5 Fantasy Football Trades That Could Save Your Season! (Ep. 2312)

0:01 Hello, everybody. Welcome into Fantasy Pros. I'm Ryan Wormley, joined by Tara Roberts, and we are talking some moves to make before Week 9. We are nearly at the halfway point of the 2026 NFL season. Hard to believe. Tara, how did Week 8 treat you?

0:15 Not too bad. No Ashton Gentry share, so no tear shed over that. Other than that, pretty good. Yeah, I can't complain about this week, even though it was a really weird one.

0:28 Decent week for me fantasy-wise. Obviously a terrible week for me NFL fandom-wise with Lamar. We don't need to dive into that, although we will be hitting on some Ravens, a Raven later in the show. That was a demoralizing moment for sure. Thankfully the fantasy leagues went well to sort of save the day a bit. Reminder for everybody that all of our weekly consensus rankings and tiers can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings. From there you can also navigate to our rest of season rankings. I'll be looking at those when I reference any rankings on today's show.

0:58 And only we'll be referencing the updated rankings from those experts who have updated those rankings since the games finished yesterday. So that'll continue to update throughout the week. But that's what I'll be referencing if you hear me mention a player's ranking on the show today. Tara, let's start as always with a buy.

1:12 Yeah, we'll start happy. We'll do a good buy on Jalen Warren. Just go ahead and use the buy week to see what you can get him for. See if there's a reasonable price. We're buying in on him. somewhat high because there are a couple of factors that make him very movable in this marketplace. Aside from the bi-week Rico Dowdle clearly remains an ever consistent presence. Uh, I don't think that he's ever going away. That just adds to the ability of maybe some fantasy managers, you know, with Rico, with, uh, Jalen Warren, obviously not frustrated with Jalen's production, but maybe just a little irritated that we continue to see Rico in there. And his presence does keep his price very reasonable and, despite the fact that

1:55 his production should see him much higher in terms of trade value. But since his return for three weeks in a row, we have seen him consistently get a minimum of 10 touches in each game. And it's very clear that they want this to be a committee. They want him to be a 1B to Jalen Warren's 1A. So again, that helps keep the value very reasonable. And the fact that he has had back-to-back 100-yard games with literally four 100-yard games this season, And that's only considering what he's done on the ground. That doesn't even add in what he has done through the air as well. This is a guy who should be valued up there with a lot of, you know, controversially up there with some of the, like the top, not, you know, not the Bijan and

2:38 Jameer Gibbs level, but in that tier below that, when we're trusting clear RB ones on a weekly basis that have massive upside, Jalen Warren deserves to be in there, but he's not because of that presence of Rico Dowdle. And yeah, When we're looking at the return of Rico Dowdle, it didn't necessarily actually cut into Jalen Warren's workload per se.

2:57 It did decrease his snaps, right? He is on the field less, but we did not see an actual decrease in his touches. So really and truly, Rico Dowdle's return really just eliminated unnecessary snaps where Warren wasn't getting touches on the field. And it also allowed Pittsburgh to lean more aggressively into the ground game. So what's hurting is not Jalen Warren. It's the pass game that has been massively effective. affected by this. Over the past two games, we saw Aaron Rodgers dip below 30 attempts or at or below 30 attempts this season. That is something that we were not seeing before. He's no longer getting those two plus touchdown games. Rodgers' volume prior to the return of Jalen Warren was so high and so consistent, probably

3:40 a little bit more than the Steelers would like to ideally see. So judging by the on-field results, they're winning. They're having a good time. I find it hard to believe that they're going to change the strategy. considering they're on a hot streak. So we're seeing the decrease in pass volume, increase in work that allows for Rico Dowdle to be a very good contributor to this offense without actually taking away from Jalen Warren. So he is actually a very nice buy high, in my opinion.

4:05 RB7 so far in the season, they have their buy week this week. Maybe you can use that to your advantage if you're trying to trade for him. A player that I really like, we have talked a few times actually on the tailgate this season with Debro and Erickson about Jalen Warren being the most underrated running back in football. Really?

4:20 I mean, you look at since week three, 127 yards, 93, 101, 50, 101, 143, a couple of touchdowns sprinkled there. And like you said, that doesn't even include all the pass catching usage. Like I said, RB7 so far this season, where do you expect him to be rest of season? Because he's not ranked that high. He's ranked in that RB14 range. And I do feel like Like that feels like a mistake to me. I'm totally with you. I'm not saying let's go put him ahead of Kenneth Walker or anything like that.

