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Nick's top dynasty fantasy football drop candidates for dynasty leagues heading into Week 8 of 2025. Who is safe to cut in dynasty fantasy football leagues?
We get only one draft per season, but managing a roster all year is about much more than prospects. It’s also about using the information you have available to make sure the back end of your roster is as good as it can be.
In dynasty formats, this matters quite a bit more than redraft leagues. It doesn’t take Hall-of-Fame-level acumen to know Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen or San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey are good right now. It does require some homework to predict the fantasy landscape of tomorrow.
That means, from time to time, clearing out veterans who are past their prime and younger players who aren’t panning out. This week, we’ll look at another group that should be considered for cuts. As always, thanks for reading.
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Michael Carter, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Dynasty leagues really boil down to one question when deciding whether or not to keep a player.
How bad would things have to be for me to start this player?
For a bottom-of-the-roster running back who is flirting with practice squads and waiver wires, the answer is usually, “Pretty bad!”
(Listen, we’ve all been there. After a rash of injuries knocked me out of playoff contention and prompted some light selling at the trade deadline, I went into a Week 18 consolation bracket game with Raheem Blackshear starting at running back, levels of down bad previously unknown to scientists.)
Carter is in this bucket. He’s getting some run with the Cardinals, temporarily, of course, but only while Trey Benson (knee) works his way back from an injury and James Conner (ankle) is out for the year.
Even so, he's splitting work with Bam Knight, and Emari Demercado (ankle) has been in the picture as well.
Bam Knight evens it up!
AZvsIND on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/K6SLKnMT5y
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
From a fantasy perspective, the Carters of the world serve their purpose for a time, but it’s almost always best to move on quickly rather than to risk betting on a multi-touchdown week that might or might not ever arrive.
Hunter Renfrow, WR, Carolina Panthers
Renfrow has such an awesome story, having gone from a walk-on player to a walk-off touchdown in the national title game at Clemson. (OK, there was one second left, but close enough.)
He also had a way better pro career than many would have guessed, turning into a 1,000-yard receiver and a Pro Bowler with the Raiders after being selected with the 149th overall pick. He beat the odds again by returning to the NFL after a bout with ulcerative colitis that rendered him unavailable to play in 2024.
But from a fantasy perspective, there isn’t enough here to play Renfrow anymore. The veteran receiver had a two-touchdown game in Week 2, after which the trajectory took a nosedive.
Hunter Renfrow hauls in Carolina's first TD of the day
CARvsAZ on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Ny8jslsRJw
— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025
Since then, Renfrow has played fewer than half the team’s offensive snaps in four straight games (including fewer than 33% of their snaps in two of them), which culminated with a healthy scratch in Week 7.
The former Clemson standout was never part of the long-term plan for the Panthers, but it’s increasingly looking like he’s not part of the short-term plan, either. As good as the story was and is, he’s probably closer to being out of the league than being a playable fantasy option again.
Jake Tonges, TE, San Francisco 49ers
In Week 7, we saw the other side of the in-case-of-emergency-only player.
When 49ers starting tight end George Kittle (hamstring) was on injured reserve, Tonges caught three touchdowns and registered a pair of top-10 tight end finishes. Tonges wasn’t just an admirable fill-in. He actually had some fleeting fantasy value.
Jake Tonges had never caught a pass in the NFL before today.
He has three today. Including this one 🙌 pic.twitter.com/g1xMS2UXub
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025
When Kittle returned, however, we saw a role that was not worth having on a roster: 12% of snaps with no targets.
That makes Tonges a conditionally rostered player, and the condition is whether or not you already have Kittle. If you manage a roster with Kittle, Tonges is probably worth the roster spot due to Kittle’s extensive injury history. He’s an insurance policy that assures you’ll have production from the 49ers’ tight-end room.
Without Kittle, he doesn’t make nearly as much sense. Perhaps it’s worth kicking the tires to see if Tonges can fetch a late draft pick from a manager who rosters Kittle, but holding onto a player whose normal role is unplayable usually isn’t a great idea.
Kendre Miller, RB, New Orleans Saints
Injuries, unfortunately, are part of the equation when deciding whether to keep or cut a player who hasn't fully hit their stride yet.
Miller is now here.
Sources: #Saints RB Kendre Miller tore his ACL on Sunday and will miss the remainder of the season.
A tough blow for Miller, who was starting to carve out a role in the offense with 193 rushing yards and 1 TD on the year. pic.twitter.com/JL4vHTZ1Al
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) October 20, 2025
The running back, who tore his ACL on Sunday, is now out for the rest of this season and beyond. For most people not named Adrian Peterson, i.e., normal people, this is at least a year-long recovery.
There are also changes on the horizon. The Saints’ roster is likely to experience significant turnover in the next year. New Orleans is a strong bet to draft in the top five, and it’s fair to wonder what will become of the remaining stalwarts of the previous era, like defensive end Cameron Jordan and running back Alvin Kamara.
The current coaching staff did not draft Miller and can easily move on from him.
For now, keeping Miller won’t harm anything if your league has injured reserve spots and you have one free. But the reality is that the Saints’ running back of the future probably isn’t on the current roster.
Luke McCaffrey, WR, Washington Commanders
Many factors can prevent an early-career player from breaking out, including injuries, a bad team, or a stacked depth chart.
Injuries play an outsized role for offensive skill-position players — J.K. Dobbins and Jonathon Brooks come to mind as particularly unlucky — but there is no major injury at play for McCaffrey, who has appeared in every Washington game since the start of 2024.
Additionally, Washington is a winning team during his career as part of the same draft class as quarterback Jayden Daniels.
The Commanders also have had room for another receiver to break out alongside Terry McLaurin during the past two years, but McCaffrey seems stuck in a touchdown-dependent depth role.
McCaffrey, to be fair, does have three touchdown catches on the season. Now in his second season, though, he just hasn’t ascended to the amount of volume anyone who drafted him wanted to see.
Jayden connects on a deep ball to Luke McCaffrey!
WASvsLAC on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Fzk0ycZbdc
— NFL (@NFL) October 5, 2025
He’s played fewer than 40% of the team’s snaps in 18 of 24 regular-season games and all three Washington playoff games last season.
Players who have drawn more targets than McCaffrey during the past two seasons include:
- New York Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert
- Baltimore Ravens running back Justice Hill
- Minnesota Vikings receiver Jalen Nailor
- Cincinnati Bengals tight end Noah Fant
- Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Greg Dortch
Objectively, is that level of production rosterable? In deep formats, maybe this type of player is worth it.
On Sunday, with both McLaurin and Deebo Samuel Sr. out with injuries, McCaffrey had no catches on two targets and will be, at best, a third option on his current team. The production, not the last name, should be the determining factor here.
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