One of the lesser talked about parts of fantasy football is trades. Trading is the best way to acquire quality, established players that would never make it to the waiver wire. It is also a way to unload disappointing players with negative outlooks and get something in return. The art of trading is tricky, but here at Last Word on Sports, we’ve found a few buy low, sell high, and hold candidates.
Buy Low on David Johnson and Other Fantasy Football Trade Advice:
Buy Low: David Johnson
Arizona Cardinals star running back David Johnson has been arguably the biggest disappointment in fantasy through the first two weeks. Johnson basically missed the entire 2017 season after going down with a wrist injury early into the first game. Prior to that, he was one of the most dynamic players in football. Johnson narrowly missed out on having 1,000 yards rushing and receiving. He was expected to be leaned on heavily by the Cardinals this season after veteran quarterback Carson Palmer retired.
Instead, it just looks like new head coach Steve Wilks has not yet figured out how to properly use their offensive centerpiece. He only rushed nine times for 37 yards and a touchdown week one. He did score a touchdown and caught five passes for 30 yards. This made for a solid fantasy day but was relatively disappointing for a player drafted number one overall in many leagues. It got even worse in week two, when he saw 13 rushing attempts, but only managed one reception. Sure, the Cardinals were blown out both games, but Johnson’s usage was probably one of the reasons why.
Many fantasy team owners who drafted him are already in panic mode. The Arizona offense looks putrid right now, with no improvement in sight. Still, even though the team will not win a lot of games, Johnson is just too talented to not eventually get going. Wilks has already said that he will talk to offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and work on creative ways to get Johnson the ball. But, with the Chicago Bears and Khalil Mack on the slate this week for the Cardinals, things will probably not get a lot easier.
Johnson will probably have one more bad week before things get better. Team owners looking to acquire Johnson at a low price should look for people who also own other injured backs like Joe Mixon or Devonta Freeman. They can also target other teams with disappointing backfields like LeSean McCoy or Derrick Henry as RB2s. Try to package multiple players, like Alex Collins and another fringe wide receiver, or talk up a potential upside player like Kerryon Johnson.
The key here is to find a running back with similar stats so far and sweeten it up with a player that will give them depth. It’s still a long shot, but there are plenty of people who would take the right deal, especially if he underperforms again this weekend.
Sell High: Russell Wilson
The Seattle Seahawks have a big problem. After they lost most of their core defensive players in the off-season it was already expected that quarterback Russell Wilson was going to have to carry the load more than ever this year. Although most knew they were going to have problems on their offensive line, not many expected it to be this bad for two weeks. Wilson was sacked six times in both games so far this season. Granted Seattle faced two of the best defensive lines in football but that is still worrisome.
Worse yet, it was apparent that new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is just not clicking. Check out this disconnect in audibles and play calling that forced a timeout:
Woo boy, check out this sequence
1. Schotty calls in play
2. Wilson checks, gain of 4 & first down
3. Next play, Wilson checks again
4. Carroll calls timeout, presumably because Wilson keeps checking
5. Wilson visibly upset pic.twitter.com/yYwnotxhq5— Ben Baldwin (@benbbaldwin) September 18, 2018
It’s still early in the season, but this is signs of some serious dysfunction. If Wilson, Schottenheimer, and Pete Carroll can’t come to an agreement on how they run their offense, there will be no rhythm. Already at 0-2, the staff runs the risk of Wilson and the team checking out of games completely.
But wait, there’s more. Wilson doesn’t have any receivers right now. The team oddly signed boom-or-bust deep threat Tyler Lockett to a contract extension this off-season. The only time he had over 600 yards was his rookie season. The team also signed veteran Brandon Marshall, but he is a shell of his former self. Wilson’s favorite target, Doug Baldwin, has been out dealing with a knee injury. He says even when he comes back, he will never be 100 percent this season.
All of this added up sounds like a recipe for disaster. Team owners should rely on Wilson’s name value and be happy he’s put up respectable fantasy numbers through two weeks. He is an excellent asset for teams to package with a lesser player to grab a position of need. There are plenty of other solid quarterbacks to grab on waivers after trading him, including Andy Dalton, or even Blake Bortles. From there, owners can wait until after bye weeks when more quarterbacks start getting released from fantasy teams.
Hold: Josh Gordon
The Cleveland Browns reminded the entire league why they are the Browns this weekend after announcing they were going to release troubled, yet supremely talented wide receiver Josh Gordon. Then they made themselves look even sillier when they decided to instead trade him once teams started calling. Then, the football world collectively rolled their eyes when he was traded to the New England Patriots on Monday. Well, everyone except people who own him in fantasy football.
There really isn’t a better spot for him to end up than New England. They will keep him in line, and many are already drawing parallels between the time they acquired Randy Moss in a trade from the Oakland Raiders. Moss went on to help the Patriots reach an unprecedented 16-0 regular-season record where he and Tom Brady shattered the offensive record books.
While people need to pump the brakes on something like that happening, the upside is undeniable with Gordon in New England. The problem is, there is also a chance he doesn’t do much at all. Regardless, there are many fantasy team owners willing to take the risk. However, most are still buying extremely low, taking advantage of the uncertainty.
This means that for Gordon owners, the best thing to do is to hold on to him for now. The only offer that is acceptable would be for an established top-tier fantasy contributor. Few have that much faith in Gordon and would make a deal like that. Other than that, an owner would never be able to live down trading Gordon for a measly WR2 or a few running backs that will probably rot on the bench.
Gordon has always had the talent. He seems to have gotten his life in order, and now he finally has an organization that gives him the perfect opportunity to be a top receiver in the league.
