Fantasy Football Trade Advice: WRs & TEs to BUY and SELL in Week 7 (Ep. 2279)

0:00 Hello, everybody.

0:01 Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan Wormley, joined by Andrew Erickson on this Tuesday morning. We are talking buys and sells for wide receivers and tight ends. If you missed it, we already did the running backs and quarterbacks version of the show earlier, so be sure to check that out on YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Erickson, we're talking some receivers and tight ends, some players you are really excited to talk about on this show. On the running back version of the show, I threw out a running back to sell that you were surprised by and really interested to hear what I had to say.

0:30 You're doing the same.

0:31 I'm very curious to hear more about this wide receiver that you want to be selling here. So we'll get to that a little bit later in the show. Before we dive in, first of all, just a reminder to everybody that our consensus rankings can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings. You can navigate to the rest of season rankings there as well. If you want to know where these guys line up in terms of the rest of season stuff. Before we dive in though, trade strategy advice, sort of a macro level approach to trading this week, heading into week seven.

0:55 Erickson, what do you have for us?

0:58 One man's trash. is another man's treasure, or she, or woman. The way I look at some of these sell low type of deals, I think that there is something to an advantage where if you trade a player that the stock is really low on, think about like O'Marion Hampton, right? Nobody wants this guy. Jalen Watt, nobody wants this player, right?

1:17 How do I get rid of these players? How do you get value out of these players, right? You're not necessarily expecting them to turn around anytime soon, but I think the angle that you want to approach it with is I need a receiver or I need a running back or I need a bi-week fill-in. So you trade your trash. some of these players and their value for another manager's trash, but at a position that you actually need.

1:39 Like that's a deal that I think that you can get done while selling low with some of these players, because you may have them on your bench and you can't use them, but it's like, look, man, my running back is such in dire straits right now. I would take O'Marion Hampton. Like he could score a touchdown. Sure.

1:54 I'll take him. So if I can trade my Jalen Waddle, who's doing nothing for me at receiver, trade for O'Marion Hampton, who at least is a running back. Okay. That's maybe a deal that you can get done. So kind of thinking a little bit more outside the box in terms of addressing your needs and not making everything so player focused, I think is an interesting strategy to use in some of your trades.

2:14 So a mutual selling low of players.

2:18 But benefiting the team needs in the deal.

2:22 Do you do these sorts of trades a lot?

2:25 I wish I did more, honestly. I think that's kind of something that, and that's why I wanted to bring it to the table this week with the trade advice, because I don't think it's used enough. Where we all know, right, and that's why we're not talking about like, oh, Jalen Waddell's my wide receiver to sell, right? And then the first comment is like, to who? To what? Well, if you sell him for an equally bad running back that is also underwhelming dramatically, then maybe it's a deal that you can get done. I know that we sometimes see this in the real NFL where it's like, I'll trade you my wide receiver bust for your wide receiver bust, and maybe they'll be better.

2:54 Just see a change of scenery.

2:56 Yeah, a change of scenery. Now, that's not the reason why these players will perform better. It's like, well, I'm not on Erickson's fantasy team anymore, so now I'm going to start to perform at a high level. But you catch my drift, right? Where... just fixing needs on your team. I need more running backs on my team. I just need bodies because bye weeks are coming up. And sometimes you just need roster spots to fill. So understandably, like Waddle and Hampton, these are the guys I'm just kind of throwing out as examples because I know like obviously highly drafted players that have very underwhelmed versus expectation. They can still provide some value in bye weeks when you have to fill a roster of multiple flex spots and

3:29 multiple wide receivers. So if you have a hole at one of those spots, I think that is the interesting way to approach it.

3:36 Bi-weeks aren't just coming up, Erickson.

3:37 They're here.

3:38 Yeah, exactly.

3:39 We are in the bi-weeks time of the season. It's like I think of– in Pirates of the Caribbean where he goes, you best start believing in ghost stories, Miss Turner.

3:49 You're in one.

3:50 Like you best be ready for bi-weeks because you're in it. Like they are here.

3:54 I can already see the meme going up on the Fantasy Bros account of this ideology in an image. I'm ready for it.

4:00 You got to do it.

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4:42 Erickson, do it.

4:44 You got to do it. Wide receiver to buy. I knew where you were going before you even sent it in.

4:48 Who are you buying?

4:49 AJ Brown. AJB wide receiver one season is delayed slightly, but never denied. So we are going to be buying the Patriots number one wide receiver. Now, what were the expectations heading into last week? I had no idea. I didn't know if he was going to play a full allotment of snaps. I didn't know if he was going to be in a pitch count. That was not the case whatsoever. He ran around 100% of the Drake May dropbacks.

5:14 So the role was exceptional for A.J.

5:16 Brown.

5:17 He had 10 targets. 31.3% target share. That was the most targets by any one on the Patriots so far this season. So he misses all this time and he immediately comes back in his first game and immediately reestablish himself as the number one alpha in this offense, which had not been the case whatsoever. It wasn't like someone else was absorbing these targets. It was all spread out.

5:37 between Dobbs and Hollins and Douglas and all the different pass catchers for the Patriots. But once A.J. Brown was healthy enough to come back and play, it was all right. Back to what we were going to plan to do to start the year when he's going to be the alpha and get peppered with targets in this Josh McDaniels offense. Now, the usage was excellent. The production was nowhere near it.

5:57 It was really bad for A.J. Brown. He was dropping passes. It looked like a guy who had missed the last four weeks. And it looked like someone that was clearly knocking off some of the rush. But I say that as a encouraging standpoint, because it wasn't that he looked like he was injured. Like he looked like he was still going full go, maybe testing certain things out, making sure the ankle was good. But the fact that he played all of the snaps suggested to me like, okay, great.

