Week 7 has come and gone and fantasy owners are in a frenzy over who to add, drop and put on the trade block. Some players' trade value will never be higher, while others are ideal buy-low candidates meaning you should try to capitalize on the fear generated by a slow Week 7 outing for players who have positive outlooks for the season.
That's why this column, "Trade Calls" will come at you each and every week. It's pretty simple: I do the heavy lifting, you get some information and start making offers. This week, I put a call out on Twitter for your questions, and the inquiries came flying in. If I didn't answer your trade question here, I will do my best to reply directly via Twitter.com, so don't fret.
Before we dive into the questions, which are mostly based on Allen Robinson (hence the headline), check out this in-depth look at his fantasy points graph through seven weeks of football, along with a few sadly serious inquires, so we're all on the same page:
Honestly, eating a bag of candy corn would probably fire off more serotonin receptors in your brain (I'm not even positive that this is how it works, but you know, science and stuff) than watching Allen Robinson lay a dud every darn Sunday. Donuts are a close second in this conversation though. At least you can eat real donuts, but the ones A-Rob has been delivering just burn a hole in your fantasy score each week.
There's no chance anyone is going to trade you FOR either of these wideouts right now, unless they're as desperate as you are ... which isn't very likely. Sorry to say, you're probably just stuck with them.
As Marcas Grant recently noted on the Fantasy LIVE podcast, Robinson has pretty much become an anchor for fantasy teams. You can't drop him. If you start him you'll rip your hair out hoping for more than two catches and nine yards. If you bench him you'll rip your hair out if he scores. And nobody is going to covet him in a trade. It's a sticky situation, but it's really not Robinson's fault, it's mainly on his quarterback. Blake Bortles has not been able to get the ball downfield this year with a 28.0 percent completion rate on passes of 20-plus air yards, compared to a 41.9 percent rate last season. His passer rating is 34.3 on said deep balls compared to 105.5 last season. There has been some alarming regression here, and while it's tough to stomach for Robinson owners, it's just something you're going to have to ride out. Wait for him to put up a decent fantasy outing, and then try to sell high.
If there's any bright side for Maclin that could give you trade negotiation ammunition, it's that he has a decent schedule coming up. He faces Indianapolis in Week 8, Carolina in Week 10, Tampa Bay in Week 11 and Oakland in Week 14. There's a chance things open up for him, and he is still the most targeted wideout in Kansas City with 45 on the year. The bad news is that even in good matchups the past two weeks against Oakland and New Orleans, Maclin had just 49 and 40 yards respectively (but avoid discussing that in trade talks). You could also argue that Maclin is somewhat of a late-bloomer. Last year, he collected eight touchdowns total, but didn't score his second one until Week 8. Still, it will be hard to move a wideout on a team that doesn't funnel the offense through its pass-catchers.
Jordy Nelson is definitely worth rolling out as a WR3 or a flex, especially against the Falcons in Week 8. But we've seen his production decline the last two weeks, and he definitely doesn't look like the second-round fantasy wide receiver you drafted him to be. He started hot, with five touchdowns in the Packers' first four games, but hasn't scored in his last two contests. Aaron Rodgers is also not having success when targeting Nelson on deep balls. He's just two for seven on passes of 20-plus air yards targeted at Nelson, with a passer rating of 65.2 compared to 133.8 on similar throws when Nelson was healthy in 2014. There's a chance the duo can connect in what should be a shootout against Atlanta this week, and that would mark a prime opportunity to try and move the veteran receiver for more than what you'd be able to trade for him with two recent duds glimmering in his game log.
See above for my Robinson takes. He needs to be benched until we see him put up some consistent production. He's basically just a wasted draft pick at this point, but you can't drop him. And unless you package him with another top player, nobody will trade you for him.
