Fantasy Football Trade Advice: Geno Smith, Raheem Mostert, Jaylen Waddle (2022)

Just as we were settling into a routine for the 2022 season, bye weeks have now commenced. For the next two months, we have to navigate the landmines of our fantasy studs not playing with (typically) at least four teams, not on the schedule. Not only could this wreak havoc on your starting lineup but any potential trades that come your way.

Luckily, FantasyPros has you covered. Not only is there the ‘Who Should I Trade?’ tool where you can get instant trade feedback but every week in this space, we’ll dig even deeper into players that should be moved. There will be the classic one-for-one deals but also deals where multiple pieces would equate to one piece which will be indicated with a ‘-plus’ next to the players’ name.

And be sure to check out our weekly trade value chart with updated values for all players

Fantasy Football Trade Advice

The Trade: Geno Smith (QB – SEA) for Dak Prescott (QB – DAL)

The Reasoning: From having to fight for the starting job after Russell Wilson’s departure to being a top-five fantasy quarterback is one of the bigger storylines of this young 2022 season and has catapulted Geno into the fantasy conversation. His 75% completion percentage (if it holds) would be a career-high and is a whole five points higher than any other quarterback this season.

Geno has thrown nine touchdowns and his two interceptions are tied for the lowest among any quarterback who’s thrown eight touchdowns or more. He’s a QB1 in fantasy scoring and maybe even a top-five option depending on your league scoring.

While it’s a great story and everyone is happy for Geno (especially the Seahawks!), there’s just nothing to indicate it will last, at least not at this level. The 8.3 yards-per-attempt are an outlier for his career; the 261 yards-per-game is an outlier for his career; even the nine touchdowns he’s thrown are only four away from his career-high of 13!

Now is as good a time as any to cash in on whatever Geno stock you have. And there happens to be a Pro Bowler who has played very little and has been sitting on fantasy benches.

Prescott was injured in Week 1 with a thumb injury that has kept him out of Cowboys games for a month. It wasn’t a season-ending injury and Prescott could come back this week if Dallas so chose. However, backup Cooper Rush is playing so well that the Cowboys have the luxury of letting Prescott completely heal.

When Prescott comes back – there is no chance Rush keeps the starting job – he’ll be joining a well-oiled machine that sits at 4-1. Rush has been an excellent game manager but ranks as just a low-end QB2 when it comes to fantasy scoring.

The better option for the Cowboys’ offense is the passing game which Dak can handle. Every season he’s played in a majority of games, he’s finished as a QB1. Expect that trend to continue when he returns.

The Trade: James Robinson (RB – JAC) for Raheem Mostert (RB – MIA)

The Reasoning: If you were to look at the stat sheet for both Robinson and Mostert, it would look pretty even with a slight edge given to Robinson. Robinson has a slight lead in rushing yards (286-260) and has four touchdowns to Mostert’s one.

If you were to look at the hypothetical trend lines when it comes to the fantasy relevance of Robinson and Mostert, they would be going in opposite directions. Robinson has been ceding more ground to second-year back Travis Etienne the last two weeks, notching an equal amount of carries in each with Etienne seeing more targets.

Mostert, meanwhile, has seemingly vanquished Chase Edmonds in the Miami backfield, out-touching him in Week 5, 19-1. Mostert is also proving to be as efficient as ever, averaging 4.6 yards per carry. Granted, the 18 carries he saw in Week 5 may be a season-high, but if he’s used in the same way as he was in San Francisco – where head coach Mike McDaniel was the offensive coordinator last year – he’ll continue to be efficient.

Furthermore, Mostert turned in his best performance with Tua Tagovailoa out this past week. Whether Tua returns this season or not (not a guarantee, by any means), Mostert can be successful.

The Trade: Jaylen Waddle (WR – MIA) for Diontae Johnson (WR – PIT)-plus

The Reasoning: Waddle was looking like a league winner for the first few weeks of the 2022 season. Averaging well over 100 yards per game and scoring three times through Week 3, Waddle and the Dolphins were on top of the world at 3-0.

Of course, the injury to Tua was one of the biggest stories in the league, but Waddle has also been dinged up – albeit to a lesser degree – suffering a groin injury that’s seemingly held him back the last two weeks. Maybe it’s not a surprise that the Dolphins have lost two in a row, but things are looking up, as Waddle practiced in full this week (something he hasn’t done since the injury) and Tua is slated to return as soon as next week.

All that said, I would still look to move Waddle for someone like Johnson. While I’m bullish on another Dolphin (see above), the difference is Waddle still has competition for targets in the form of Tyreek Hill. The league’s highest-paid receiver isn’t going anywhere and is back to full strength too.

For Johnson, he’s not a home-run hitter but is about as consistent as it gets, and that’s with a quarterback change. He’s seen double-digit targets in four of the Steelers’ five games this season, totaling at least 50 years in each of those.

It’s not sexy by any means but if you’re looking to cash in on Waddle, now is the time to do it, and a package centered around Johnson is sufficient.

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Michael Moore is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @DLF_Moore.