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Let’s take a look at players to buy and sell this week. And be sure to check out our weekly trade value chart with updated values for all players.
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Fantasy Football Trade Advice: Players to Buy & Sell
Players to Buy
The Denver RBs were heavily involved as receivers Sunday night, with Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon both seizing 5-plus targets.
Williams led the team with 15 carries, followed by Gordon (12), but the usage was more split than in Week 2. Williams played just a 45% snap share to MG3’s 38% with No. 3 RB Mike Boone seeing some playing time (19%). His snap rate was 65% in Week 2.
Gordon also scored the lone rushing TD
The TD score by the wily veteran will likely have Williams managers soured, so I’d be all over buying low ahead of a matchup versus the 0-3 Raiders.
The fact that Williams totaled 20 opportunities (10 in 1st half) on a sub-50% snap share is evidence enough they want to get the ball in his hands, and that there’s room for him to grow. Also, Boone’s 19% snap share was a season-high and not likely a trend.
This team is featuring Leonard Fournette until the wheels fall off. The Bucs RB posted an absurd 91% snap share and 100% opportunity in Week 3 totaling 17 touches for 70 scoreless yards. The dude’s usage is out of control and the lack of points he’s scoring is not going to sustain with this heavy workload.
He’s a buy for me as is the No. 2 RB Rachaad White. Fournette has had trouble staying healthy in the past so there is some concern he breaks down at some point.
Breece Hall seeing the massive target volume over Michael Carter in Week 3 is eye-opening.
11 to 2 is massive.
Their carries were more split (8 to 11) in favor of Carter. Although they both rushed for 39 yards and Hall out-snapped Carter (51% versus 49%) for the first time all season.
Buy Hall now before his massive breakout game. It’s coming. 2 of 1st three NFL games with 9-plus targets for a rookie RB should not be overlooked.
Joe Mixon was a non-factor as a rusher (12 carries for 24 yards) but got the receiving usage yet again. 7 targets. With it now being 3 straight weeks of him going scoreless despite bell-cow usage, the Bengals RB is a screaming buy. Went 0-3 for his touches inside the 5-yard line in Week 3. Positive TD regression is coming his way…
George Kittle caught four of his five targets for 28 scoreless yards in his first game of the season. But he played a team-high 91% of the snaps, suggesting that he is fully over the groin injury that sidelined him to start the year. If you are sick of streaming TEs off the waiver wire, Kittle should be your priority trade target.
There’s been a lot of turnover in the 49ers offense through 3 weeks, with all the injuries that the team has sustained from their backfield to the QB position. But the one constant has been Brandon Aiyuk, operating as the WR1 in the passing game. He led the SF WRs in snaps in Week 3 and tied the team in target share with Deebo Samuel (28% target share).
Over the last two weeks Aiyuk has averaged north of a 30% target share.
With all the injuries to the Packers WRs, rookie WR Romeo Doubs led Green Bay in targets (8) and ranked second in snap share (89%) behind only Allen Lazard in Week 3. The head coach talked up Doubs having a larger role in this contest and he delivered with 73 receiving yards and one touchdown. Considering the current state of this receiving corps, Doubs is a massive buy with a starting role in hand moving forward now that Sammy Watkins is on IR.
Bateman has been extraordinarily efficient thought the first two weeks of the season, making big plays despite not having an every down role on offense. The production was not sustainable based on how much he was playing and it finally caught up with him in Week 3.
He played 62% of the snaps – but didn’t score and saw just four targets. But he was still super efficient – two catches for 59 yards. And his 79% route participation was actually an increase from Weeks 1-2 (72%). Anytime you can buy low on a WR attached to Lamar Jackson, you do it very willingly.
Bateman currently ranks third in the NFL in yards per route run (3.11) among WRs with at least 15 targets.
Treylon Burks posted just one catch in the red-zone on two targets in Week 3. But his usage was dynamite, as the rookie WR ran a route on 96% of dropbacks leading the Titans. Now that he finally has a full-time role on offense, I am confident the fantasy production will follow. Buy low.
Players to Sell
Aaron Jones (63%) and A.J. Dillon (53%) split snaps for the third straight week, with each totaling 12 carries. Jones had one more reception (3 vs 2) but also lost a fumble. Both guys earned RZ touches.
Jones has exactly three catches through 1st 3 games, slightly lower than his average last season (3.4). Still remains a sell candidate.
Najee Harris (80%, 47) dominated snaps over Jaylen Warren (20%, 12) in Week 3. He also out-touched him 18-to-5. Although Warren looked explosive in his limited touches compiling 30 rushing yards on just four carries with a massive receiving gain coming off the stat sheet due to a penalty. Harris rushed 15 times for 56 yards. Considering Harris’ workload and injury entering the season, Warren needs to be stashed and Harris needs to be SOLD. Warren would be an immediate plug-in play fantasy RB2 should Harris miss anytime…even in the Steelers uninspiring offense.
Marquise Brown commanded 17 targets (31% target share) for 14 catches and 140 yards in Week 3 on a 95% snap share. You need to keep playing him as long as DeAndre Hopkins is suspended. But his Week 3 boom does present a potentially sell-high opportunity for those looking for immediate WR production for the next few weeks.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB – KC)
Sell Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He’s averaging just under 12 touches per game through 3 games and finished with zero rushing yards on 7 carries in Week 3. But he scored so his final statline doesn’t look so bad.
