NFL

5 Players You Can Drop After Week 5

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​Marquise Goodwin, WR, San Francisco 49ers

ESPN Ownership: 53%
Yahoo! Ownership: 49%

The San Francisco 49ers have suffered some major injuries that took their offense from one of the most tantalizing coming into the year to one of the most dreadful as we move forward in the season. Perhaps the most detrimental to the fantasy success of wide receiver Marquise Goodwin -- even more than his own injury -- was that of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Prior to his injury, Garoppolo was averaging the 10th-most intended air yards per pass attempt (IAY, per NFL.com’s Next Gen Stats, this is the vertical yards on a pass attempt in relation to the line of scrimmage) among 37 qualifying passers. Once Jimmy G. went down, C.J. Beathard came in and has proceeded to average 5.3 intended air yards -- the absolute lowest amount in the league. His average air yards relative to the first down marker is -3.8 (meaning he, on average, throws about four yards short of the first-down line), which is also the lowest mark in the league.

What does this matter for Marquise Goodwin? Despite the hamstring injury that -- for a speed-based player like Goodwin -- can be quite debilitating, Goodwin’s average targeted air yards last year came in at 15.1, tied for 8th-most in the league among 125 qualified pass-catchers. Goodwin is a downfield deep threat, and Beathard’s penchant to throw short means Goodwin’s expected target load is just not going to show up. When he returns to the field, Goodwin will be, at best, a boom-or-bust bye week fill-in.