Dynasty League Cut List - Top Fantasy Football Drop Candidates for Week 2

Nick's top dynasty fantasy football drop candidates for dynasty leagues heading into Week 2 of 2025. Who is safe to cut in dynasty fantasy football leagues?

Welcome to my dynasty fantasy football cut list for Week 2 of the 2025 NFL season. Dynasty fantasy leagues, more than anything else, are about timing: when to buy, when to sell, and when to cut your losses.

Sure, it helps to have good fortune here and there, and perhaps a couple of impatient league members who are always willing to part with first-round picks, but knowing when to cut players is a key part of optimizing a roster. Even in deep leagues, there are times when you have to move on from a former draft pick, trade acquisitions, or a player who used to really move the needle.

Players whose fantasy values no longer warrant a roster spot mean it’s time to go. Sunk costs aren’t helping your roster, and we’ll look at a few former roster holds who can be sent to the waiver wire.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Sean Tucker, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It’s only a week into the new season, but we have enough of a sample size on Tucker to make an educated decision here. In 35 regular-season weeks since the start of the 2023 season, Tucker has had one outstanding showing and little or no fantasy relevance otherwise.

For his career, Tucker has one finish in the top-25 among running backs, a game-winning RB1 showing at New Orleans last season that sent managers scrambling to the waiver wire. Before and after that game, he was mostly picking up the scraps of running backs ahead of him.

At this point, Tucker is like any other third-string running back. His primary dynasty value is as an insurance policy for Bucky Irving, who is the clear top option in Tampa. Managers still holding him independently of Rachaad White and hoping for a repeat of last year’s game at New Orleans are likely to be disappointed. 

Curtis Samuel, WR, Buffalo Bills

Samuel and offensive coordinator Joe Brady were once an effective combination in Carolina, with Samuel logging a No. 25 PPR finish in 2020.

Those days are long gone.

Their reunification in Buffalo hasn’t meant much for Samuel, who followed up two solid seasons in Washington by drawing only 46 targets all of last season with the Bills. 

Dynasty formats ask managers to see the full picture, so it’s telling that the Bills have been so active at wide receiver in the past 18 months. After signing Samuel, the team drafted Keon Coleman, traded for Amari Cooper in the middle of last year, signed Joshua Palmer and Elijah Moore this offseason, and even recently brought back Gabe Davis. 

Already falling out of the picture, Samuel was a healthy inactive on Sunday with the Bills preferring to activate Tyrell Shavers.

If anyone is wondering why WR Tyrell Shavers was active over WR Curtis Samuel last night against the Ravens, here's a significant part of the reasoning:

Shavers played on every single rep of the core-four special teams units. He was one of only six Bills players to do so Sunday.

— Joe Buscaglia (@JoeBuscaglia) September 8, 2025

For managers still holding, the better question might not be whether to keep him, but whether he’ll still be in Buffalo at the end of the season. 

Chris Rodriguez Jr., RB, Washington Commanders

For a moment, it looked like some managers might have gotten something for nothing. Chris Rodriguez Jr., on waiver wires in many dynasty formats over the past year, was one of the most added dynasty free agents in the lead-up to the season and became more than 70% rostered on Sleeper.

For a week or so, it all looked great. Washington dealt Brian Robinson Jr. to San Francisco, leaving a void behind veteran Austin Ekeler. Rodriguez then started the Commanders’ final preseason game, was listed as the team’s third running back on the depth chart, and looked like he might handle goal-line duty. 

When it came to game day, the Commanders told everyone how they really felt: Ekeler started, rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt ran for 82 yards and a touchdown on 10 touches, and Rodriguez was a healthy inactive. 

GET HIM IN YOUR LINEUPS!

📺 #NYGvsWAS FOX pic.twitter.com/9uls0Pu1Be

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 7, 2025

Now in his third year in the league, Rodriguez has a total of 420 rushing yards in 35 regular-season weeks. Already a non-factor in the passing game and playing on a team where the quarterback is a key part of the running game, he’s now behind a breakout rookie and the clear odd-man out in a crowded backfield. 

Jordan Whittington, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Whittington is right at the intersection of clearly valuable to an NFL team but not especially valuable to a fantasy lineup. He’s a dynamic special teamer, a willing run blocker, and, despite some athletic limitations, he’s worthy of a consistent 53-man roster spot — but none of that helps a fantasy manager. 

When L.A. faced injury issues at receiver last season, Whittington saw an uptick in targets and briefly logged a starter’s workload, but it lasted all of two weeks, since he has played in 13 games and has a grand total of eight offensive touches.

The Rams clearly like him and value his contributions, but he’s nearly 25 and has likely found his long-term lane in the NFL as a high-end special teamer who only sometimes has a presence receiving.

Jordan Whittington is all over the freaking place today for the Rams.

— Lance Zierlein (@LanceZierlein) September 7, 2025

He played half of the Rams’ offensive snaps Sunday, but is so far in the background as a pass-catcher that he didn’t get a target. Managers had good reason to hope Whittington could be a late-round or waiver wire diamond, but it just hasn’t happened from a receiving standpoint.

Luke Musgrave, TE, Green Bay Packers

The reported two-headed matchup monster the Packers were building by taking two tight ends in premium rounds of the 2023 hasn’t totally come to fruition. Musgrave, who was taken in the second round of that year’s draft, is playing second fiddle to fellow tight end Tucker Kraft.

It bears mentioning that the former Oregon State Beaver has had brutal injury luck with injured reserve stints in both of his first two seasons, which is certainly part of the equation here. The reality is, though, at the outset of the third year for both players, the Packers seem to clearly favor Kraft.

Musgrave hasn’t played more than half of his team’s offensive snaps since Week 11 of 2023. In the past five games in which Musgrave and Kraft were both active, Musgrave played 35%, 23%, 26%, 19%, and 12% of the Packers’ offensive snaps.

Kraft, during the same time span: 92%, 95%, 86%, 62%, 89%.

Jordan Love to Tucker Kraft

Opening drive TD for the @Packers!

DETvsGB on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Qx8GXLyFqm

— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025

As promising a prospect as Musgrave was, Green Bay already has one of the more unpredictable pass-catcher rotations in the league, and very few offenses have a second tight end worth starting in fantasy.

Keaton Mitchell, RB, Baltimore Ravens

Since Mitchell ran for 73 yards and caught two passes for 15 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15 of 2023, it’s been all downhill. The Ravens have played 25 football games since then, in which Mitchell earned a grand total of 16 touches. 

The season started Sunday with Rasheen Ali getting the nod at Baltimore’s No. 3 running back spot, with Mitchell being a healthy inactive.

Inactives at Bills pic.twitter.com/k0sDiOqaJh

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 7, 2025

Managers have certainly been frustrated because Mitchell showed flashes of being a relevant fantasy running back in 2023, but there’s been a problem: Baltimore's coaching staff doesn’t seem to trust him at all. After signing Derrick Henry, Justice Hill has been the Ravens’ preferred second option by a mile.

Worse, this team hasn’t missed him at all. With quarterback Lamar Jackson and Henry, the Ravens have been the most feared running game in the league, with Mitchell way out of the picture. Hold if you wish, but it doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon.

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