But pass-catching RB Jerick McKinnon rushed 7 times for 20 yards, ran more routes, played a larger snap share (52% versus 40%) and saw work in the red zone. Edwards-Helaire is not the exclusively featured goal-line back. Isiah Pacheco also had a carry inside the 10-yard line.
If and when CEH stops scoring TDs at his unsustainable rate…you’ll be glad you moved on from him sooner rather than later.
Austin Ekeler’s usage has not been great this season. His Week 3 snap rate (56%) has been his season-long average as he continues to lose snaps to a combination of Joshua Kelley and Sony Michel. He had just four carries for 5 yards. And for the second straight week, he lost red-zone opportunities to one of his backups. Two of Kelley’s three touches came inside the Jaguars 20-yard line.
But like in Week 2, Ekeler racked up a ton of receptions – 8 catches for 48 yards – to salvage his fantasy day.
Even so, the constant effort to get guys like Michel and Kelley involved might hurt Ekeler’s fantasy value in the long-term. His overall volume won’t be the same as last season when he scored 20 TDs. I’d be looking to flip him for another stud RB that isn’t seeing as much of a work split load or for an elite WR.
Cordarrelle Patterson (RB – ATL)
Cordarrelle Patterson is still not seeing any worthwhile role as a receiver…One target again for a second straight week. But getting it done as a rusher. 17 carries for 141 yards and 1 score. But because Atlanta doesn’t project to be protecting many leads for the remainder of the season, C-Patt’s Week 3 performance is the perfect time to sell high.
Look before the haters see. Cam Akers averaged 5.1 yards per carry on a team-leading 12 attempts with a rushing TD. Darrell Henderson Jr. had just four carries and one target.
Although not everything was great. Zero targets, and he fumbled at the goal line in the 4th quarter. And after being out-snapped by Henderson in Week 2, the duo split snaps exactly 50/50, with Akers obviously being more involved on a touch basis.
And Akers’ touches almost exclusively came in the second half. In the first half, he had just 2 carries for -1 yards to Henderson’s 4 for 17.
All things considered, I think the wise move is to put Akers on the trade block. The Rams offense isn’t as good as it was last season and Akers still hasn’t done enough to completely bury Henderson as the no doubt RB1 in the offense. Factor in a brutal matchup versus San Fran in Week 4 and the time to sell Akers is now… as painful as it is to admit for someone that was very high on Akers this offseason.
Of course, the week I decide to bury DK Metcalf on the FantasyPros Football Podcast he buries me with five catches for 64 yards and 1 TD. But Metcalf still only out-targeted Tyler Lockett by one (12 vs 11) and is still second on the team in targets this season. Weeks where both Lockett and Metcalf hit are going too far and few between with Geno Smith at QB because they won’t play the Falcons every week. Sell high on Metcalf’s name brand. Again, it took 12 targets and Metcalf still couldn’t crack 65 receiving yards…
Allen Lazard played 90% of the snaps in Week 3, but still only commanded 6 targets. It’s been back-to-back weeks with a meh target share for Lazard (23%,12%) despite full-time usage, although his fantasy production has remained steady due to his two TD scores. Perfect time to sell a player that is not being targeted at a high rate versus his teammates.
In back-to-back weeks, Rhamondre Stevenson has out-snapped Damien Harris by a vast margin (62% versus 38%). The second-year back is taking over this backfield as the preferred pass-catcher and most explosive playmaker on offense, while Harris is getting by on just TD scores. Sell high before this offense craters without Mac Jones.
Garrett Wilson seems to get banged up in every game he plays, but that doesn’t stop him from producing. He missed a few drives after taking a big shot in Week 3 – 63% snap share – but still finished with 10 targets as Joe Flacco threw the ball 52 times.
There’s no denying that Wilson (23% target share) has been Flacco’s guy over the past three weeks, despite not running a full share of routes. He’s locked up a full-time role on offense which should elevate any concern that a change at QB will do to the target pecking order.
But if we are trying to capitalize on Wilson’s ascend the past few weeks, I wouldn’t shy away from putting him on the trade block hoping for a king’s ransom in return. Because there’s no guarantee that even as good as Wilson has shown that he is…that Zach Wilson will target him at the same rate as Flacco.
There’s also a chance that the Jets try to be more run heavy without a DGAF quarterback under center.
But if anything, you should definitely buy low on Elijah Moore who is still operating as the No. 1 WR on the Jets from a usage standpoint – 94% snap share in Week 3 – and has some prior built-in chemistry with his second-year QB. A QB switch could be the kick start the talented second-year WR needs.
Russell Gage operated as the No. 1 receiver for the Bucs in Week 3: 12 catches for 87 yards on 13 targets. Nobody else saw more than six targets. But don’t be overly bullish on Gage in the long-term with Mike Evans returning in Week 4 and Chris Godwin and Julio Jones eventually making a return at some point this season.
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If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup, based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant – that allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and by how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.