weeks ago. In Week 4, Alvin Kamara returned to the Saints lineup, and Miller’s role decreased that much more: two touches for eight yards. He may be a talented youngster with a bright future, but in redrafts all that matters is now. And right now. Miller is an afterthought in a struggling Saints offense.

Odell Beckham Jr., WR, Baltimore Ravens (39 percent) (Droppable in all leagues)

I’d laugh at the percentage of leagues Beckham is rostered in — except at least two shares I can think of off the top my head. I fell for the sales pitch. For the idea that Beckham could become Lamar Jackson’s No. 1 wide receiver. That the Beckham we saw in Super Bowl LVI before he tore his ACL could make a fantasy impact. After all, the team gave Beckham $15 million in guarantees, and the 30-year-old pledged that he was going be a force this season.

“I’m excited, but I’m also very determined and hungry,” Beckham told reporters. “So through the smiles there’s still this, ‘I really want this badly.’ I’m ready to be great, ready to be excellent again. The doubts are for whoever has them to have them, but it’s not what enters my mind and my body. I know what I can do.”

The good vibes lasted until right around Week 1. Beckham caught two of three targets for 37 yards in the opener. Then he followed that up by getting injured in Week 2 and hasn’t played since. A quarter of the way into the season he has 66 receiving yards for a team that ranks 26th in the league in passing after a month. Zay Flowers is the only fantasy-relevant Ravens wideout.

Quentin Johnston, WR, Los Angeles Chargers (46 percent) (Droppable in 12-team leagues)

The Chargers’ first-round pick in 2023, Johnston was another former TCU player for whom opportunity was supposed to be knocking — with Mike Williams lost for the year, Johnston was going to see a bigger role in the Chargers offense, and Keenan Allen told reporters that he saw a difference from the big-bodied rookie on the practice field.

“I think today he was better than he’s been,” Allen said. “Just because once it comes down to it and it’s do-or-die time then it’s time that you got to go. When Mike was here it was like, I can make mistakes and do this and do that. But now it’s not. There’s a little bit of urgency going on.”

There’s just one small problem — Johnston’s bright future appears to belong to veteran Josh Palmer, who led the Chargers in targets with eight against the Las Vegas Raiders this week. Four games into his NFL career, Johnston has six receptions on 11 targets for 44 yards. His rookie year to date has been like a quarter and a half for Puka Nacua… if Nacua didn’t try especially hard.

Pat Freiermuth, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers (86 percent) (Droppable in 10-team leagues)

Might as well throw one in here that will generate some “Wait, what?”

Headed into the 2023 season, Freiermuth was one of those third-tier tight ends fantasy managers drafted in the hopes that he could improve upon his 63/732/2 stat line and TE7 finish from a year ago. Even if all he did was back that fantasy finish up in 2023, he’d be something of a value given where he was being drafted on average.

However, fantasy managers ran into a problem. Well, actually two problems.

The first was that Freiermuth somehow landed in the Kyle Pitts Tight End Witness Protection Program. Through four games this season, Freiermuth has 10 receiving yards in a game once. That’s 10 yards. Not 100. Ten. For the season, Freiermuth has eight catches for 53 yards. A couple touchdowns have helped a little, but he’s all but vanished from the Steelers offense.

Now he’s totally vanished — in Sunday’s humiliating loss at Houston, Freiermuth pulled his hamstring and will miss multiple weeks. The Steelers are off in Week 6, so we’re looking at a bare minimum of two weeks of no points from a guy who only has two more targets all season long than Tyler Higbee of the Los Angeles Rams saw last week.

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While Gary resists the urge to drop Najee Harris you can find him on Twitter at @IDPSharks

(Top photo: Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

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