Today we’re going to go over some strategy and advice for season long Fantasy Football formats. The goal of today’s article is going to be giving you advice on how to improve your team via trade in conjunction with your current record. Whether you’re 3-0 or 0-3 these are some actionable items for you to use in your Redraft and Keeper leagues.
Contenders
If you’re off to a 3-0 or 2-1 start you want to shift your focus towards winning your league as early as possible. Instead of trying to capitalize on a prime week 4 situations let’s take a step back and look at your roster from a playoff perspective. Ask yourself, what is going to separate my team from others come playoffs? Well here are a few examples:
Acquiring an Elite TE
Take a look at rosters around your league and see if anyone is holding George Kittle with a hole at WR or RB. If they do, here is a great opportunity to trade for a player with a history of being an Elite TE. With recent news that Kittle is not guaranteed to play in week 4 due to a calf injury, you may find opportunity. Look to propose a 2 for 2 where you upgrade at TE while offering up comparative value in return at RB or WR. A Running Back like Miles Sanders or Darrel Henderson paired with Logan Thomas is a fair place to start off negotiations in exchange for Kittle and someone from the Devin Singletary range.
Moving up at the Quarterback Position
Quarterbacks don’t hold much in the way of value above replacement in single QB leagues but they do provide some high ceiling opportunities in games with higher point totals. Let’s say that you’re rostering a player like Kirk Cousins or Ryan Tannehill who both fall into the lower end of the QB1 range. Don’t focus on trading up to the Patrick Mahomes / Kyler Murray tier but instead, look to move up slightly and grab Matthew Stafford who has taken the Rams from a balanced team between rushing and passing and make it one of the league’s Elite passing attacks. If you’re able to again put together a 2 for 2 offer which benefits the other Manager’s roster by upgrading them at Wide Receiver I believe this to be very obtainable. Consider offering Cousins + Deebo Samuel for Stafford + Corey Davis for example.
Sacrificing a week to acquire an Elite player
Here is an outlier move that I want to reserve for team’s who are 3-0 and have some players who have popped off early in the season like Cooper Kupp or D’Andre Swift. Go take a look at the position of the GM who drafted CMC or Dalvin Cook 1st or 2nd overall. Are they in the 1-2 or 0-3 record group? Chances are they’ve lost at least one game on the season which could be attributed to CMC getting injured early or Dalvin Cook missing a game. These are two of the top players in Fantasy Football and have appeared on a substantial amount of championship rosters during their careers. The price on these two is still enormous, but if you’re in an 0-3 spot the prospect of trading one of these two away isn’t impossible. We’ll be recommending a 2 for 1 offer in this scenario and will certainly push for you to put your best foot forward here. Consider offering up Chris Carson + Allen Robinson or D’Andre Swift + OBJ. You’ll be making an overpayment from a week 4 value sense but adding a league winner come playoffs.
Bottom Dwellers
On the other side of the coin you might find yourself in the 0-3 or 1-2 range. You could certainly take our advice from the contenders section and flip the script on it to come away with a few options but let’s get a little more specific with how you’re going to work your way back into contention. First off, remember that the season got 1 week longer in 2021. That means that you aren’t as far out of contention as you’ve historically been to this point.
Buying low
A key ingredient to most trade thoughts is buying low or selling high on a player. While selling high has some merit to it, buying low actually stands out with an 0-3 / 1-2 record. With a losing record you can afford to take on as much risk as you’d like since you’ve got much less to lose. Players like Jonathan Taylor, Allen Robinson, Calvin Ridley and Antonio Gibson are all in the same boat when it comes to weekly value changes. While all are extremely talented they are share a common thread in that their respective teams have gotten off to a terrible start to the season. Consider offering a player like Mike Williams who’s ascent into the high end WR2 range has him just a few point behind Calvin Ridley in week 4 value charts. If a Running Back is who you have in your sights then Antonio Gibson might be available should you add a little something to Adam Thielen.
A value added 2 for 1
Typically the person getting 2 players in exchange for one is the sucker. Well, if you’re already losing with that one player and have a lineup riddled by injury this move actually fits quite well. Consider a player like Austin Ekeler who has RB1 value and has extreme value in PPR formats. He is a great target in trade and has a desirable schedule down the stretch. Look to offer him up to a contender in exchange for a pair of talented players in middling situations. David Montgomery + Diontae Johnson is an outcome that you might be able to achieve with the right trade partner. Using a Fantasy Pros week 4 trade value chart you come away with a +8 value and get players who can easily plug into your lineup every week from here on in.
We hope that you’ve found some actionable content from us today and can use these moves to better your team’s record in 2021. For more specific advice or details feel free to reach out to us on Twitter @fantasymarksmen. That’s all for today. Check back next week as we charge into Week 5!
David Carey – @87_Carey
Fantasy Marksmen 