6:22 He made it through his first game back, didn't have any relapses with his injury or his ankle, and he's going to be good to go. And he's going to play better On Thursday night against Chicago bears. Now that he has a full game under his belt after missing so much time over a month of NFL game action.

6:35 So to me, this is just a screaming quintessential by low wide receiver. Then you're getting all the usage. You're getting all the area arts. He still had two red zone targets when over four on third and fourth down, like Drake may was looking for him in critical situations and he did not deliver, but I don't care about that stuff. Like buying like drops are an indicator that the guy's getting open and that there's future production in upcoming years. games i think that's going to be the case here with ajrm because dude i i'm salivating over this schedule for the patriots that they have coming up and i know i mentioned it when we talked about drake may as a buy after i think week two you have the bears on the road on thursday night

7:14 then you have the dolphins then you have the packers then you have the lions then they have the patriots have their bi-week bills chargers like this is one of the best schedules rest of season that you can look at for receivers.

7:27 Let me interrupt you and actually ask about the schedule because I think it's a really fascinating situation where yes, the next, what is it? Seven weeks are dynamite as a schedule. And I totally agree. And I was going to bring this up. If you didn't, they're awesome.

7:39 After that, it does get a lot tougher.

7:41 You know, week 14 on is Minnesota, Kansas city at the jets, Denver, Like that second Miami game, he doesn't get during the fantasy regular season. That's week 18. So when you think about a player like A.J. Brown and you're making a trade like this, are you more, and I think I know the answer to this, but are you more focused on, hey, the next six weeks are awesome, but it.

8:02 Gets harder after than that?

8:03 Or are you worried about, hey, I'm trading for this guy who now during the actual fantasy playoffs, when you go to win your league, is going to be facing some tougher matchups?

8:11 Well, I think that I value the schedule more immediately a little bit more because I know what those defenses look like right now. Because we talk about those future matchups as, oh, this is a tough matchup. This is a tough matchup. Those defenses could look totally different by the time we actually get there. So that's one reason I would press pause. I also think that you abide by you got to get there first, right? Like at least Adrian Brown can help you get there and then you can kind of make ways with whatever you need to do. So I'm paying more attention to what happened in week six where he got all the usage you could ask for underwhelmed in the box score but everything to say I mean what he was negative 12 fantasy

8:50 points under expectation in week six just how bad that he performed but I think the eyeball test was this guy is playing hurt or anything like that I thought that he looked okay in that capacity I think it's going to only improve as the season gets better and he's clearly the alpha in this passing game and attaching him to Drake May over the next seven weeks if I can get a wide receiver one which you're not gonna have to pay for to get AJ Brown in my opinion at least I think he's worth buying.

9:16 Yeah, you used kind of my own point against me because I've definitely brought this up over the years on this show with you that those late season defensive schedules, like you just don't know. Those teams, if they're bad, like would it shock you if the Broncos kind of fell apart this year and weren't in the playoffs by then and the defense just isn't playing as hard and doesn't look as good? Like, no, that wouldn't shock me.

9:34 The Jets obviously could fall into that bucket as well in week 16. And then all of a sudden that looks like a really nice fantasy playoff schedule.

9:41 So it's a good point. Put your money where your mouth is. Where is A.J. Brown ranked rest of season for you?

9:47 So I have him wide receiver 16 right now. He is wedged right between or right after the two Packers wide receivers, Christian Watson and Matthew Golden. I actually think that's too low.

10:00 I'm surprised you have him at only 16. I thought he was going to be higher for you.

10:05 Honestly.

10:05 I mean, I guess I want to see a little bit more. Maybe I need to move him up. I mean, I'm already kind of considering because the two guys that I was looking at in terms of trading for A.J. Brown, and I can probably just make this update live, would be Tedaroa and Garrett Wilson. Like those would be the two guys that I would look to trade.

10:20 Those guys are 14 and 15 in ECR, by the way.

10:22 So where's AJ Brown in ECR? 19.

10:24 Yeah.

10:26 So you're still ahead. Yes.

10:27 But those would be the two guys. I just thought you were going to be more ahead.

10:30 I just think like, like we were really excited about this fit going into the season. And if you're telling me that like the usage is there and you felt like watching him, I didn't watch the game as closely as you did, but watching the eye test, you didn't feel like he was that limited.

10:44 Then like, okay.

10:46 Why are we not just reverting back to closer to what our expectations were before the season, which would have been a lot higher than wide receiver 16. At least for me, it was, I, he, I thought it was clearly like, you know, or like wide receiver 10. I forget exactly where I had it, but he was, he was definitely inside the top 12 for me. So if it's like, okay, the usage is back. Drake may is back to being very good and it's a nice schedule.

11:05 And we think he's healthy. Then to me, like he should be ahead of Ted or a McMillan and Garrett Wilson.

11:10 He should be ahead.

11:11 Like, The problem is then you start to get into the guys who have elevated their games this season already, like Parker Washington and Christian Watson, who were ranked behind A.J. Brown before, but now have really earned that spot inside the top 12 or 13. So that's, to me, where it gets kind of tricky. But I feel like he should at least be inside the top 15, if not a little bit higher. Would you rather have A.J. Brown or Justin Jefferson the rest of the season? If you really believe A.J. Brown is healthy and getting this usage— It's true. I think there's a really strong case for AJ Brown and Justin Jefferson's wide receiver nine in the consensus rest of season ranking. So to me, like again, health is a question mark. If you, if you don't

11:46 think he's that, if you think that's it, if that's.

11:48 Me, I mean, he was out there. Yeah.

11:51 Like, like boy, would I be happy to, to go trade for him? So, and I, and in fact, I can't really trade for him because I simply have him in a lot of leagues and he's been sitting on IR for the season for me. So, I'm not trading for him. I'm just finally elevating him and activating him off IR.

