Dynasty Fantasy Football: Traversing the Trade Finder
Welcome back to ‘Traversing the Trade Finder,’ a series where I pick a couple of players and try to find what opportunities are available to us using the Dynasty League Football Trade Finder tool. For those who are unfamiliar, this tool helps you find real trades being made in dynasty leagues with the ability to search for specific players or draft picks and to filter by various settings. We love to talk about finding opportunities in the dynasty trade market and this tool literally shows you these opportunities in action.
In this edition, I’ll be focusing on two wide receivers I think are undervalued, especially for teams looking to compete this year. Each is discounted for unique reasons, but each is discounted nonetheless. Let’s dive in.
For all trades, I will be using the following filters: 12 Teams, 2QB, and 1 point PPR.
Christian Kirk, WR JAX
I think we all remember the day Christian Kirk signed what seemed to be an exorbitant contract with the Jaguars. Kirk was seen as a quality wide receiver but certainly not one who deserved a four-year 72-million-dollar contract. Then the 2022 season happened and we all looked like buffoons. Kirk shined as Trevor Lawrence’s slot receiver and most trusted option, posting career highs in every counting stat while demanding a 22.3% target share on his way to 14.2 PPR points per game. Then Calvin Ridley joined the team and Kirk’s value took a little bit of a hit, now sitting as WR37 in the Dynasty League Football July Startup ADP. While I think Ridley’s presence does have a negative impact on Kirk’s overall fantasy ceiling, Ridley and Kirk can co-exist in what is a high volume, high paced, ascending offense helmed by a great offensive minded head coach in Doug Pederson and one the best young quarterbacks in the league in Lawrence. Still only 26 years-old, Kirk is a great buy for team’s looking to shore up a wide receiver position in their lineup.
While there is still some hope that Kadarius Toney can turn things around, I have a hard time believing that he will or that it will matter much if he does. Toney is still a limited player who played a small number of snaps even while healthy. It would also be hard to expect Toney’s dynasty market value to grow to a point where we would have regrets trading him away as Toney will always have his detractors and skeptics no matter how he performs. A future second-round rookie draft pick isn’t nothing but it’s certainly not enough to bridge the gap between Toney and Christian Kirk. Additionally, if you are a competing team and you’re trading away your draft pick, you would expect it to be later in the round.
Last year we likely got confirmation that Gabriel Davis is indeed the player he’s always been despite the hype he received prior to the 2022 season. Davis is still a quality player, albeit one that is more of a role player than complete wide receiver, but we can pretty safely say his ceiling for fantasy is a boom/bust WR3 for our teams. As a side note, Davis’s price has come down enough that he’s potentially a buy himself but we’ll save that conversation for another day. Like the previous trade, the draft pick added on here isn’t enough to bridge the gap between Davis and Christian Kirk. This is very nice upgrade while having to pay very little to do it.
DeAndre Hopkins, WR TEN
DeAndre Hopkins was one of the big dominos we anticipated to fall this offseason. Clearly wanting out of Arizona, where Hopkins would play for the 2023 season was one of the more speculated moves of the spring and summer. Hopkins showed in 2022 that he was a still a highly productive player finishing as the WR10 in PPR PPG. Finally signing with the Titans, many were disappointed in his landing spot and I can understand their concern. The Titans under Mike Vrabel have always had an offense that were near bottom of the league in pass rate. But I did not mind it so much as this was one of the only realistic teams available where we could comfortably project Hopkins to easily be the number one target in the passing game and demand a very high target share. Additionally, Ryan Tannehill has shown the ability to support a high-end pass catcher for fantasy despite the lower passing volume. Sitting as WR45 in the Dynasty League Football July Startup ADP, Hopkins could be an incredible value for competing teams.
The biggest pieces in this trade are DeAndre Hopkins and Aaron Jones. I actually have Jones ahead of Hopkins, but not by much. Jones has some serious risk to him being pretty old for a running back as he will turn 29 years-old during the season, AJ Dillon has commanded a large portion of the red zone carries, and the possibility that the Packers offense is just straight up bad under Jordan Love. What then pushes the Hopkins’ side over the edge is that I would much rather have Antonio Gibson than Irv Smith Jr. Gibson while perhaps not living up to some of the lofty expectations that have put on to him has still been a quality asset who this year is projected to finally see the receiving usage we had hoped for since he entered league. Smith Jr. on the other hand has consistently disappointed during his time in the NFL and someone who I don’t want to count on, even with him playing for the Bengals.
This is the classic trade that shows how in fantasy football four quarters do not equal a dollar. I like Josh Downs and John Metchie enough, each could be a solid slot wide receiver for many years. Hunter Renfrow had his fifteen minutes of fame but then has been mostly cast to the side and failed to make an impact for fantasy teams since. Michael Wilson could find himself playing some meaningful snaps for the Cardinals but was widely seen as a poor prospect coming into the NFL whose draft capital was surprising. Each of these players individually are fine and potentially worth having, but even when all combined, they don’t equal up to the type of impact Deandre Hopkins can have on your starting lineup.
The 2023 season is right around the corner. Finding these players who can be acquired cheaply compared to their production is a great way to solidify your lineup before having to pay more of a premium for them in season. Good luck to all in your future trading endeavors. Until next time, like always, I’ll be traversing the trade finder.
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