4:47 But some of the names ahead of him in the consensus rest of season rankings, and again, these are updated since yesterday, are Bucky Irving, who's been really good. Michelle Tootin, who's really good. Deandre Swift, Chuba Hubbard, Carolina coming back to earth a bit. Derrick Henry, who's going to come up later on the show. Javante Williams. Like I'm not saying these are bad running backs that should be cratered in the rankings, but I feel like there's a very real possibility, especially in any kind of half PPR setting, where Jalen Warren finishes higher than those guys the rest of the season.

5:13 Yeah, I think so. You look at guys like, let's say we can't take it to a Christian McCaffrey level just because of sheer touches and upside and him being Christian McCaffrey. But you take it a level like that, a guy I like to look at that you mentioned, Chuba Hubbard, who is clear RB1, clear volume, shaky offensive situation now. Perhaps the offensive line issues, the last injury is really going to potentially hurt them moving forward. That's one that I think Jalen Warren should definitely be valued over.

5:39 Maybe we look at Kyron Williams with the constant presence of Blake Corum actually affecting his touches and reducing that. So it's a different situation. We're kind of similar in terms of two guys that are very viable, but one is actually cutting into the workload of the other.

5:56 I think I was looking at Jonathan Taylor as could you get Jalen Warren plus something else for Taylor given the name value and the gap in the rankings and We have some uncertainty about maybe will Jonathan Taylor get traded, of course, what the status is, the Colts offense, all that stuff. I think if you could downgrade from Taylor to Warren while getting another piece, that would really be of interest to me. Let's go to another running back that you want to buy.

6:17 Yeah, we're going to buy on Ollie Gordon. Finally got a subpar game from him after four straight games of touchdowns in every single game. Him becoming, you know, a clear RB1, no competition from Jalen Wright, multiple hundred yard games. I mean, looking like As much of a superstar as you can within that Miami offense and putting up solid work, even in really difficult matchups, because by no means have they been playing a whole bunch of layup situations. He's put up numbers against tough defenses like Minnesota. So, but looking at him in this matchup, maybe it finally opens up a little opportunity for someone who was already. below value in my opinion, but even lower now, maybe a little bit because we finally saw maybe a little chink

7:00 in the armor and the uptake and pass volume from Malik Willis, the receivers coming together a little bit more. So I think you could argue for a decrease in volume, even though I don't see it that way. But he's not being valued as an RB1, a true RB1 in terms of trade value. And obviously the bad game was because of a not so great matchup. But there are absolutely great matchups ahead. It's really, truly an excellent rest of season schedule. And that's the main buy here. Even if we don't get any kind of minor dip of people looking at the game and saying, oh, maybe now was the time for me to get out and sell on Ollie Gordon. I don't mind paying a little bit even above market price for him when you consider the

7:40 upcoming schedule, quite literally a five-star schedule with a playoff run of Green Bay, The Chargers and Buffalo, which are all run friendly matchups. So because he doesn't offer that name brand star power and he's not on a great team, he's priced around guys where he really should not be. Needs to be a little bit more respect on his name.

8:01 And if you have him, you know, just hold on to him. And if you don't, I think he's a very viable guy right now.

8:07 I have been touting Ali Gordon as a buy the last two weeks on various shows as a buy high. because I thought he was still under-ranked relative to the production you're getting. And when I see a game like what he had yesterday, I don't see, oh, I was wrong. I see, okay, now there's maybe more of a buying window.

8:24 And I think that people should take advantage. I mean, again, still get it, like you laid out the volume stuff, like still got 19 carries in that game. I mean, if he had gotten a touchdown in this game, which of course he didn't, but if he did, this would look like a totally fine game that we'd be perfectly happy with, right? Like he is so consistently been in this high volume, productive role that, Yeah, I'm not at all taking one game to mean that that is no longer going to be the case going forward. And I was going to bring up the schedule too, which you already did. It's a delightful schedule going forward that I think you will reap the benefits from. So the fact that he's on the Dolphins, the fact that he's coming

8:57 off of his first less impressive game of the season since taking over the starting role, I think this is the window of opportunity to buy him now. And I totally agree with this call. I have nothing more to add to it.

9:08 There we go.

9:09 Let's go to a player you want to shop.