12:07 This is a moot point for a lot of people that have followed my content because I told everyone to draft AJ Brown. So it's like sick. Like I'm just excited about him finally performing. And I think that he is going to perform at a high level starting on Thursday night.

12:21 Yeah.

12:22 My player to buy is actually one spot behind AJ Brown in the rankings is Jalen Coker. Now the caveat here is when I put this sheet together last night, he was a few spots lower than And that was part of my analysis was that he was, I think he was a wide receiver 24 when I put the sheet together late last night in the consensus rest of season rankings.

12:39 And I was like, I just felt like that was too low.

12:41 He's now wide receiver 20, which is starting to get more into the range that I think is appropriate. I still think he's worth a buy, but I just wanted to highlight that caveat for me, including him here. He, I just think is a really good player. And I feel like there are always these players who are number two in their offense or whether because by reputation, that's what we thought going in, because of draft capital. Obviously, you could hardly have a bigger disparity in draft capital than between him and Tedaro McMillan. But I always want to be on the lookout for these guys who we've seen enough, like stop holding the draft capital against them or anything like that. They just are good players. And

13:18 I think we've gotten to that point as a consensus in the industry and people watching the games that Jalen Coker is good, I don't know if we've gotten to that point of how good he is.

13:26 I think he's a really good player.

13:29 And I think the Panthers should have two receivers inside the top 20 of the rest of season rankings right now. Like that is not too many. Whereas, you know, we typically reserve that for the Bengals with their two superstars or the Cowboys or the Eagles, you know, going before the start of the season, like the, you know, when they saw AJ Brown, like those teams that like, oh, they have these two true studs. I think the Panthers have two true studs, honestly. And I think Jalen Coker is undervalued. And I think because of the name value, I think because he's the number two in his offense, I mean, by name, right, he had 13 targets in week six. Like, he's still getting great usage. Like, I think that he is undervalued, even though he is now

14:03 at the top 20. And I think he's going to be better than that over the course of the rest of the season now that he's healthy. And the offense, I think, is going to continue to play well. Bryce Young appears to have taken a step forward. You know, he has the benefit of Tedderall McMillan taking some of that defensive attention away. I just think these guys are going to be really mutually beneficial to each other. And I think you're going to be really happy with either of them. Jalen Coker is more affordable. Again, he was a little bit more affordable, you know, prior to the sort of the change last night, if you're going by the consensus rankings. But at the end of the day, and this is kind of a long-winded answer, at the

14:33 end of the day, like, I think he is undervalued because of his place in the pecking order in this offense.

14:38 And I think that's wrong.

14:40 I don't really have much to add with Coker. I think that he's been a fantastic pick. He's been very, very productive. He's a top 12 wide receiver in points per game this year. Again, he's missed some time with some injuries, and that's one of the other things that he has dealt with through his early part to his NFL career is he has been banged up. He's banged up this year. One thing of their note, too, and I noticed this while looking at the fantasy pro strength of schedule tool, Panther schedule gets tougher, right? It's not as much. cupcake matchups that Bryce Young has faced to start the season now again still giving credit to Bryce Young playing at a the best NFL level that he has played at since being drafted it concerns me when

15:17 you look at week 15 or excuse me week 16 at the Steelers week 17 Seattle right like that's no one's idea of like oh this is a great like run for the fantasy championships as Jalen Coker that's not ideal. But to your point about like, I mean, upcoming, it's like Buccaneers, Packers, Broncos, obviously not ideal, but like Saints, Ravens, et cetera.

15:36 It's a version of AJ Brown where yes, the late season schedule doesn't look great right now. Who knows what it'll look like by the time you get there, but the upcoming schedule, I don't think it's that bad. Like it's, it's the late season schedule. Like that Minnesota game in week 13 onward.

15:48 Okay.

15:48 Yes.

15:49 That gets a little tougher the next six weeks, next five weeks.

15:52 I'm like these matchups, maybe they're not as easy as they were in the first month of the season, but I think they're fine. And, and I, I mean, The Eagles, on paper, are not really a great matchup, and Jalen Coker had 13 targets, six catches, 97 yards.

16:04 They can't stop slot receivers. That was the one prop that I hit last week was Jalen Coker over.

16:09 Just in general, I mean, the Eagles' defense is talented is kind of what I meant. You're right.

16:14 Yeah, I mean, he's three kind of full games he's played this season. Those three games, he has nine, nine, and 13 targets in those games, eight, eight, and six catches. averaging something like 95 yards a game across those three full games. Again, he's a good player who I think is being valued as a number two in the offense, and I think he's essentially a second number one.

16:34 I think Jalen Coker's really good.

16:35 Yeah, I remember, and this is not, obviously this is before the injury for McLaurin, but remember we were debating Coker versus McLaurin.

16:41 Yeah.

16:42 A couple weeks back.

16:43 He's jumped up a lot since then in the consensus rankings, and I still don't think it's enough. Again, when he was wide-share 24 last night, I was going to come in here and be like, this is one of the most obvious buys.

16:52 You know, of the season.

16:53 He's now getting more into that range where he should be, but still, I think, I mean, he's in that range with the other number twos, right? If you look at wide receiver 16 through 21 in the consensus rankings, set aside AJ Brown, who's in that ranking in order, it's Matthew Golden, George Pickens, T Higgins, Jalen Coker, Devante Smith.

17:10 Smith is no longer the number two, but he has been in the past. Those other three are all guys who are quote unquote, number twos in their offenses. And I'm really glad to see Coker in this range. Now, I think by name value and, and reputation, uh, that you can still trade for him as if he's lesser than these guys.

