Fantasy Football Trade Deadline Tips: Players to target or move before it's too late
Sal Vetri is a new Yahoo Fantasy contributor this season. With the default Yahoo Fantasy Football trade deadline on Nov. 18, this will be his final trade story of the season. Sal highlights 10 players total to help you get deals done and improve your squad ahead of the deadline.
Note: You can view recent trades completed on Yahoo Fantasy for the players mentioned in this article to help provide additional ideas on potential deals. Visit the trade market for more details.
Try to trade David Montgomery
He returned in Week 10 but didn’t regain the strong role we saw earlier this season. Montgomery played just 38% of the snaps and only saw 39% of the Lions carries. There’s a chance he was being limited off injury but it was the rookie Jahmyr Gibbs who continued to operate as the lead back. He led the backfield playing 58% of the snaps.
Montgomery still had a strong performance thanks to a 75-yard touchdown run, but the opportunity split was a concern. Gibbs handled 61% of the backfield opportunities, his most in a game with Montgomery healthy this season. Look to sell Montgomery off that big touchdown run for someone like Isiah Pacheco.
Sell high on Brian Robinson
He had one of the strangest games by his standards in Week 10. Robinson was tied for the highest-scoring running back on the week and his receiving game work fueled it. Robinson entered Week 10 with 137 receiving yards, and in Week 10 alone he earned 119 receiving yards. He caught 100% of his targets and even found the end zone.
Clearly, this was an outlier performance for Robinson who is not typically involved in the receiving game. Antonio Gibson still ran more routes than him in this game and Gibson quietly has three straight games with five-plus receptions.
Expect this to be Robinson’s best game of the season. Sell him for someone like Marquise Brown if you can.
Sell high on Noah Brown
He never had a 100-yard game until Week 9. Now he’s topped 150 yards in back-to-back games. Brown has been C.J. Stroud’s No. 1 downfield option for the past two weeks.
This is all great but it’s not sustainable. Nico Collins should return to the offense soon and he’ll soak up some of Brown’s downfield work. Brown will still be a solid flex option in this offense but not the top-three fantasy play he’s been the past two games. Try to sell him for Chris Godwin or Marquise Brown if you can.
Trade for Jerome Ford
He earned 109 total yards against the Ravens' top-three defense in Week 10. Ford has now seen the workhorse role in the past two games for Cleveland. And check this out: since getting healthy in Week 9, he’s handled 65% of the Browns' snaps and 68% of the backfield touches.
This is the best usage he’s seen with Kareem Hunt active this season. Hunt is still involved, but mostly as a short-yardage back who will see some red-zone usage. Ford has favorable matchups against the Texans and Bears in the fantasy playoffs. Now is the time to buy in even with the news of Deshaun Watson's season ending due to a fractured shoulder. Amari Cooper is the biggest fantasy loser in the aftermath, while Ford still remains a solid option in what was a run-first offense even before Watson suffered his latest injury.
Trade for Diontae Johnson
He had just one catch on four targets in Week 10. This was a rare low-volume game from Johnson. But there was a reason for this. The Steelers had a clear game plan to run the ball on the Packers' poor run defense.
Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for 31 carries. They both averaged over five yards per touch. Their success led to Kenny Pickett only throwing 22 times and 60% of his passes went to the RBs or TEs.
Expect Johnson to bounce back. Buy low on him and his elite playoff schedule, as he'll face five bottom-10 secondaries the next six weeks.
Trade Geno Smith away
He’s been mostly disappointing this season. Entering Week 10, Smith had just one top-10 week this season and it was all the way back in Week 2 against the Lions. Smith has struggled with accuracy and overall passing volume this season.
The Seahawks rank top-10 in run plays per game and this makes it difficult for Smith to have big weeks, especially when he hasn’t been accurate. But Week 10 was the perfect matchup for him and the Seattle pass-catchers against a struggling Commanders secondary.
Geno totaled 382 total yards and two scores in this matchup. Now is the time to package him in a deal. Look to target Sam Howell in trades.
Try to trade for Kyren Williams
He’s expected to return in Week 12. He should go right back to commanding all the touches in this backfield because no Rams back has been able to replace his elite role.
As a starter this year Williams has earned 88% of the Rams snaps and over 85% of the backfield opportunities. This ranks top-three among all RBs this season. Trade for Williams before he returns against the Cardinals in Week 12. He ran for over 150 yards the last time he faced Arizona this season.
Buy low on Zay Flowers
We saw his role expand in Week 10. Flowers saw his average depth of target double to nearly 16 yards against the Browns. A higher depth of target correlates strongly with more explosive plays. This is what happened against the Browns as Flowers turned just five catches into 70+ receiving yards.
Flowers earned 30% of the Ravens' targets in this game. He now ranks top-12 in WR usage this season. If the downfield usage continues, you are going to see more spike weeks from Flowers. He’s the most underrated No. 1 WR in fantasy. Buy in before he faces three bottom-10 secondaries the next month of the season.
Send a trade offer for James Conner
He scored just 7.3 points in his Week 10 return from injury. But here’s the good news: Conner immediately regained his strong role in this offense. He played 63% of the snaps and handled 84% of the backfield carries.
Conner now averages 17.4 opportunities per game in his five healthy starts this season. Expect more touchdown opportunities to come now that Kyler Murray is back. This will likely lead to more red-zone drives than we saw when Joshua Dobbs and Clayton Tune were under center. Those Conner touchdowns may start this week against the Texans' 31st-ranked run defense. Buy low on him before your trade deadline.
Go get Isiah Pacheco
He finally had a bad game posting just 6.6 points in Week 9. But he quietly saw season-high usage. Pacheco commanded 16 carries on a season-high 70% of the snaps and 76% of the carries. Pacheco’s poor performance hid the fact that he just saw the best usage of his career.
Over the past six games, Pacheco has played 60% of the snaps and handled 70% of the rush attempts. He’s averaging 20 opportunities during this time. Kansas City has a brutal matchup this week against the Eagles defensive line, but after that, it’s strong matchups against the Raiders twice and the Packers. Throw a trade out there for Pacheco if you can.
