Much of fantasy football in-season team strategy centers around which players to pick up from the waiver wire or to target in the trade market. However, roster spots are a premium (and finite) resource. Cutting a player - or adding them to a trade - opens a roster spot for a key waiver wire addition or the flexibility to keep a currently injured player through a missed game or two. Here are the key players to cut or trade after Week 4:
*Roster Rate references data collected from myfantasyleague.com leagues*
SHALLOW FORMATS
*15-18 roster spots*
QB Justin Fields, Chicago Bears
Why: QB22 in Roster Rate, Fields in operating in a throwback offense averaging 8.5 completions and 118 yards through the air per game. Fields is not even surviving (or thriving) as a runner with a single touchdown and 37 yards per game. Fields is not worth holding as a fantasy team's QB2 with bye weeks soon to start, and no matchup is a green light to put Fields into a lineup.
RB Jerick McKinnon, Kansas City Chiefs
Why: Isiah Pacheco is rising for the Chiefs (17 snaps to McKinnon's 18 in Week 4), and even if Clyde Edwards-Helaire misses time in future weeks, there is no clarity McKinnon will be on the fantasy starting lineup radar. This is a critical litmus test question for rostering running backs in shallow formats with sparse bench spots. McKinnon is RB55 in Roster Rate with clarified backups like Rex Burkhead, Zack Moss, Jaylen Warren, and Samaje Perine rostered in fewer leagues as pivots.