17:24 And I don't think he is. I think he's absolutely on their level.

17:26 So did you give a player name?

17:29 I really didn't.

17:31 One that I think is interesting is actually like back to back is Devante Smith. I'm curious who you would rather have rest of season. given that Jalen Hurts is now out for the year for the Eagles. I think that's kind of a fascinating one. I also was looking at maybe Michael Wilson, who has not been all that good in the two games without Marvin Harrison Jr. But I think you could kind of go in either direction on.

17:54 So those are two at the wide receiver position that I think are kind of interesting. Running back again, it's always so hard. Like I'd trade pretty much anybody outside of the top 15 to get him. I don't know if you can do that, just given the position and sort of the disparity there. I think maybe like, Honestly, like a Bucky Irving for Jalen Coker. If you could do that, I think I would be interested in doing that. Again, if I was able to move a running back, which not everybody is able to do.

18:17 Do you trade one of your injured trio? Barkley, Love, Hall, and just kind of like, I'm done with these guys. Like, I just, I don't know when they're coming back. Don't know how effective they're going to be, but I know what I'm getting in Jalen Coker.

18:30 I'd be open to it.

18:31 You know who I would definitely do is the guy right after those three in consensus, which is Josh Jacobs. I don't know if you could do that, but if somebody is going to buy into, oh, he's coming in and it's just going to be the bell cow that we expected. And now like, I'm just going to have elite Josh Jacobs going forward. I would move Jacobs for, for Coker really easily. Okay.

18:47 Yeah. Especially cause you mean, I mean, Josh Jacobs costs you nothing to draft, really. You've had him on your roster. And it's like, if I can flip him now for a receiver that I feel like can be top 15 if he stays healthy rest of season, then yeah, that seems like a good move to make.

19:02 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 Pro's 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. Erickson, your wide receiver to sell.

19:31 Christian Watson. wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers. So this was not a player that I had considered talking about or bringing up on this segment, but it was actually, shout out to Hammy Takes on Discord. He was the one that kind of brought it to my eyes about maybe Watson is a potential sideline sell-high candidate. Because I'm going to kind of you're getting questions about him in terms of how he's being deployed in this offense alongside Matthew Golden. So it's kind of interesting because you look at the way that they've been used. So Matthew Golden leads the Packers to targets. Like when it comes to just like sheer volume, he has been the number one wide receiver in the Packers offense, not Christian Watson. Now,

20:08 Christian Watson has been more efficient. He has more yards and they basically are tied in terms of the amount of catches that they had. Although Matthew Golden, you know, catches some of those drop passes from Sunday night football. He is clearly ahead in terms of catches as well. So Matthew Gold, in terms of his usage in the offense, again, he has a 25% target share. That's top five this season.

20:28 He's wide receiver five and expected points per game. He's wide receiver 11 in actual points per game. Whereas Watson, Watson's a top five receiver in points per game, but he's only wide receiver 11 and expected points per game because he only has a 21% target share this season. That ranks 19th among all wide receivers. So again, stealing the side of your playbook, Worm. Christian Watson is valued as wide receiver nine in the ECR rankings. When his target share is outside the top 15, his expected points per game is also outside the top 10. The Packers offensive line, to me, feels like a ticking time bomb.

21:02 How sustainable is them just dropping back to throw bombs away with Jordan Love the rest of the season when he's facing one of the highest pressure rates he's ever faced in his NFL career? And The thing that scares me about this Packers offense overall, again, not this week against the Lions, right? Because you're looking at, okay, hold him at least for one more week because he's facing Detroit.

21:21 But what if the Packers don't be fun anymore because they get Josh Jacobs back?

21:27 What if they don't be fun anyway? I know, it's just the way you phrased that.

21:31 But that's the only way that I could explain it because it's so concerning to me where this Packers offense has been a wagon, right? It's been so awesome. You have a concentrated target share between the top three guys. But now with Jacobs back in the fold, does the floor go back to, well, we're going to run back what we did last year.

21:47 It's more Jacobs in the offensive line, I think. Sorry to cut you off.

21:49 I was just going to say, I don't think Jordan Love cares about the offensive line. I think he is wired to go bombs away no matter what. I think it's, oh, we're now going back to pounding the rock over and over again with Josh Jacobs is what would scare me.

22:02 Well, in an effort to make sure that Jordan Love stays healthy and upright, right? Again, like Jordan Love being efficient as a passer is nothing new. It's just now it's coming more in bunches because they're throwing the ball a lot more. Their defense is also playing a lot better too. We all saw what they did to Dallas.

22:15 So are they playing as many high scoring shootouts? That remains to be seen.

22:19 So would you rather, would you rather have Watson or Golden?

22:23 I have the rank back to back because right now the thing is like, I would rather have golden plus than Watson, but I know that the market is going to view Watson higher because Watson's a better player, right? I'm not trying to, because I don't want to discredit Christian Watson for what he's doing this year, man. Like he was one of my favorite receivers to draft him in Parker Washington. Like I wrote a wide receiver breakout article and those are the two guys I featured on it, right?

22:45 Watson and Parker Washington. So I don't love bringing him up here, but I thought that hammy takes brought up a lot of interesting points in discord about, Hey, like this is like prime time to sell because everybody wants Christian Watson. But he doesn't even lead his team in targets. And I think that that matters, especially when you're looking at the raw passing volume. Is that going to come down potentially? The schedule after the Lions. Carolina, Patriots, Vikings.

23:09 That's not nearly as fun as it's been the last couple weeks when it's been the Cowboys and the Detroit Lions.

23:15 It does get better late, I will say.

23:17 Saints, Buffalo, Miami, Chicago is weeks 13 through 16. So it does actually finish strong again.

23:23 Week 17 is Texans in Lambeau.

