I’ve written the trade chart articles for several seasons, and each week, it takes many hours to formulate the values. And ever since I started writing fantasy articles, I’ve always preferred to write a personal opening to try to tie it to the theme of the article when time permits.
If you’ve read this article consistently, you’ve heard anecdotes about me bartering with son over Halloween candy, trips to the emergency room, and the time I saved three dozen puppies from a burning building. Fine, that last one didn’t happen and I never wrote about it. But I was your hero for a second, eh?
For this week, I was going to write about the story of how I proposed to my wife. It was perhaps the single greatest comedy of errors in the history of mankind, but considering both that she said yes and that we’re still married today, it all worked out perfectly. And that was going to tie into how even if things aren’t going quite right for your fantasy team, there’s always hope to save it. Even if things seem like they’re destined for failure, if you call enough audibles, you can make it work.
But frankly, I’ve got a 102 fever right now, which I’m pretty sure I caught through the airwaves from Mike Tagliere on Sunday night’s FantasyPros Football Podcast. So I had to make some sacrifices — either the anecdote or the trade values.
Something tells me you guys will forgive me for devoting my limited energy toward something that may actually help you in fantasy. But if you want to hear about how I had to propose three days earlier than I planned, tried to do it at a fancy restaurant that was overbooked and so we were seated at a table with an 80-year-old couple, and the ring was somehow two sizes too big, then just hit me up on Twitter. Legitimately, the worst story ever.
You know the deal by now. The values are based off a 12-team, 0.5 PPR league. And please remember, they are not designed to be a one-size-fits-all sort of guide. I myself made a trade tonight which was loosely based on the trade values in these charts. If you have a lot of running back depth, then it’s more than fine to deal from your strength even if you give a little too much.
And away we go. Happy trading!
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Quarterbacks
Player | Current Value | Previous Value | +/- |
Drew Brees | 21 | 21 | – |
Aaron Rodgers | 21 | 15 | +6 |
Cam Newton | 21 | 21 | – |
Patrick Mahomes | 19 | 21 | -2 |
Tom Brady | 17 | 15 | +2 |
Deshaun Watson | 15 | 15 | – |
Kirk Cousins | 15 | 15 | – |
Jared Goff | 13 | 15 | -2 |
Philip Rivers | 13 | 11 | +2 |
Matt Ryan | 9 | 11 | -2 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 9 | 9 | – |
Russell Wilson | 7 | 7 | – |
Andrew Luck | 7 | 7 | – |
Matthew Stafford | 7 | 7 | – |
There are 14 quarterbacks listed on the trade chart. You know who is not on the list? Andy Dalton, Blake Bortles, Mitchell Trubisky, Joe Flacco, and Carson Wentz. All are averaging between 17 and 20 fantasy points per game. As always, I’ll repeat my standard line that unless you play in a league where almost everyone rosters a backup quarterback, don’t bother trying to trade for one. You can get by even if you need to stream.
Running Backs
It was great to see Mark Ingram return and be immediately handed back a huge role in the offense. There’s little to be concerned about going forward with that backfield, and that includes with Alvin Kamara. Yes, Monday night was disappointing, but Kamara was elite last year despite splitting work with Ingram and never receiving more than 12 carries in a game. He’ll be fine.
With Jay Ajayi’s season-ending injury, both Corey Clement and Wendell Smallwood move to the forefront. Both should be borderline Flex-worthy starts in 0.5 PPR formats for the time being. The risk, of course, is that like last season, the Eagles will deal for a running back, perhaps LeSean McCoy or Le’Veon Bell. So consider both running backs short-term fixes in the meantime, though the Eagles have plenty of areas to upgrade which may take priority.
Speaking of Bell, his outlook remains unclear. Unless James Conner gets injured or utterly flops this weekend against the Bengals, it now seems unlikely that Bell will step into action in Week 8 for the Steelers and see nearly all of the workload. If he is indeed traded, he’ll need time to get up to speed on the playbook and, depending on where he lands, similarly may not get all of the workload. With that said, Bell is obviously an elite talent, particularly in 0.5 PPR formats, so his value remains high. But with Conner’s strong effort against the Falcons, the waters are muddied.
Devonta Freeman is dealing with a bone contusion in his foot and appears likely to miss the Falcons’ Week 6 game against the Bucs. It’s been a lost season for Freeman, who has played in only two games and been productive in none. It’s unclear how serious the injury is, but at this point, you’d be doing a disservice to yourself, the fantasy football industry, and the Atlanta Falcons if you continued to value Freeman as anything more than a borderline RB2.
Other risers include T.J. Yeldon, Isaiah Crowell, Chris Carson, and both Patriots backs. Fallers include Dalvin Cook, Lamar Miller, and Giovani Bernard. Unless you were stranded somewhere without a television or internet access this past weekend, those minor moves should not require explanation.
Wide Receivers
If I were drafting in a 0.5 PPR format, Antonio Brown would probably be my first receiver off the board, but I’d think long and hard about Adam Thielen. Both lead the NFL with 66 targets, while Thielen leads the league in receptions (47) and is second in receiving yards (589) behind only DeAndre Hopkins. There’s no reason to think of him as anything other than one of the best two or three receivers in any format that awards points per reception.
Nor is there reason to doubt Robert Woods, who ranks as the ninth-best wide receiver in 0.5 PPR formats thus far. Over the last three weeks, he has 20 receptions for 297 yards and three touchdowns, as well as 66 rushing yards. Regardless of how soon Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks return from their concussions, Woods is establishing himself as an elite fantasy wide receiver.
So too is Kenny Golladay, who continues to do ridiculously-talented things on the football field. Holding Golladay back in trade value in this format is only his lack of receptions — he has just 27 on the season, which ranks 20th among wide receivers. But he is firmly a WR2, even in 0.5 PPR formats.
Those losing value include Will Fuller (Keke Coutee’s emergence hurts his value), Amari Cooper (tough to be a viable receiver getting one target a game), and Larry Fitzgerald (until he shows he is healthy, he’s only barely worth owning).
Tight Ends
Player | Current Value | Previous Value | +/- |
Travis Kelce | 35 | 35 | – |
Zach Ertz | 35 | 35 | – |
Rob Gronkowski | 30 | 35 | -5 |
Jared Cook | 9 | 8 | +1 |
George Kittle | 8 | 8 | – |
Trey Burton | 8 | 8 | – |
Eric Ebron | 8 | 5 | +3 |
Kyle Rudolph | 6 | 6 | – |
Jimmy Graham | 6 | 6 | – |
Jordan Reed | 6 | 8 | -2 |
Evan Engram | 4 | N/A | +4 |
David Njoku | 4 | 3 | +1 |
I would now value both Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz higher than Rob Gronkowski in a trade. But I fully expect Gronkowski to score two touchdowns this week to show Kelce that he’s still the top dog. That’s all I would like to say on tight end. Thanks very much for your attention.
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Dan Harris is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter @danharris80.