Maybe a bag of (stale) donuts as per the inquiry above. You MIGHT be able to swing something for a guy like Doug Martin or Dion Lewis, who are both injured right now. You'd be making this move based on the injured running backs' potential roles later in the season, but neither has a certain timetable for return. So in essence, you'd be banking on their availability for your fantasy squad down the stretch and valuing that more than however you value Robinson currently. Man, life comes at you fast.
Hopefully this offer is still on the table. Pull the trigger immediately if so. A.J. Green trumps a bag of (stale) donuts any day.
Any time you can move a quarterback to get players at the wide receiver and running back positions, it's a savvy move. Stafford has been great so far. So great in fact, that he's the QB3 through seven weeks of football. But his schedule the next few weeks is not favorable. He's got Houston in Week 8, followed by a game at Minnesota, then a bye followed up by Jacksonville and Minnesota for a second time. It's time to ship him off before the going gets tough. Brandon Marshall might draw greater amounts of interest now that Ryan Fitzpatrick is back under center for the Jets and it's a good idea to let him go on that potential, rather than wait to see what he does against the Browns in Week 8, despite the favorable matchup. Once Eric Decker went down, Marshall's fantasy value took a hit because he's the only dangerous threat in the Jets passing attack now. Tyrell Williams leads the Chargers' receiving corps with 526 yards and 64.60 fantasy points in standard scoring, and Spencer Ware is a weekly RB1 candidate. I approve this trade, so do what you can to get it done!
Look, I realize I just advocated for moving a quarterback in the previous question, but it has to make sense. Matt Ryan is the highest scoring player in all of fantasy. DeAndre Hopkins, while he hasn't been very valuable for the first half of the season, has a great schedule upcoming and I'm keeping the faith with him. He'll face one of the worst pass defenses in the league in Week 8, the Lions. Following a Week 9 bye, he faces Jacksonville, Oakland, San Diego, Green Bay and Indianapolis in consecutive weeks. Despite Brock Osweiler's struggles, Hopkins still leads the team with 69 targets. That's an average of 9.8 per game. If that volume keeps up there will be some progression in his fantasy production given all of the upcoming favorable matchups. On the other side of this, it was awesome to watch Stefon Diggs explode in primetime against the Packers in Week 2. But he's been dealing with a leg injury and has not been very productive since. He's averaged just 35 receiving yards per game in the three games he's played since Week 2 with zero touchdowns. Diggs has 30 fewer targets than Hopkins at this point (The Vikings had their bye, and Diggs missed an entire game with injury) and Minnesota ranks second-to-last in the NFL with just 10 offensive touchdowns this season. As for Jonathan Stewart, in his return from injury in Week 7 he scored two-touchdowns in a dream matchup against the Saints. But it's hard to see him producing that way consistently going forward, especially with the poor play of the Carolina defense which will keep the offense in catch-up mode. Plus, Stewart's ceiling was capped from the start because of Cam Newton's rushing ability in and around the end zone. I say you hang onto Ryan and Hopkins because the upside far outweighs what Diggs and Stewart provide for the rest of the season.
Against the Ravens last week, Forte posted his second multiple-touchdown, 30-carry, 100-yard game of the year. Unfortunately, it seems like Forte is not productive in fantasy unless he sees upwards of 25 touches in a game, and he hadn't seen that kind of volume since his last double-digit fantasy outing back in Week 2. While he's got a great matchup against the Browns in Week 8 that makes him worth holding onto, I say move him now while he's hot. The veteran is averaging just 3.5 yards per carry on the season, which is third-worst among all running backs with 75-plus carries. The Jets offense on a whole is in shambles, and the return of Ryan Fitzpatrick is not promising for Forte's outlook. And according to the old eye test, he simply doesn't look like he has that elite burst anymore that made him one of the best running backs in fantasy for years. In addition, Forte's odd lack of involvement as a pass-catcher is yet another reason to ship him off. With just 18 receptions through seven games (2.5 rec per game on average), he's not the same three-down, all-purpose back he once was.
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