23:27 Like again, another spot where Watson has been dominating with efficiency and big plays. And if the offensive changes just a little bit and it takes a little bit off the top for Christian Watson, when he's not leading the team in targets, Tucker craft is only getting healthier and healthier. I just think, again, going back to the Mike Evans sell from last year or from last week, I didn't, I didn't want to sell Mike Evans for pennies on the dollar. Like I'm like, get a King's ransom for Mike Evans. And if you ended up trading before we play it on Sunday night, you're probably feeling or Monday night, you're probably feeling pretty good that you moved him. And with Christian Watson, again, I think there's an argument to

23:58 be made where, I mean, he's valued as wide receiver nine when his teammate is seeing more volume in the office than he is and is seeing more expected fantasy points per game than he is. And if you play out the rest of the season, would you be surprised if Matthew golden outscores Watson?

24:11 No, you can't be at this point.

24:13 So, so, so if that's the case, why not cash out for the quote unquote one B receiver on the Packers offense?

24:19 So you're kind of winning me over here, man.

24:21 I mean, I thought it was really good. And I, that's why I really thought I tried to really dive into it because like, there's a lot of sense and logic here. And again, I know Debro is falling out of his chair right now, listening to this because he knows he loves Christian Watson. And so do I, but just the more.

24:34 Half his games this season, he has four or fewer receptions. Like it has, it has not been the volume there. I, So the two things I would say on this. Number one is that Christian Watson is the type of player that I like having on my team because bad weeks in fantasy football from individual players don't hurt you nearly as much as good weeks help you. And Christian Watson is the type of player who, when he has those big weeks, will win you your week. And I like having those players on my team. And I still think Christian Watson will be that going forward, to be clear.

25:06 It just might be a little more fewer and farther between. than what we've kind of seen so far. But I do still think he will have those types of weeks. The other thing with Christian Watson is when you buy into the hype on a sleeper or breakout candidate or whatever word you would call him, and you get a guy in, let's say, round six, who is performing all of a sudden, like very quickly appears to have been one of the correct answers of the season, at least based on the early production. And he's performing like a guy that you could have drafted in the first half of round two. I mean, he's been wide receiver three on the season so far overall. Like when you hit on a guy like that late or even middle, not late. emotionally,

25:48 it's very hard to get rid of him. You're like, I, I, this was my big success of the year was that I believed in Christian Watson. This is me like saying what people are thinking, not me saying, but like you are pounding the tip.

26:00 You are bragging in the group chat.

26:01 Like every time he catches a big touchdown, like you guys, you guys see that. Remember when I took him in the six, you remember you all passed on him so you could go draft, you know, whatever quarterback or tight, like I got Christian Watson. That is what you feel when you get a guy like this, when you got him.

26:14 And it is so hard. to give up on that guy in those scenarios. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying that emotionally, like you got to really convince people, but you are taking a page out of my playbook with the, this isn't about the player. This is about the value and what you can actually get for him right now, which I think is a good point.

26:31 He's back-to-back with Parker Washington. Again, all the similar reasons you're attached to Christian Watson, Parker Washington managers are attached to Parker Washington. Now, he hasn't put it all together as much as Christian Watson has this season, but in terms of the peripherals, who do we talk about on the quarterbacks to buy show? Trevor Lawrence.

26:49 Why?

26:49 Because his schedule is all green lights the rest of the way. There is no stopping this Jaguars passing attack. And it's so clear to me who the number one receiver on the Jaguars is. There's no debate. Whereas with the Packers, it's like, I mean, Christian Watson doesn't leave his team in target. It's like those are all true things, whereas Washington is so head and shoulders above every other receiver on that offense. They're not even playing Brian Thomas Jr. anymore.

27:10 It's an interesting comp, too, because both guys, you lend an extra layer of validity to their breakouts because they did it at the second half of last year, too. Christian Watson was wide receiver 13 from week 11 on last season. So it feels like an extension of that. Parker Washington finished on fire. It feels like an extension of that. So it almost feels more legitimate seeing this breakout because we did see the early signs of it a year earlier. So I think it's kind of interesting actually just to put the two of them together. We've talked about Parker Washington a lot on this show.

27:40 Not as much on Christian Watson.

27:42 I think an interesting deal you could make is Christian Watson for A.J. Brown plus.

27:49 I mean, you could get that done. I think.

27:51 Yeah. Yeah. And it can be a running back. Can you be another wide receiver? One of the running backs we talked about in the running backs to buy show Blake Corman, AJ Brown. I mean, maybe even more. I mean, like, honestly, like the way that Christian Watson is being discussed, can you get like AJ Brown and chase Brown for Christian Watson?

28:06 Like, I mean, if you could do that, then yes, you absolutely should.

28:09 I don't know. He's a top 10 wide receiver and Chase Brown and AJ Brown are both outside the top 12 with their respective positions.

28:15 It feels like a lot, but I mean, if you could, I mean, negotiating the scale, if you can make that case.

28:19 What about Watson for Gentee and Coker?

28:24 I like that.

28:26 If somebody really, really likes Watson and wants to get that wide receiver one, I like that one.

28:30 I mean, again, this isn't to say he's going to just like do nothing the rest of the season, but I'm just saying like, Dude, if you're hurting a running back, you can get a fringe RB1 and a pretty strong receiver, like a top 15 guy.

28:43 Or let's say you took CeeDee Lamb and Malik Neighbors early, and then you also hit on Parker Washington, and Christian Watson is now one of these four guys. Let's say you took Zay Flowers, Christian Watson, Parker Washington, back-to-back-to-back rounds. There are managers out there who did that, trading him straight up for maybe Javante Williams or Somebody in that range of running backs I think is also worth looking at if you have real time.

