NFL Trade Deadline: Dynasty Fantasy Football Winners and Losers
Which players saw their dynasty situations improve or regress at the NFL trade deadline? Let’s dive right in.
Winners
Justin Fields, QB CHI
The biggest winner from the trade deadline was clear. Fields came into the season with a big question mark over him. A new regime in Chicago did absolutely nothing to make his life easier. They stripped the roster for parts with a view of starting to build back up in 2023 once the salary cap and draft capital were restocked. The plan was clear: if Fields proves he’s a franchise quarterback, we can build around him. If he doesn’t, we can move on from him, as we didn’t draft him, and go and find our franchise quarterback.
After four consecutive impressive performances and a shift in the offensive scheme that freed Fields as a rusher and quickened his decision-making process, the Bears traded a future early second-round pick to acquire Chase Claypool.
While I like the move for Fields, giving him an additional weapon on the outside, I am more excited at what this move signals. This move proves that the current regime is committing to Fields and making his life easier. He has gone from a second-year quarterback with no guarantee that he will be the starter in 2023/24 to the franchise quarterback overnight. I am confident he will be around for, at a minimum, the next three years. With his rushing potential and as he is entrenched as the starter for the rest of his rookie contract, he is now a top-12 dynasty quarterback for me moving forward.
Trevor Lawrence, QB JAC
Following the trend of big winners being young quarterbacks who have added a weapon, we move to Lawrence, who added Calvin Ridley in quite possibly the most complex trade I’ve ever seen. I love this trade for Lawrence, and while it doesn’t help him this season, it almost certainly adds a proven top-tier playmaker to an offense lacking in them.
Yes, there is a slight chance Ridley either doesn’t return or doesn’t return as the same player he was two years ago. However, he is far better than any other receiver the Jaguars would be able to add in free agency. This off-season showed you could grossly overpay for an average receiver like Christian Kirk, and it doesn’t move the needle massively. I still expect the Jaguars to add another bigger-bodied ‘x’ type receiver in the draft, but starting the 2023 season, the Jaguars will have an above-average group of weapons for Lawrence.
Regarding fit, Ridley may be the most well-suited receiver to Lawrence’s skillset. While Lawrence doesn’t have the best deep ball in the league, he is already a top five passer in the intermediate areas of the field. His anticipation and touch set him apart. Ridley is an elite route runner who operates incredibly well in that exact area of the field. In 2020, 42.3% of his targets came between 10-19 yards (second highest in the league).
Jeff Wilson Jr, RB MIA
Wilson is one of my favorite dynasty stashes. He is criminally undervalued and has been one injury away from being a plug-and-play starter for the past three seasons. That quickly changed when the 49ers sent a boatload of draft capital to the Panthers for Christian McCaffrey. Wilson fell down the depth chart and lost any fantasy relevancy this year. Now he finds himself essentially back in his old role. He is currently a 1b option in a Shanahan scheme and is only a Raheem Mostert injury away from a significant role.
Wilson is never going to be a cornerstone of your dynasty roster. However, he enters the flex conversation on any given week and could be a plug-and-play RB2 down the stretch if anything happens to Mostert.
Kyren Williams, RB LAR, and Darrell Henderson, RB LAR
Sometimes the most significant winners can be on the teams that didn’t make a move. There had been lots of talk about the Rams being in the market for a running back. They were apparently in the McCaffrey sweepstakes and interested in Kareem Hunt, among others. However, as the deadline passed, they didn’t make any moves to add to their running back room. This is a big boom for Henderson, who is expected to be the lead back for the rest of the season. However, it will also benefit the fifth-round rookie Kyren Williams who Sean McVay has constantly talked up. While the Rams have struggled this year, the offense will likely bounce back a bit down the stretch and could have some considerable fantasy relevancy should one of these players carve out a significant role.
Losers
Kareem Hunt, RB CLE
Hunt was one player I had high hopes for. The dream of him being traded and finding a role where he can command 60+% of the opportunities rather than sharing a backfield with Nick Chubb may have been a pipe dream, but it’s no longer a reality.
Hunt remains a frustrating flex play for the remainder of the season.
When the season finishes, Hunt is unlikely to find a stand-alone bell-cow role in what is looking like a bumper free-agency crop. We could see Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs, Miles Sanders, David Montgomery, Damien Harris, Tony Pollard, and Alexander Mattison, amongst others, all available in March. Sadly I think Hunt is never going to secure a bell cow role and will now be nothing more than a flex play for the rest of his career.
James Cook, RB BUF
Having spent the off-season trying to answer the receiving back issue in Buffalo, the Bills made a big move to solve the problem, hopefully. However, the acquisition of Nyheim Hines from the Colts is terrible news for Cook. Despite spending a second-round pick this year on him, the Bills have seen enough that they don’t believe he is the answer. After the trade, Hines has two years remaining on his contract at affordable numbers, so it is hard to see a world where Cook carves out a significant role to be fantasy-relevant short of a couple of injuries.
Aaron Rodgers, QB GB
At this point, the Packers and their search for receiving help are becoming a joke. Despite rumors aplenty and being linked with several names, the Packers didn’t add anyone at the deadline. That is a big hit for Rodgers, who is struggling to create the fantasy production many people would have hoped for coming into the season.
I view the lack of movement as one of two things. The first is that the Packers are confident they will add Odell Beckham to the receiving room in December for the playoff push. The second is that Rodgers will play quarterback for a different team next September. Perhaps the Packers are writing this season off, intending to trade Rodgers to a contender in the off-season and start the next phase of the franchise.
Honestly, I doubt either of those things is true, but I can’t find any other reason why they didn’t make some form of movement.
Elijah Moore, WR NYJ
The Elijah Moore situation is just getting stranger by the week. After a breakout rookie year, he has grown upset with his lack of involvement in the offense and requested a trade. The Jets didn’t trade him at the deadline but also had him spend the majority of last Sunday’s game standing on the sideline.
It appears the Jets are unwilling to trade Moore but are also not going to feed him the ball. So sadly, for people rostering him (of which I am certainly one), it’s looking like 2023 before we start seeing any further investment return.
Irv Smith Jr, TE MIN
The Vikings swung big and brought in TJ Hockenson from Detroit. I love this movie for the Vikings, and I love this move for Hockenson. However, this spells the end of any hopes for Smith. Despite some flashes, the often-injured young tight end has never been able to put it together on the field. Still, he is realistically droppable in most dynasty leagues if you don’t have the space to stash him on your IR.
- Dynasty Decision: Kenneth Walker - March 14, 2025
- Dynasty Decision: DJ Moore - March 7, 2025
- Dynasty Decision: Trevor Lawrence - February 28, 2025
