Over the past few weeks, I've penned articles on six players you should trade for to save your season, and three players you might want to think about trading away before the fantasy playoffs due to unfavorable schedules. I know some of your traded deadlines have already passed, but here at NFL.com the standard deadline is Sunday, Novemeber 27th. So today, with one final edition of Trade Calls, I'll answer some of your inquiries and break down a trade I made in our Fantasy Writers vs Producers office league. Good luck and happy trading!
This morning, I accepted the following trade, half taking my own advice and half going against it based on my roster needs to make a desperation playoff push:
Sent away: Doug Martin, Willie Snead
Received: Tyler Eifert, Tyrell Williams
I own Melvin Gordon and Devonta Freeman and am confident they can hold up my RB slots for the rest of the season, pending injury, so I figured I could afford to ship Doug Martin off. With A.J. Green out (hamstring), I'm banking on the Bengals getting Tyler Eifert some additional looks. Since his return from injury four weeks ago, Eifert is averaging just four receptions per game, so that number will have to increase if the Bengals want to remain competitive. I was rolling with Zach Miller (out for season) and Cameron Brate in my TE slot, so that's a solid upgrade. And as for Tyrell Williams, I needed some help at wideout with Allen Robinson and Stefon Diggs as my top guys, and as you'll see below, I made the case to buy Williams two weeks ago since he has an extremely favorable fantasy playoff schedule.
Doug Martin: Healthy once again, he has low-end RB1 upside the rest of the way and favorable matchups.
Mike Evans: The most targeted receiver in the league, Evans will enjoy a tremendously easy fantasy playoff schedule.
Matt Forte: Logging over 70 percent of his team's backfield touches and enjoys seventh-most favorable schedule for running backs the rest of the way.
Doug Baldwin: See below.
Tyrell Williams: Faces Tampa Bay, Carolina, Oakland and Cleveland in the fantasy playoffs. Enough said.
Todd Gurley: He's back to getting at least 20 touches per game and faces some bottom-of-the-barrel run defenses including the 49ers in Week 16.
Rob Kelley: You can get tremendous value for him after his huge Week 11, and he has an unfavorable schedule upcoming.
Allen Robinson: Has scored in three straight games, but has the worst fantasy playoff schedule of any team for wide receivers.
Jay Ajayi: Faces two top run-stopping teams in the fantasy playoffs.
Trade mailbag:
James Starks has played the role of the Packers' primary back the last two weeks, simply because they have nobody else healthy enough to do so. But the team added Christine Michael after the Seahawks waived him, and now Starks may be looking at a timeshare situation. Packers coach Mike McCarthy even said that they're prepping Michael to be ready to play in Week 12 so it sounds like he's going to at least siphon some carries from Starks, who quite honestly has masked his inefficiencies as a runner with two receiving touchdowns the last two weeks.
The prospect of Emmanuel Sanders sounds nice, but in reality he has not been producing over the last six weeks. In that span, he hasn't scored and is averaging five receptions and 62 yards per game. He has seen his fair share of targets in that span, 53 to be exact, which averages out to nine per game. This could be a great buy-low situation on Sanders given those opportunities he's getting but not cashing in on. Sanders will enjoy some favorable matchups ahead including two games against the Chiefs, who are allowing the sixth-most fantasy points per game to wideouts this season and could be without star corner Marcus Peters again in Week 12 in Denver.
Send off a timeshare running back in a bad rushing offense for a potential WR2 with volume upside to strengthen your roster before the deadline passes.
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I wrote about why you should trade for Doug Baldwin to #SaveYourSeason two weeks ago. Since then, he's scored four total touchdowns, totaled 38 fantasy points in a two-game span (dusts shoulders off, yawns) and is fantasy's WR1 in standard scoring. Because of that, it might be too late to acquire Baldwin at the same discounted rate you could have gotten him for prior to Week 10.
Spencer Ware hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 7 but does have some favorable matchups approaching (DEN twice, ATL). Still, Ware for Baldwin straight up might be a tad optimistic given Baldwin's recent surge and Seattle's tendency for late-season success. But if you're targeting an owner who is in dire need of a running back that they can start every week (who isn't at this point?) you might just be able to get away with this one.
With how poorly the Packers have performed this season from a real football standpoint, it may surprise you that Aaron Rodgers is the highest-scoring quarterback in fantasy through 11 weeks. Because Green Bay's defense gives up so many points to opponents, 27.6 to be exact or the the sixth most in the NFL, Rodgers has had to just keep throwing to keep pace. His 410 pass attempts on the season are the fourth most, and his 25 touchdown passes are second only to Drew Brees (who, no secret, also plays on a team with a horrible defense). But Rodgers has the least favorable schedule for the rest of the season of any other team in the NFL with games against PHI, HOU, SEA and MIN between Week 12 and the end of the season, all top-eight defenses at limiting quarterbacks. So now would definitely be a good time to ship him away especially if you can get someone of tremendous value like David Johnson. Throwing Rob Gronkowski in might be too rich, but if you're in dire need of a stud running back and already have Cam Newton on your bench, it's sort of a no-brainer given Gronk's health issues and the fact that you can stream tight ends every week.
-- Follow Matt on Twitter @MattFranchise and like his page on Facebook