29:09 I would also, too, trade Christian Watson to get Zay Flowers in terms of whatever I need to add to.

29:15 The deal to make that happen.

29:16 I would also use as a point.

29:20 My receiver to sell, I didn't feel that strongly about this one, honestly. I didn't have really a good one for this week.

29:25 Don't rain on your parade before you start.

29:29 DK Metcalf is who I'm looking to sell. The reason that I'm rating on it isn't that I disagree with it. It's that I don't know how much you will get for him. But he has two of his last three weeks have been pretty good games, honestly. He didn't do anything against the Colts, but against the Browns and the Bucks in weeks four and six, he averaged 12 targets per game in those games, eight catches and about 100 receiving yards. And, uh, I just, I continue to not be a believer in this offense and an Aaron Rogers going forward. And like Jalen Warren is really the only piece of this offense that I want to be involved with.

30:02 And a good rule of thumb for receivers is if you don't believe in them, sell them coming off the big game because it's a volatile position. Again, 15 targets against the bucks, 11 catches, 93 yards. that's a big game, you know, relative to DK Metcalf standards this season. I think there are people out there that still think DK Metcalf is a good player too. And I'm not saying he's a bad player, but I think there are people out there who like haven't given up on him as he's only 28 years old. He's still a really talented athletic receiver. I just don't believe in this offense. I don't believe in Aaron Rodgers, particularly long-term, you know, the, the, the, in terms of like later into the season, as the

30:32 weather gets colder, people have kind of talked about that with how old he is. At this point, the schedule is not particularly friendly, you know, after the bye week in week nine, it's, Cincinnati, Philly, Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, Baltimore. I know some of those defenses have had bad games at times this season, but there's a lot of talent on all five of those defenses, all six of those defenses for that stretch there. So I just think he's somebody where I'd be very willing to move him.

30:58 Now, this is one where.

30:59 You're probably not going to get a ton back, but I think you could include him with somebody else to make a trade. I think you can include DK Metcalf with a running back to upgrade at running back. I think you can include DK Metcalf with another receiver for somebody who needs depth through these bye weeks and injuries and get a better receiver. Like you're not going to trade DK Metcalf straight up for Jalen Coker because the Coker manager is not saying yes, but could you do Metcalf and somebody wants to buy on Stefan Diggs with Terry McLaurin out, put those two together and go get a Matthew Golden or Garrett Wilson. Like those are, that's the track that I would look to take with a guy like DK.

31:34 Metcalf right now.

31:35 Colonel Tate.

31:37 Straight up, I'd rather have Carnell Tate. They're back-to-back in consensus.

31:41 Yeah, so that's like a deal I would look at. I think that you've got to look at Metcalf as, and to your point about selling him, right, he's ranked pretty low in rest-of-season rankings because the market agrees with you. Yeah, the market agrees with you that this is probably not going to last.

31:54 Actually, I'm sorry, Webster for 31. I want to get it right for them. Sorry to cut you off.

31:57 It's going to fall off potentially. Again, you look at how pass-heavy the Steelers have been. They are third pass rate over expectation. They're second in true pass rate. this season. But Aaron Rogers also, I think top three or top four in total sacks taken. So as these hits start to pile up, pile up, pile up, how often and how aggressive are the Steelers going to remain being a pass heavy team that remains to be seen. That's something that I would be skeptical about rest of season. And that's obviously helping fuel a lot of DK Metcalf's production.

32:24 So I think the market's right on about this, where it's right now, he probably has more value to you. So trade him to a manager that needs production right now from their wide receiver. where you can bank on, hey, a guy maybe being a second half league winner, an interesting name. And maybe this is being too aggressive, like Jordan Tyson, right? You just be like, no, if Metcalf's on my bench anyway, and I can get someone like Jordan Tyson, where it's like, maybe this insane upside, again, it could be a total zero. Again, he's coming off of his injuries, a lot of injuries, but That guy was so, so talented coming out of the draft this year.

32:56 And have he not gotten hurt? He could have been, I mean, he could be melting bases right now. So I think that Jordan Tyson, maybe he's a move with, if you're not even starting Metcalf or you don't feel like you're ever confident playing him, it's like, then just draft or go get a upside rookie wide receiver who's going to make his season debut potentially this week in Paris.

33:13 You know who I think is kind of interesting, and we're going to loop this into our next conversation because it's your tight end to buy. We often don't talk about, oh, go trade for a tight end from the other position because, again, it's kind of unique to what your needs are. You have Terrence Ferguson, just to spoil it, as your buy here in this next segment. I think trading a guy like DK Metcalf for Terrence Ferguson, if somebody has Ferguson as their tight end too and views them as a bench piece, whereas you can view DK Metcalf as a bench piece and if they need a receiver, that's a deal I would make 10 out of 10, even though the rest of the season rankings aren't going to reflect that that's maybe a smart deal. I think that's the

33:42 type of upside swing that I would want to be taking. So let's get into Terrence Ferguson as your buy. But that's an example for me where you don't have to think about the tight end there, especially tight end coming off of IR. You're still currently on IR. That's one that I would highlight.

33:55 We've seen these tight ends for the Rams get way more involved the last couple of games when they've been dealing with injuries to their wide receivers. Most notably, Tyler Higby has really stepped up and had a much bigger role. Last week, it was Colby Parkinson that really stepped up and had a bigger role. But Devontae Adams is not coming back anytime soon. Out for six to 10 weeks.

34:12 Given his age, I'd be leaning towards him probably missing the remainder of the regular season, and maybe he'll come back for the postseason. I think that's ultimately what the Rams probably hope for with him, that he just comes back to help them make a Super Bowl run. But I don't think we're going to see him for fantasy football purposes, potentially rest of the season. So that immediately creates an opportunity for some of these pass catchers on the Rams. Now, Ferguson's also on injured reserve right now, but he's on the short-term IR. The expectation is he's going to be back at the start of November. So still...

