Dynasty League Cut List - Top Fantasy Football Drop Candidates for Week 4

September 23, 2025

Nick's top dynasty fantasy football drop candidates for dynasty leagues heading into Week 4 of 2025. Who is safe to cut in dynasty fantasy football leagues?

We’re officially three games into the NFL season. Maybe we’re a little worse for the wear. Maybe some things didn’t break our way. Maybe the guy who you were certain about in the draft a couple years ago is -- and I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this -- isn’t good.

But we’re going to regroup. You’re not going to get dinged by Jake Ferguson nerfing catches every week. The Bengals may consider not giving the ball away every time, and the Malik Nabers roller coaster is bound to climb the hill again. 

In dynasty formats, one of the best ways to get off the mat is a cleansing roster purge, and admitting that a few players aren’t worth a spot anymore is a start. As we head into Week 4, let’s review some of them and get the ship headed in the right direction again.

Kirk Cousins, QB, Atlanta Falcons

Nobody can say Kirko Chainz did it wrong. 

Cousins absolutely defied the odds by beating out a top-billed prospect for a starting job in the league, correctly bet on his own abilities when navigating the franchise tag, made generational wealth as an NFL quarterback, and comfortably outperformed his fourth-round draft spot.

But it’s over. 

Cousins lost the job in Atlanta to Michael Penix Jr., and even though the Falcons were awful Sunday, he’s not getting it back outside of an injury. Even if there were to be an injury, Cousins was so ineffective in his first year as a Falcon, throwing a career-worst 16 interceptions in 14 games, that managers would be hard-pressed to start him, even in Superflex formats. 

Kirk Cousins will not be competing for the starting job this week, Raheem Morris said.

— Josh Kendall (@JoshTheAthletic) September 21, 2025

The great irony here is that the very thing that consistently kept Cousins handsomely paid for the past decade -- there are never 32 starting-caliber quarterbacks evenly distributed -- remains true. He’s just not the proposition he once was.

At his best, Cousins could guarantee 25-plus touchdowns, 4,000 yards, and usually have a team at least in playoff contention. For fantasy managers, Cousins was a reliable mid-round option who had a steady passing floor on an average or better offense. For NFL teams, starting Cousins was better than wandering the quarterback wilderness.

But now, even quarterback-desperate teams aren’t calling. Last week on "Fox NFL Sunday," Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer reported that there has been absolutely zero interest in trading for Cousins, who is 37 and in the second year of a four-year deal with Atlanta. 

Cousins could still be worth the roster spot for managers who roster Penix and want to guarantee they have one NFL team’s QB production locked down. Otherwise, it’s time.

Dameon Pierce, RB, Houston Texans

After posting more than 1,000 total yards and five touchdowns in 13 games as a rookie, the needle has gone straight down for Pierce. 

The current Texans coaching staff isn’t especially fond of Pierce, who has seen his role consistently dwindle every year. His total carries have gone from 220 to 145 to 40 in three years, and his only notable fantasy performances came when starter Joe Mixon was out due to injuries.

This season, Mixon hasn’t even practiced, and Pierce is more uninvolved than ever. The Texans made Pierce a healthy inactive in Weeks 2 and 3, which is saying something considering it’s a 0-3 team that can’t score and needs help on offense. 

Offseason addition Nick Chubb is the current top back, and rookie Woody Marks has clearly taken hold of the backup job and could continue drawing more work, especially on passing downs.

#Texans Week 3 RB Usage

- Nick Chubb: 51% snaps, 9 carries, 17 routes, 4 targets (40 yards)
- Woody Marks: 49% snaps, 6 carries, 16 routes, 2 targets (36 yds)

Marks starting to get more involved

— Michael F. Florio (@MichaelFFlorio) September 21, 2025

What’s clear is that Pierce is out of the picture in Houston. Realistically, his most reasonable path to the field might be as a backup on another team, which doesn’t sound like a great use of a roster spot.

Emanuel Wilson, RB, Green Bay Packers

Wilson is a great story who has had a couple of flash-in-the-pan weeks when starter Josh Jacobs was beaten up last season, but they have been so fleeting that it’s becoming tougher to justify keeping him on the roster. 

Even when he had the chances for an elevated role, the third-year pro has yet to play a single NFL game in which he played half of his team’s offensive snaps. Through three weeks this season, Wilson has 29 yards rushing, and most of his decent performances the past year have been touchdown-dependent.

Keep that ball!

Emanuel Wilson scores his first NFL TD

: #GBvsTEN – Sunday on FOX
: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/0TW8INVcwc

— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2024

At this stage, Wilson’s biggest value to the Packers is as their kick returner, which means he carries little to no value in the vast majority of fantasy formats.

When (if) MarShawn Lloyd is ever healthy, he is likely to be a factor, too -- meaning Wilson probably doesn't have a path to getting regular touches, at least while he’s in Green Bay.

Jalin Hyatt, WR, New York Giants

Managers in the Eastern or Central time zones who went to bed instead of watching the Giants’ attempt at a comeback Sunday night were absolutely correct to watch as little of this offense as possible.

And as bad as things are going for New York -- which has ample room for the emergence of additional skill players on offense -- Hyatt is still almost totally uninvolved. 

Three years into his career, Hyatt has fewer catches than Malik Nabers had after four games of his rookie year. Though he’s been active every game this season, Hyatt has no targets and didn’t get an offensive snap in two of those contests. He finally broke that streak Sunday when Nabers was briefly out.

Jalin Hyatt in for his first snap of the season as Malik Nabers remains in the medical tent.

— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) September 22, 2025

Hyatt has surpassed 10 receiving yards once in his past 20 games. Though he had some legitimate draft capital behind him and produced at an SEC school, Hyatt is far closer to being waived than to being fantasy-relevant.

It would be an absolute shock to see Hyatt still on the Giants roster at the opening of next season. And if he’s struggling to get on the field for one of the worst teams in the league, the prognosis for the rest of his career doesn’t look great.

Raheem Mostert, RB, Las Vegas Raiders

The managers who took a flier on Mostert before the 2023 season saw one of the highest returns on investment anyone could have imagined.

He had a monster season in which he scored 21 total touchdowns for a legitimately fun Miami Dolphins offense, and even though most managers knew that likely wouldn’t happen again, he figured to be a rosterable running back who could still find his way into starting lineups.

In the year-plus since, Mostert's time has been filled with meager or no statistics. He’s been in the top 20 once in the past year, and it was a game with Miami in which he had 19 yards rushing, but two short touchdowns. 

Now with the Raiders, Mostert hasn’t been able to even get on the field. Las Vegas has made him a healthy scratch three weeks in a row, opting to keep Zamir White and Dylan Laube as the next options behind starter Ashton Jeanty.

Inactives for #LVvsWAS pic.twitter.com/sP2pkAAwlp

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 21, 2025

Now at 33 years old and failing to get any time, even for a team that could use a clear upgrade to its backfield depth, it signals it’s probably time to let him go.

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