Should You Add Ray Davis, Alexander Mattison, Brandin Cooks Other Dropped Fantasy Football Players?

We are into the fantasy football playoffs. Trade deadlines have come and gone, and waiver wires have been picked bare. However, there is one source of potential fantasy football value that is still available in every single league: your leaguemates’ mistakes. As managers start to fine-tune their rosters for the playoffs, valuable fantasy football options may be being dropped. Every bench slot being spent on a defense with a good Week 16 matchup or a backup QB is one less player being held. It's important to stay on top of players that have been dropped and see whom you might want to target.

Of course, it’s always hard to know who to look for, especially if you play in multiple leagues. Luckily, the Fantasy Assistant is here to help. The Fantasy Assistant uses Predictive Analytics to calculate Expected Drop Interest (EDI) for every player each week. EDI is an estimation of the percentage of leagues in which a player will be or has been dropped each week. If you sync your fantasy league, you will be able to see which of those players have become available in your particular league. Here are this week’s leaders in EDI:

    

Honestly, this isn’t a very appealing list. Anyone who has read this article before knows that I love a handcuff running back, but there aren’t many other players who stand out as must-adds. With that said, it’s still worth breaking them all down, so let’s get started! 

TE Will Dissly, Los Angeles Chargers

Honestly, the fact that Dissly was ever 60% rostered was probably a mistake in the first place. He isn’t a special receiving talent, and he never even cracked a 70% route participation rate in the Chargers’ offense. Now, he is expected to miss multiple weeks with a shoulder injury. He can safely be left on waivers in all but the deepest of leagues. 

RB Ray Davis, Buffalo Bills

On the one hand, I understand why Davis is being dropped. The Bills’ offense scored 42 points on Sunday, but the rookie RB finished with a complete donut, and he wasn’t even playing in the Simpsons game. Josh Allen put the team on his back, and Davis finished with zero carries and zero targets on just a 22% snap share. He was less involved than both James Cook (eight opportunities on a 46% snap share) and Ty Johnson (three opportunities on a 32% snap share). 

However, Davis isn’t rostered because of what he can do while Cook is healthy (at least, I hope not). He is a pure handcuff who will only have value if Cook is sidelined. In the one week that Cook missed this season, Davis was the clear lead back ahead of Johnson, finishing with 16.7 Half-PPR points on a 60% snap share. That is what makes him worth holding, especially at this time of year when every available bench slot should be filled with a high-value handcuff. If he was dropped in your league, Davis is definitely someone to consider adding. 

RB Braelon Allen, New York Jets

I honestly don’t understand why people are dropping Allen. Yes, his first week with Breece Hall sidelined wasn’t as glorious as we may have hoped. Instead of seeing bell cow usage, Allen was in a near-perfect 50/50 split with fellow rookie Isaiah Davis. That’s certainly not what anyone who held Allen all season was hoping for, and it illustrates some of the dangers in banking on handcuffs. 

On the other hand, Allen is still definitely useable as long as he is splitting with Davis, and Hall is reportedly “struggling a bit” with his knee injury. The Jets also have an excellent running back schedule for the fantasy playoffs, facing the Jaguars, Rams, and Bills. All three are above-average schedule-adjusted matchups for RBs, while the Jaguars and Bills are both top-five matchups. Allen should absolutely still be held, and I would add him immediately if he was dropped in your league by an impatient manager.

RB Alexander Mattison, Las Vegas Raiders

Earlier today, I might have said that Mattison would still be worth targeting if he had been dropped in your league. However, Raiders Head Coach Antonio Pierce said this morning that Sincere McCormick will be the team’s starting running back going forward. With that in mind, Mattison, who was underwhelming even when he did lead the Raiders’ backfield, is someone you can safely leave on the waiver wire.

WR Brandin Cooks, Dallas Cowboys

On the one hand, Brandin Cooks was second among Cowboys wide receivers in routes in his second game back from the IR. On the other hand, he still posted just a 69% route participation rate, and he saw only three targets (a 10% share). With Cooper Rush under center, it’s hard to see this Dallas offense supporting more than one fantasy receiver, especially if that second receiver is only playing a part-time role. In deeper leagues, I would still recommend holding or adding Cooks in case his usage continues to grow as he returns to full health. In shallower leagues, he’s not worth rostering. 

RB Devin Singletary, New York Giants

Singletary has been steadily losing work to rookie Tyrone Tracy, and he was finally fully relegated to an RB2 role in Week 14. Against the Saints, Singletary played only 11 snaps (18%), recording two carries and seeing zero targets on nine routes. At this point, the only value the former Bill has is as a handcuff, as he would immediately see excellent usage if Tracy were to miss time. 

However, the Giants’ RB1 role isn’t exactly an enticing one, and Singletary isn’t a hugely exciting player. As a pure handcuff, he doesn’t have much appeal. Unless you’re in a league where every team’s RB2 is rostered, Singletary isn’t someone to check for on waivers this week. 

RB Ameer Abdullah, Las Vegas Raiders

Like Mattison, Abdullah has seen his role drastically reduced by the emergence of Sincere McCormick. The veteran is still the Raiders’ primary passing-down back, but that isn’t a role that makes him fantasy-viable. He saw just two targets and recorded one carry in Week 14, and those numbers will only go down if Mattison is activated. He can safely be left on waiver wires in the vast majority of leagues.

RB Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs

Another running back who has been relegated to backup duties, I’m actually going to give a different take on Hunt. While we aren’t that interested in the Raiders’ and Giants’ backfields, we do know that the Chiefs’ backfield is one of the most valuable in the league. In the eight weeks he spent as the Chiefs’ RB1 with Isiah Pacheco sidelined, Hunt averaged 13.7 Half-PPR points on over 20 touches per game.

Of course, Hunt is not playable for now. With Pacheco back, he saw just five carries and one target on 20 snaps in Week 14. But he is a high-tier handcuff — we know that he would be useable if Pacheco were to miss more time. With that in mind, I recommend snagging him if his manager in your league let him go following his lackluster usage on Sunday.

RB Khalil Herbert, Cincinnati Bengals

Herbert is comparable to Hunt, and not just because they have the same initials. Like his veteran counterpart, Herbert is completely useless as a fantasy option right now — he has a grand total of three carries and one reception since joining the Bengals in Week 10. 

However, if Chase Brown were to miss time (fantasy gods forbid), Herbert would almost certainly be the next man up in Cincinnati’s backfield. He probably wouldn’t see the elite usage that is turning Brown into an RB1, but the former Bear would profile as at least a weekly flex option. That’s enough that he is someone worth holding if you have space on your bench. 

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.