34:41 a couple more weeks until he returns. But we saw, I think it was back in week two, right? When they had a whole game plan set up for Terrence Ferguson to take on this massive role and he ended up having a really big game. And I know we talked about it as man, like Terrence Ferguson, where is he resting? He's like a top 12, top 10 fantasy tight end because of the upside he could have in this offense. And I think that all applies here. It's just you got to wait for it a little bit.

35:02 But given this Adams injury and the timing of it, you got to strike now to get Ferguson on your roster, put him on your bench. Obviously, you've been playing a different tight end so you can make or you can survive in the short term, especially with these other guys still involved between Higby and Parkinson. So. I think that this is the, again, this was probably the easiest one I did in terms of tight ends to buy because it was so obvious to me. It's like, yes, Ferguson, get him from a different manager because they're not using him right now. He's hurt. This is a prime time to buy.

35:33 Erickson, I think this might be the single best buying opportunity when we look back on this season that you could have had.

35:42 I love this pick.

35:43 I think it's a fantastic call out by you, especially because it's going to be a little under the radar with him still on IRF. I genuinely think we might, in like the end of December, we might look back and say, what was the best trade you could have made this season? And it was buying Terrence Ferguson right now.

35:56 We talked so much. I talked about this a lot with Fitz. I've talked about this with you. If either Puka or Devontae ever missed time, we thought Terrence Ferguson could be a clear number two target in a great offense with a great offensive play caller who loves using tight ends. and could genuinely be the number three tight end in fantasy behind just Bowers and Trey McBride. We were so excited about the possibility if there were to be an injury that caused it. Ferguson was almost like the tight end. He was almost like a wide receiver handcuffed that you could put at tight end and was going for really cheap. That's why I loved him in draft season. That's why I was really excited before he got hurt himself. Devontae Adams is still going to be

36:37 out when Terrence Ferguson comes back to the point that you highlighted. That opportunity is going to be there. If Ferguson comes off IR... fully healthy a week from now or two weeks from now or whatever it is, holy cow, will the arrow be up for him? And right now he's tied in 16 in the rest of season rankings. Again, under the radar because he's injured. Boy, do I think this is the right one. And by the way, you might not even need to trade for him because there will be a lot of leagues where he was dropped just given the nature of those leagues. So go pick him up first of all on waivers if you can.

37:03 But if you can't, go trade for him. I think it'll be under the radar. It would not surprise me if he comes back and is tight end six rest of season, genuinely. There's not a very long list of tight ends that I am certain are going to be better than him the rest of the way if Devontae Adams really does miss, let's say, the rest of the season or close to it. I think this is a fantastic call because not only is the upside really high, I think the floor is actually kind of high once he gets healthy. I really find it hard to believe they're not going to use him once he's back on the field. And I think the opportunity is there because I think it's under the radar. So truly, I think maybe the single best call we could make this season

37:42 that's on the table it's not a guarantee right maybe that's a bull position but like i think that's on the table as an as an.

37:47 Outcome names that you could move for ferguson i think could get done especially if it's a manager that needs tight end production right now kyle pitts got two touchdowns last week selling high on pitts jk dobbins another player where if they need a running back jk dobbins you got late we know that his track record with his injuries he's usually not built to last and he's gotten a lot of volume over the last two weeks Like these are players that are near Terrence Ferguson in the rest season rankings.

38:14 How about at the tight end position, Chigakonko? Somebody says, okay, now Terry McLaurin's out. Konko's going to be great.

38:20 Give me Ferguson. I'll wait another week for it.

38:22 Yeah.

38:23 That's another one.

38:25 Yeah. Absolutely great call by you. Buy, sell, or hold wide receivers. How about Michael Wilson, Luther Burden, Matthew Golden? Again, not a ranking. It's an assessment of market value. Wilson is one I really want to include. I actually included him last week. But I wanted to do it again because he now has two bad games without Marvin Harrison Jr. there.

38:45 And there are people asking, like, what is this role actually going to look like going forward? What do we make of this? So I thought he was actually a really good one to include, even though we just did it a week ago. So Michael Wilson, Luther Burden, Matthew Golden.

38:57 Who do you like?

38:58 So buying Matthew Golden. I think just, I know I listed out some of the reasons why Christian Watson could be a sell high. If you could get Matthew Golden plus for Christian Watson, I think that's the deal to make. So he would be my buy, even though I did outline some of the environmental concerns about Green Bay. Luther Burton was my, could also be my buy, but he was my buy last week. So he would just probably be my hold. But I think that Michael Wilson is the clear sell here because I think that he's still on this certain pedestal of, okay, he's the number one receiver on the Cardinals, but you can see this Cardinals team getting off the rails sooner rather than later where if they go away from Jacoby Brissett, they decide to

39:32 do something else at the quarterback position. And Michael Wilson has just been not good with his opportunities so far this year. He's gotten a lot of volume, but he's been really inefficient. If you look at a lot of the advanced metrics in terms of EPA per target, quarterback rating when targeted, Michael Wilson ranks near bottom of the league in a lot of these different categories. So yes, he's going to see enough volume to pop in certain circumstances, but I mean, Marvin Harrison Jr. wasn't holding him back.

39:57 And I think that we talked about this last week where it was kind of like he was being inflated when Harrison wasn't even really a factor in the first place. And he's just had back-to-back dud weeks since they traded Marvin Harrison Jr. So maybe it just has to do more with the offense overall. I just don't think you need to be invested in Cardinals long-term. So If you can still get something strong for Michael Wilson as the de facto wide receiver one or wide receiver two really on his offense because of Trey McBride, then I think that's the guy to deal. I think that's probably where is he in ECR rest of season ranks? Michael Wilson, because I'm pretty sure I have him much lower.

