Dynasty Fantasy Football Trades

Zay Flowers | Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Richard Cooling Posted On September 14, 2023

Taking advantage of potential valuation trends in the trade market is imperative. That is even more true during the season when players can experience wild valuation changes on a week-to-week basis. Each week, I will be highlighting some players you should be looking to move or acquire and the reasons why.

Buy – Jordan Love, QB GB

Coming into the season, there was a question over whether Love would be the long-term starter. He decided not to bet on himself and signed a small extension rather than play out on the fifth-year option. After week one, I am now very confident that Love will be the long-term starter for the Packers. He showed excellent poise, pocket mobility, and great processing ability. Given his small rushing upside, he will be a solid QB2 moving forward. In superflex leagues, any long-term starter is worth a future first, and he is now worth at least that. If you can get in quickly and buy for a future first, you’ll have a solid, reliable QB2 for at least the next two to three seasons.

Buy – Zay Flowers, WR BAL

I loved Flowers coming out. He was my rookie WR3, and he was closer to Jaxon Smith-Njigba at two than he was to Quentin Johnston at four. However, I did not expect him to hit the ground running this quickly. He was an every-down player for the Ravens alongside Odell Beckham, with Rashod Bateman only playing in three wide receiver sets. As well as being an every-down player, Flowers also commanded an incredible 47.6% target share. It wasn’t just the target volume that was encouraging.

The Ravens were creating inventive ways to get the ball in Flowers’ hands, including on jet sweeps and in the screen game. The injury to JK Dobbins could also lead to an increase in the Ravens’ reliance on Flowers. Rather than check-downs to a running back, they could opt for check-downs to Flowers. He is now a top 24 dynasty receiver for me, and he could continue to climb even higher over the coming weeks. You may need to buy high and pay up for him, but his price is not coming down anytime soon. I’d happily pay a random future first and second to secure him right now.

Sell – Christian Kirk, WR JAC

Kirk was a feel-good story last year that produced and was looking poised for another strong year. However, during the preseason, he wasn’t playing in two receiver sets as the Jaguars were opting to roll with Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones. This trend continued in week one, with Kirk seeing only 60% of the offensive snaps. Being a purely slot-only player absolutely caps his upside. He will likely still have some decent boom weeks, but plugging him into your lineup consistently will be challenging. I would happily sell Kirk for two seconds right now. Ideally, I would like to get a future first, but I fear the ship has sailed. The right move may be to wait until he has a spike week and then move off him.

Sell – JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR NE

I did not see this one coming! Despite the reports that his knee could “explode,” there was still some expectation that Smith-Schuster would be the WR1 in New England after they spent big money to acquire him in free agency. If you look at the box score, you may see the seven targets and think he had a decent outing. However, He was taken off the field consistently in three receiver sets. He played only 53.8% of offensive snaps. That was behind sixth-round rookie Kayshon Boutte. He ran the same amount of routes as rookie Demario Douglas. The fact that a veteran free agent is running behind two days three rookies is very alarming, and I would be looking to get out before this trend becomes more well-known. I would take any future second-rounder. However, you can probably get more. Maybe push for two seconds, but that may be too rich for him at the moment.

Rebuilding Buy – Diontae Johnson, WR PIT

Anytime a player gets injured, I want to buy the injury dip on a rebuilding team. If a contending team just lost Johnson, they are probably looking for a WR2/3 to fill in for a few weeks. If you could buy low on him, you can get an upgrade at the position without any pain, as you’re not trying to win at the moment anyway. Keenan Allen, Courtland Sutton, Mike Evans, and Tyler Lockett would be ideal players to pivot off of in order to grab Johnson while he is out injured.

I need more information – Kayshon Boutte, WR NE

As mentioned earlier when talking about Smith-Schuster, Boutte was on the field consistently for the Patriots this week. Typically, when a day three rookie sees the field 68% of the time and runs a route on 74% of dropbacks in their debut game, that is enough for me to take notice. However, when that day three rookie has the talent and pedigree of Boutte, I am absolutely paying attention. He was many people’s WR1 in this draft class a year ago. However, some off-field issues and poor combine performance meant he fell down draft boards. Fantasy production could follow if he is on the straight and narrow and sees the field consistently. Despite being on the field so much and seeing four targets, he didn’t come down with any of them. I’m keen to see if this was a one-week blip or if he is going to be a consistent fantasy starter moving forward.

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Richard Cooling

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Richard is a despondent Jets fan from the UK. He is a value obsessive and believes in trading any player if the value is there. He aims to combine statistics and film study to provide well thought and researched opinions. When he's not thinking about player values Richard spends his time at the beach with his wife and two sons.

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