With Week 4 in the books and bye weeks looming for all of our fantasy rosters, now is as good a time as any to hit the trade market in your leagues to fill out your rosters and compete for the much-coveted championship crown. As always, we’ve got you covered with early trade advice ahead of Week 5, with three players to buy and three to sell.
Early Week 5 Fantasy Football Trade Advice
Players to Buy
The majority of fantasy managers came away panicked over Jahmyr Gibbs’ usage in Week 4 following David Montgomery‘s return from injury. However, this is the perfect opportunity to buy Gibbs for a discount. Montgomery might have dominated touches in Week 4, but better days are ahead for Gibbs. He still had 13 touches of his own, and Gibbs is currently on pace for 165 rushing attempts and 76 targets in his rookie season. For comparison’s sake, Alvin Kamara saw 120 rushing attempts and 100 targets in his rookie season. Use this as an opportunity to capitalize on someone else’s concerns and go out and buy Gibbs now.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have several offensive weapons, but Christian Kirk quietly outpaces teammate Calvin Ridley in targets through four weeks. Kirk and Ridley will have their weeks where they blow up and dominate the majority of receptions, but Kirk is a reliable wide receiver with the trust of Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville coaching staff. He should be locked in lineups as a WR3 at worst and possesses more upside than that every week. For whatever reason, his name doesn’t carry the same amount of buzz as some of his peers, so it’s worth kicking around your league to see if the manager rostering him values him as highly as he should.
There’s a fair amount of risk involved in trading for Jonathan Taylor; there’s no doubt about that. Still, the upside if he comes off the PUP list and returns to the playing field for the Indianapolis Colts is immense. If the manager rostering Taylor in your league has suffered injuries at the wide receiver position or has started their season out 1-3 or 0-4, it’s worth poking around to see what sort of deal can be made. If he returns to the field for the Colts, defenses will have their hands full with a backfield composed of him and rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson. If he does return to the field for the Colts, you can bet the price will only go up from what it could be right now.
Players to Sell
Courtland Sutton hasn’t had a bad start to his 2023 season by any means, but touchdowns have primarily supported it. He scored three times in the first four weeks, and that touchdown pace isn’t sustainable. Coupled with the fact that Marvin Mims Jr. sees his role continue to grow as the season wears on, Sutton is a logical choice to explore trading right now before his value decreases. If Sutton is on your bench, you might be able to pair him with another player either on your bench or currently in your starting lineup in exchange for a player that presents themself as a clear upgrade. He’s the perfect sort of player that I’d be looking to include in two-for-one deals like that.
Alexander Mattison is coming off his best two games of the 2023 season, but Cam Akers is beginning to work his way into the Minnesota backfield. If this backfield turns into more of a committee, as opposed to Mattison having a clear hold on the backfield to himself, his value could plummet. He doesn’t necessarily offer a ton in the passing game, so any threat to early down work for Mattison is less than ideal. I wouldn’t be in a rush to sell low, but it is worth exploring for the right deal.
I almost feel like I’m beating up on the Bears, but it’s not hard to see why you’d want to move off some of their players. The Bears had some of their best offensive output of the season in Week 4, and Khalil Herbert was a big part of that, as he racked up 103 yards on 18 attempts, both season highs by a large margin. There were rumblings ahead of this game that the team could look to involve Roschon Johnson more, and while that wasn’t the case in Week 4, it certainly could still be coming down the line. Dangling Herbert in trade talks from his big Week 4 production is a smart move if you can do it in exchange for a player who offers far more consistency.
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