9:11 This one is more of a bandaid ripoff kind of situation. It's Chase Brown. Oddly enough, this seems to be a sell high situation because I've seen a lot of people that look at that performance that we had yesterday and they feel encouraged by it because of the past volume. Kind of alluded a little bit to Chase Brown the past couple of weeks, but have never really had a hard stance on him as a guy that you needed to sell because, you know, it's not a destitute situation.

9:42 He plays on a fantastic team. He's got the receiving upside. So it's more of a shop for me instead of like a kind of like you need to get out on this guy right now. But looking at what happened this week in the good perception that people are having, he was still not fantastic on the ground. And this was supposed to be the glory matchup, right? He was ranked RB 10 in rankings with ECR this week. Tennessee is a great matchup. The game script should have favored in his, you know, should have gone in his favor.

10:11 The bangle should have been up dominating. We should have finally seen, okay, we're going to get this, you know, Chase Brown closing out the game strong. They're going to lean on the run after they blow out the Titans early in the game. And that just didn't happen.

10:24 Right.

10:25 And you can look at it and say, OK, well, we feel positive about it because the receiving volume happened. But he lives by receptions at this point because the touchdowns are not coming. And touchdowns have not been a major part of his game. He, you know, even look at a guy like James Cook next to Josh Allen, like touchdowns have consistently been a major part of his game.

10:48 And that has not been something that has been a steady high upside play for Chase Brown. It's been really just, okay. He's, you know, bulk volume. He's a clear RB1, and he's got receiving upside. But now there's not the bulk volume that is coming on the ground, and he's been ineffective. And he's low-key kind of like Ashton Gentee, but the difference is that Brown's value is holding steady while Gentee's is taking the massive dip. And when we see P.

11:14 Ryan come in, we make excuses and say, ah, not really a major issue. It's still Chase Brown's offense. But, you know, you see Mike Washington Jr. and you say, oh, my God, bailout. Everything is over for Gentee. But when we're looking at Chase Brown again, he has not had a single touchdown since week one. Fumbled again this week.

11:32 And the coaching staff we know did punish him for that before. And he holds more value than he is actually getting you on the field. That's the biggest issue that I see. And I don't see how the Bengals really get away from the aggressive pass volume that they've had from Joe Burrow. which, hey, it gives him a safe floor. But again, it caps the overall upside because we're getting all this volume through the air, all the touchdowns going to Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, and there's just nothing left over for Chase Brown. And we've got a cap ceiling where I just don't see him ever really surpassing over 60 yards on the ground, even though it's not a bad matchup coming up. He's actually got a soft schedule for the next several weeks, which again

12:13 is why it's more of a shop, not a hard sell. Because you don't have to bail out thinking that we're going to get into a situation where you're not going to be able to start him over the next several weeks. But shop it around. See what you can get, especially as we come up through these favorable matchups. Start to put the feelers out there because he holds more value than what he's actually getting you.

12:32 I wonder what the real cost would be to trade for Chase Brown because the running back position is so tricky outside of that top 15. that even if you have Chase, and he is 15th in the consensus for us to see his rankings. So even if you have him there, he's still in that top 15 range. He's one of the haves, not the have-nots, if you look at it from a very binary perspective in terms of the way people are evaluating him. So I wonder what a real trade does look like for him. The other thing I would say, too, is you mentioned the schedule.

13:03 The fantasy playoffs are great. It's at Carolina, at Indianapolis, home for Baltimore. We know like Carolina season looks like it's going in a different direction. It's not a good defense. The Colts are like the season is over and the Ravens season might be over if Lamar is out for the year. So like that might be a really enticing stretch in the fantasy playoffs where Chase Brown, we might be sitting here at the end of the season once again saying like, hey, slow start for Chase Brown. But like really winter down the stretch. I wonder if that happens, if you can get to to that stretch of games with him there. So yeah, is there a name that comes to mind for you of like who you would want if you're willing to move off of him?

13:41 Yeah, Jalen Warren, we talked about. Bucky is another one because I am very much convinced that at this point, and granted, they've had two really good run matchups in a row, but I think their offensive line is, you know, excellent and they can continue this strategy of saying, hey, we are simply better at run blocking than you can defend.

14:01 And we're just going to run it down your throat with One, two, maybe even three running backs, 20 plus carries, because that is the best path for us to move forward. So I think volume aggressively favors him as well. But yeah, I, I, the schedule is good. So it's again, it's not a hard sell. It's more of a shop, but if we just saw them in what should have been the layup matchup, how many layup matchups do we got to sit through and wonder when the actual ceiling is coming while we're getting ceiling games from guys like Jalen Warren and Bucky Irving.