40:29 Wide receiver 23.

40:31 I have him wide receiver 29. So, yeah, I'm much lower on. So this one was easy for me, actually.

40:36 OK, I actually agree with him as a sell.

40:38 I didn't.

40:39 I think it was easy though because I think you could make a case of like, hey, it's been two down weeks. Like we know that they're still going to throw and get a lot of garbage time opportunities over the course of the season and that Michael Wilson has been good within the last year. So like I think you could make the case for him to not be the sell here, but he is also my sell. I just don't find it as easy as you. I saw a funny tweet from somebody that said– and this obviously isn't actually true, but they were like, Kendrick Bourne is Marvin Harrison Jr-ing Michael Wilson.

41:04 Yeah, right.

41:05 And obviously, again, that's not actually what's happening here.

41:07 It's– It's like that conversation where, well, now Michael Wilson has to actually be the wide receiver when it's not so easy when Marvin Harrison's not drawing coverage his way.

41:16 There can be only one number two receiver in this offense who's actually producing. Yeah, and then I– so again, I do actually agree with your theories even though I find it to be closer than you did.

41:28 And Golden, I agree.

41:29 Even though he's the highest ranked of these guys, he's the smartest by just the targets. As we talked about during the Christian Watson segment, all those reasons I think pan out there.

41:39 One more trio here, Erickson. Roma, Dunzay, Emeka, Egbuka, Stefan, Diggs.

41:44 Obviously a new opportunity here with Diggs with McLaurin out for a while.

41:48 Dunzay and Egbuka, buy, sell, or hold?

41:52 I think Egbuka I want to hold on to. The Buccaneers schedule is getting a little bit easier. They're getting Baker Mayfield back potentially. Now maybe that's a bad thing because Egbuka was not good with Baker Mayfield, but we at least have proof of concept of a healthy Baker Mayfield being good for Emeka Egbuka. even if it was dating back to his rookie year, the start of it last year. One thing to highlight about the Buccaneers I've noticed over the last couple of weeks is it's very concentrated in terms of where the touches are going, right?

42:17 It's Bucky Irving and Emeka Ibuka that have really dominated the target share in the touches since Jane Daniels came back or took over as the quarterback for Mayfield. And that's kind of Zach Robinson's thing. If you remember in Atlanta, it was very similar where it was just Bijan and Drake London get all the targets. And that was Zach Robinson calling that offense. So I think Ibuka would probably be my either hold or buy. Probably just a hold for me. Just because I want to see what this Baker Mayfield thing kind of turns out to be. Rowan Madunze, I think just buying Bears just seems like a good investment to make. And he's coming off a so-so type of game. But he still runs all the routes for

42:56 Caleb Williams. So he would probably be my buy because you can buy him really cheap. Just getting Bears past catcher seems like a good strategy. And then Stephon Diggs would probably be my sell high. Right? Again... when going back to process, right? Who have we talked about a sell highs on the show over the last couple of weeks?

43:12 It's been these older receivers, right? Mike Evans, Terry McLaurin. I didn't never mentioned Devonta Adams is like a sell high, but like these players are just at a higher injury risk, older wide receivers. And Stefan Diggs now being put into this spot spotlight of, okay, well now he's going to be the number one wide receiver for the commanders. I know I talked about it on the intro to the running back show. I just think that people might get carried away with Diggs being the alpha number one wide receiver on his team when there actually are other formidable guys on that roster between Antonio Williams, a rookie that we're excited about. Chico Conquo commanded targets. He had more targets than Stephon Diggs, I believe, on Monday Night Football.

43:48 So I just wouldn't get like two out of my skis on Diggs in terms of him being the locked and loaded wide receiver one rest of season when he might be more like a wide receiver two, three rest of season. So that's probably who I would sell high on because he could probably get a strong return.

44:04 Yeah, I think I generally agree here.

44:05 Ibuka, for me, is the easy hold, I think. And then it's kind of between the other two. And I just think, generally speaking, I want to be selling guys. Not only is Diggs older, but I like selling off of the enthusiasm when it appears an opportunity is about to grow for a player because it doesn't always pan out that way.

44:22 Diggs' role might not change.

44:24 It might just be that Antonio Williams steps into Terry McLaurin's role. But if you can sell on the optimism that Diggs is going to have a much larger role in this offense, an offense that I'm not even sure I believe in that much, generally speaking— then I think that's where I would want to take that opportunity. So I go Diggs as a sell, Egbuka as the hold, just see what happens when Baker comes back, all that stuff.

44:43 And that leaves Roma Dunze as the buy, which I actually don't mind just because I think he's probably really affordable right now. I still think Dunze is a quality– player who is just, it has not really worked out this season yet.

44:55 And because of that, I think he's really cheap.

44:57 Also his schedule coming up is not that friendly, but it does get a lot friendlier in the second half after the buy week. So I think if you can buy him and even maybe pay a little lower because, oh man, I don't want.

45:08 To spend up.

45:09 Look, he's got New England and Seattle is next to week. Like I think you can kind of sneak that in, but knowing that, oh, this, this gets a lot friendlier after the week 10 buy. So again, it's not that I'm sitting here saying, oh, the underlying metrics are showing that Roman Dunzay is about to break out. It's just, I think, I still believe he's a good player and I think he's going to be really cheap compared to these other guys. So that's where I would go. Buy a Dunzay, hold a Bucca, and sell digs. We'll go ahead and wrap things up there. Thanks everybody for checking out this episode. For Erickson, I'm Ryan Wormley.

45:36 We'll see you again next time.

45:37 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.