NFL

5 Players You Can Drop After Week 4

Chris Hogan has underperformed this season in spite of a prime opportunity, and now Julian Edelman is back. Which other fantasy players can be dropped after Week 4?

“Kill your darlings” is one of the most oft-repeated and important pieces of advice for writers.

This phrase, courtesy of legendary author William Faulkner, reminds us of the dangers of overusing personal favorite elements of writing in our work, such as unnecessarily flowery language, undercutting tense moments with a joke, or even the overuse of a single word or phrase. All of these things in too great an amount can decimate a good piece of writing.

But “kill your darlings” can also be a good philosophy for fantasy football.

When we draft our fantasy teams, we select each player for a reason; they are not always statistically-based reasons, but we have some reason to believe that player will do well. Then, as the season goes on, some of those players meet expectations, some exceed them, and some fall short. Those ones that fall short are the ones we have to be okay with letting go of.

That’s why this weekly column is here: to help you drop your fantasy darlings, so that you can make room for a fantasy championship for your team.

Obviously, guys who suffered season-ending or season-derailing injuries in Week 4 – tight end Tyler Eifert (ankle) – need to be dropped or deactivated to your team’s IR immediately. But we're going to focus on players who saw a smaller-than-expected role or under-performed when given an opportunity.

Here are five guys who can be confidently dropped from your roster after Week 4 in favor of other options.