14:32 they're providing much higher value. And you could make that flip realistically for them.

14:38 Find out what your players are really worth with the new Fantasy Pros Trade Market Values Report. Compare player values from actual trades across thousands of fantasy leagues against Fantasy Pros expert consensus values. Quickly identify players to buy low, sell high, or target in your next deal with values for half PPR, Dynasty, and your synced teams. Make smarter trades using real market data at fantasypros.com slash markets. That's fantasypros.com slash markets. Tara, you've got a sell for us.

15:06 I do. This one is not a shop and see what you can get and put some feelers out. No, this one is a sell. Get out while you can. Don't hesitate. We're looking at the Ravens with Derrick Henry. It only applies to Derrick Henry. You don't have to have the same philosophy with Zay Flowers because at least he can survive any game script. Hopefully, cross our fingers, we can get Tyler Huntley back because at the very least, he can potentially provide a solid, you know, floor and, you know, maybe we can get a ceiling game from him as well. We have seen that with Derrick Henry, but for the most part, it's risky, right? And if we don't get Tyler Huntley back, we're looking at turf toe.

15:44 If this extends, I just think we get into an unfortunate situation where, as you mentioned, and I'm so sorry, cause I know this is a Ravens is not fantastic for you as a fan, but what if we get into this situation where they're struggling and it's a lost season completely and they're playing from behind. And unfortunately, Derrick Henry is just scripted out of games because they cannot aggressively lean on the ground gape in any capacity, right?

16:09 And even if we do get Huntley back, Huntley is not necessarily the best thing in the world for Derrick Henry. We had three full starts, weeks five through seven. Week five was good, but it was a matchup against Atlanta, which is good, but we just saw five fantasy points against Cleveland and Cincinnati with Tyler Huntley. it's more game script dependent and it's not the same level of upside that we have seen consistently with Lamar Jackson at quarterback and good matchups don't really matter as well. Unfortunately, if the script isn't right, obviously Buffalo has been an excellent matchup in general against the run. One of the most beneficial in the entire league. And unfortunately we just saw

16:50 11 carries for 53 yards. Thank God he got the touchdown on that one. But if we didn't get the touchdown, uh, Then the script we're looking for moving forward here is at best case scenario, 10 to 12 carries for 50 yards. And we're praying that a touchdown comes. I don't want to do that against the upcoming schedule. We've got Jacksonville.

17:09 That's a no-go. The chargers is fine. Carolina is fine, but that's it. Those are the only two fine games. And if your plan is not to wait for those games and hopefully get good games, because it's a great matchup and sell high off, off of that. After that it's Houston. Who for all their, you know, issues that they've had defensively, they have been strong against the run followed by Tampa Bay. That's a no-go Pittsburgh. No-go Cleveland can go either way. Cincinnati. We already saw that when that's a no-go. I feel like I said, no-go way too many times to, for us to actually feel comfortable rostering him. So go ahead, see what you can get package.

17:44 If you need to shop it around, get out, get good value. Don't sell for bottom dollar, but it's best for you to try and get out of this situation. as soon as possible.

17:56 One week ago, I did a trade show with Erickson and I, my running back to sell was Derek Henry. And that was before Lamar Jackson, you know, is now hurt for the season. I think he has looked different, particularly in the last few weeks. It's really particularly with Lamar, not on the field. And he is obviously a very old running back. He has a lot of carries under his belt and I don't think it's going to get better.

18:21 I think you could maybe hear some people make the argument of, well, the Ravens aren't going to give up on the season and their best chance of winning is to run Derek Henry as much as humanly possible. And therefore the volume is going to be good. I'm not buying that. I don't think that's going to be a viable path for them. I don't think it'll be effective for him. I think, you know, obviously at his age, you don't want to see him overworked. And he, to me is not going to be a startable running back in games where he doesn't get a touchdown.

18:48 Yeah.

18:49 And with this offense, obviously, How many touchdowns? They've been scored in under 14 points a game with Tyler Huntley. Now you have Joe Fagnano in there, too. Instead, like, even worse, let alone who else they're going to eventually sign because they're going to have to sign somebody. So I think this could get really ugly. And he is currently still ranked inside the top 10 amongst running backs for rest of season rankings. Again, this is updated since yesterday. Like, I would so much rather have Bashel Tootin, Bucky Irving, Jalen Warren, like, Chase Brown, even, like, Yeah, I don't.

19:20 He does not belong in this ranking. I think he's going to be much closer to RB20 than he is to RB10 the rest of the season. And my only concern with you picking this is, is it too late to sell it? And I don't think it is for the reasons you laid out. But that would be my only hesitation. Because other than that, I'm like, yes, do it unequivocally. I think people still underrate somehow. Underrate. the impact Lamar Jackson has. And it is, I said this earlier on a different show, it is beyond night and day what this offense is with him on the field and not. And you cannot overreact strongly enough to him not being on the field. So yeah, I'm totally with you here.

19:58 Yeah, because it's not even, it's not even like you can think about it and say, well, you know, rushing upside opens it up. You can get that with Tyler Huntley. It's not just that. It's not the fact of having a mobile quarterback that opens things up. the offense just operates so much differently under Lamar. That's like, it's not even close.

20:15 100%. You've got one more player for us to talk about here.

20:19 Yeah, we're going to do another shop, another soft shop of Michael Wilson. See what you can get out of him because obviously his value in general has tanked, unfortunately, since the departure of Mervyn Harrison Jr. pushed him up to wide receiver one and due to matchups, it just has not been working out. But we know it's due to matchups. Unfortunately, it's been matchup issue after matchup issue.

20:42 And now we finally get this good matchup against Dallas and lo and behold, the 15 target game is back. He's got over a hundred yards and a touchdown. We know what he can do in the right scenarios, right? If there was going to be a strong performance, it was going to get Dallas. So check box on that one.

20:58 But unfortunately, the rest of the season just doesn't really work out from a matchup perspective, right? We're going to see more of those games like the ones against Detroit, the Rams, and Denver. Those are going to be struggle games where, again, he's operating as the wide receiver one against tough coverage teams that treat him that way. And because the Arizona Cardinals have Trey McBride, you don't have to force feed your wide receiver one like you do with JSN. And by no means is Michael Wilson JSN, but it just makes it a pivotal situation to where When we get into these difficult matchups, unfortunately, Michael Wilson just becomes a liability. So when you're looking at the upcoming schedule, I mean, my God, Seattle, the Rams, Kansas city,

21:41 Washington is the only other good matchup. Do you want to truly wait around for that, for him to have a decent performance against them? So honestly, this is probably your last chance to be able to sell him in any capacity if you can. Shop it around and see what you get. Now, by no means, I say shop because by no means do I think you have to abandon ship on him because the playoff schedule is really good.

22:07 What we are looking at from a quarterback's situation and team situation once they get to that playoff schedule. Of the jets, new Orleans and Vegas. That's the big question mark. So it is a risk, right? And we feel good about him when they have Jacoby reset. We saw Carter Minshew come in and clearly he can put up volume at some point. We do have to see Carson back more than likely and see what that looks like. Do they push through it? Are those experimental games and softer matchups, right?

22:33 And they just say, let's let them have this new Orleans matchup and call it a day. Do we actually get them pivot back to a more stable option and Gardner Minshew? There's just so many directions.

22:41 So.

22:43 If you don't have the ability to get something decent out of him, you can wait around for those matchups, especially if you're a contender and you don't have to panic sell. But if you're struggling and you finally got a good game, you got the win, maybe you try and find a way to pivot off of him to something that can offer you more usable value over the next couple of weeks.

23:01 Sorry, where did you say, is he ranked for you? Did you give that ranking? He's wide receiver 21 rest of season rankings. I don't know if you think that's too high, too low, or just right.

23:12 It feels a little lofty. I have not. It's been a day. So I have not looked at rest of season rankings or updated anything this morning.

23:20 Yeah.

23:20 But it sounds just a little bit loftier than I would ideally like for him.

23:24 I agree. I mean, we inside the top 24 and like multiple spots inside the top 24. I know he had the big week this week against Dallas. Like they make everybody look good.

23:35 Yeah.

23:35 The other games haven't been there. So yeah, I'd be interested to see what you could get for him. I'm on board with this one too. We're going a little long, so we'll go ahead and wrap things up there. Thanks everybody for checking out our five moves to make ahead of week nine. For Tara, I'm Ryan Warmly. We'll see you again next time. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasypros.