Week 4 Fantasy Football Trade Strategy: WRs & TEs to Buy, Sell and Hold (Ep. 2229)

0:00 Hello, everybody. Welcome into the Fantasy Pros Football Podcast. I'm Ryan Wormley, joined by Andrew Erickson. This is part two of our trade show for week four. We already did running backs and quarterbacks in part one, so be sure to check that out. YouTube, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast. This will be wide receivers and tight ends.

0:18 Before we jump in, though, Erickson, I want to kind of take a moment and have you give some overarching, high-level, just general trade strategy advice, how you're approaching the trade market in week four.

0:32 If you're 0-3 right now, hope is not a strategy, right? It's time to make a move. So although you may like the depth on your roster, maybe you've been eviscerated by injuries, either way, it doesn't matter how you got to 0-3, it's a matter of digging out of your 0-3. And I think that making trades right now is integral because you got nothing to lose, right? At this point, I am willing to be a little bit more aggressive and in terms of going after some players that you could see are maybe more boom or bust, a lot of that ties back to guys that are coming off of injuries, right? Where how does the Puka Nakua manager feel about Puka right now? Done absolutely nothing. Maybe you're only three and you have Puka. Now, we obviously know

1:14 that some players are attached to teams that have losing records versus players that have winning records. But I think right now, if you are sitting at 0-3, it's just you got to be active on the trade streets this week, specifically going after... big upside type of players, or also looking just to find ways to stack wins. So if that's taking one of your stud players and breaking them down into multiple starting assets, you got to find ways to push the needle in your favor to try to stack up some wins. Because we all know at the end of the day with fantasy, it's you just got to make the playoffs, right? You find a way to get into the postseason and then anybody can make some noise.

1:52 So that's what I would echo this week for those looking to make trades. If you're only three, you can't just sit on the sidelines and watch other people make trades. You got to make some moves.

2:02 Last year was a really great year for the five or six seed in your playoffs, making the championship and winning. A lot of teams, like the ones and two seeds last year, we have the data from the synced leagues at fantasypros.com, and it was remarkable how few of the best teams across the regular season won. And I say that to say- You just got to make the dance, right?

2:25 So like do whatever you can to get into the playoffs. And, you know, you can't take the long-term view. You can't be looking at, oh, what's this guy's schedule look like in December? Because then I can kind of build for the future. Like if you're 1-2 or especially 0-3, you can't go to 0-4. And you can't go to 1-3.

2:41 It's really got to be the goal. So, yeah, like you have to take the win-now approach and then figure out. The league will change. Defenses and matchups will change.

2:51 Like.

2:52 Players will change between now and December. You got to take the short-term view. So I'm with you on this one. If you want a chance to win the ultimate symbol of fantasy glory, the fantasy football championship belt, courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware, then this is your moment.

3:09 This massive gold-plated belt is built to make a statement. It's bold, it's heavy, and it's guaranteed to turn heads in your league. Don't just win your championship, wear it. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pros YouTube channel right now, drop a comment below on any of our videos, and that's it. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel, so make sure to turn on notifications so you don't miss your chance to claim this championship belt and flex on your entire league. All right, Erickson, let's start with the wide receivers. Who is your receiver to buy?

3:35 Tedaroa McMillan, wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers. Now, Worm, you did mention on our other running backs show that Bryce Young is going through some imaging on his ankle, so that's something that you just wanted to be aware of before you send out any godfather deals for TMAC because the quarterback is a little bit banged up. But that being said, what does the process usually say when it comes to buying receivers? Once the quarterback goes down, you go scoop them up. So not to say Bryce Young is going to miss any time, but I think that just what TMAC has done throughout the first three weeks of the season, I think that he's being undervalued versus the market. So he is top of the NFL in terms of total end zone targets without a touchdown

4:17 yet this season. So every other player that has as many end zone targets as TMAC does so far this year has at least three touchdowns. So I think that he's a strong, positive touchdown regression candidate. You factor in the fact that Jalen Coker is probably going to miss one or two weeks with his quad injury that he's dealing with. And TMAC is facing the Lions this week.

4:37 This is the most smash spot for a player like him who's clear-cut alpha, number one wide receiver on his team, especially if Coker's going to miss some time. Even when Coker is available in the offense, they had basically been splitting as the number one receiver in terms of just raw target volume coming their way. So he's coming off his worst game of the year against the Cleveland Browns, which was a tougher matchup just based on how they defend perimeter cornerbacks. Two catches for 17 yards on five targets.

5:03 But like I said, a lot of two more end zone targets did not score. Leads all wide receivers and end zone targets without a touchdown yet this season. So I think that he's just a screaming positive regression candidate across multiple facets. And you get the Lions this week. So that's why he's going to be my buy low.

5:22 One thing I would say he does at the Lions this week, there is a bye in week five for the Panthers. So if you are one of these teams who's like 0-3 and really needs to do well soon, it's really helpful for week four. He won't be on your team for week five. I'm not even saying that that means you shouldn't trade for him. I just wanted to throw it out so people were aware if they are kind of in an early season hole. I mean, everybody will have a bye eventually. But from some perspective, it's nice to get out of the way early. But like I said, I just wanted to kind of throw that out there. I was really expecting a big year of touchdowns from McMillan. You know, he had seven last season, but it felt like, I mean, it took a while

5:57 for him to get into the end zone in 2025 as a rookie. I was like, okay, he kind of figured it out in the second half, like scoring more touchdowns. And I was really expecting like, like double digits this year. And like this, that to be a big part of how he was used was like in the end zone and just hasn't quite, you know, landed yet.

6:15 It's because this guy named frigging Darren Waller gets all the touchdowns.

6:22 I know it was a tougher matchup. Does it make you nervous at all that even with Coker going down, he only had two catches for 17 yards? It had been such a clear 1A and 1B situation. The 1B was gone, and yet the 1A had this worst game of the season. Does that make you nervous at all?

6:39 No, not really. I think this is a blip on the radar. He's still running all the routes. They're still talking about how the entire passing game goes through Tetra Roy McMillan. And we knew going in that the matchup against Cleveland on the road, which was the toughest spot that the Panthers had faced up to this point, was going to be tougher on the perimeter wide receivers. They are much weaker against the slot, which is why Jalen Coker, if he had not gotten injured, would have probably been more productive in that matchup last week. And also, too, we talked about it, Bryce Young dealing with an injury, right?

7:08 How did that influence how he was able to push the ball down the field to the perimeter, to the outside, the numbers where TMAC runs a lot of his routes? So if Coker is also not playing, I would expect you could see a scenario where TMAC is going more inside in the slot. So I just think that he's such a really good player. Second year guy, reigning offensive rookie of the year. And I just think that this spot here in week four is going to be a potential blow up spot for him on Sunday night football.

7:34 The whole world is watching. Carolina doesn't play a lot of primetime games. I think this is a spot where it's a reminder of, yeah, who's the guy that won offensive rookie of the year last season? Ted Arroa.

7:44 I cannot remember the last time Carolina hosted a Sunday night football game. It's going to feel weird watching it.

7:51 Yeah, you're like, how is this game? It's like when I first looked at the matchup, I automatically assumed it was in Detroit, right? Because, again, four field, of course, for the NFL, shootout. But no, on the road, Bank of America Stadium. So, yeah, it should be fun.

8:05 Yeah. Wide receiver 20, by the way, in rest of season rankings. Is that too high, too low, or just right?

8:12 I think that feels a little low for me. I would be curious to see. Coker's probably right in a similar range, too. I know it's a little bit more fluid because he's dealing with his injury right now, so he actually might have fallen a little bit. But I have him at wide receiver 17. So I'm curious, where is him versus... Malik Nabors.

8:34 Nabors is wide receiver 15. Okay. He is five spots higher than Tedder O. McMillan. Yeah. Okay. By the way, Jalen Coker is wide receiver 31 the rest of the season.

8:44 Okay.

8:45 Yeah, injury-related, possibly. But yeah, Tedder O. McMillan is wide receiver 20. So if you have him in the teens, that's a guy that's undervalued, in your opinion. My wide receiver to buy is valued a lot. more highly than this, but I still think it's worth going out and getting Parker Washington. And I don't know if this is technically a buy high. It is relative to where he was going in draft season. I don't think it's a buy high relative to what his value will be across the course of the rest of the season. And, you know, you look at his game log, five for 83 and a touchdown, seven for 98, three for 40 and a touchdown.

9:25 So he's coming off his worst game. He did have a touchdown though. wide receiver 28 this last week. He had been inside the top 16 the first two weeks. He has not topped 17 half PPR points in a game yet this season, and the usage is just phenomenal. I mean, really, it could even be better, but it's been enough that we're excited about it. It's what we kind of wanted to see him as the number one of this offense over the summer. He's had a couple of touchdowns. He had another awesome touchdown catch that got called back on penalty in the game against New England.

9:54 He did still catch a touchdown on that drive. So it's not like he missed out on this whole other drive's worth of touchdown. But just to say... he's making multiple great catches in the end zone for Trevor Lawrence. It's only going to have him throw to him more often. And really the reason I bring this up is I think that the industry we're in, Erickson, there was so much talk about Parker Washington this summer. We couldn't do a show without Washington getting mentioned, right? I went to the live Scott Fishbowl draft, a bunch of people in the industry there. You couldn't walk around without hearing people talk about Parker Washington. He was just like such a big name this summer for fantasy analysts that I really

10:34 want to try to step back and remind myself that the vast majority of people are not in these conversations every day and might not have had this high level of hype for Parker Washington. They might not be on fantasy Twitter anymore. 24-7 and on Sunday seeing everybody taking their victory laps and celebrating that Parker Washington looks good.

10:52 They might not know that you, the last time we talked, I don't know where he is now, but the last time we talked, you had him as wide receiver eight in your rest of season rankings. They might just be looking at, hey, he's been pretty good. He's been like a wide receiver two and kind of a nice find if you got him in rounds five or six, but that's just kind of okay. We have a much higher level of expectation and hype for Parker Washington going forward that I don't know if every single you know, kind of more casual league has. So I really wanted to highlight him to say, like, he has been good. This isn't a buy low, but we think the ceiling is even better than this. When I put together the sheet,

11:27 he was wide receiver 12. He's actually already bumped up to wide receiver 11 in the consensus rest of season rankings. But like I said, you had him inside the top 10 last time we talked about it. I think him versus a guy like Devante Smith is a really interesting conversation. I think him versus a guy like Puka is an interesting conversation. If you just want to say, I don't want to deal with the injury stuff and everything going on with Puka, you could make that trade. I think Parker Washington is worth spending up for because as good as he has been this season, Erickson, I think we have still only been seeing the floor, not the ceiling.

11:55 And that should be really exciting to people because if this is the floor, what could the ceiling actually be for this rising star?

12:00 Just scratching the surface, I think, is a really great way to summarize the Parker Washington 2026 because in the end of 2025, he was on an absolute heater. And there's nothing about what we've seen for the first three weeks of the season that suggests that that production is not going to eventually come to fruition here for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And this offense, we want parts of this offense.

12:24 This offense is a wagon with Liam Cohen. So I think that this is a really sharp buy high type of scenario. It's very interesting because of where he gets baked into with the other receivers. I don't think that the receiver for receiver way for Washington, besides like you mentioned with the Puka Nakua thing, just depending on how a certain manager feels about Pucco when he's going to come back, how productive is he going to be?

12:46 It's about risk tolerance for that.

12:47 It's about risk tolerance, of course. And do you want to wait or do you want to take the production now? Because we know Parker Washington, he still produces at a very high level, even if there's a little bit more meat on the bone with what he can do. So I still have my wide receiver eight. I could definitely shift him around because he's around guys like London, Collins, Pickens, Zay Flower. So some guys that I was kind of waiting to see, okay, well, they're coming back from injuries.

13:09 How are they going to do when they come back from their injury? I think that's the right conversation. But I think that the angle for Washington is trading a running back to get Parker Washington. Teams need running backs because of more injuries to the position. Find the HN manager, find the Brees Hall manager. Maybe if they have Parker Washington too, something along those lines, I think is the best way to approach it because it's a lot easier for people to kind of gauge wide receiver versus wide receiver.

13:34 And a lot of the times, if you're just moving between tiers of players without like the risk associated with a player like Apuka, I don't really recommend doing those types of trades because it's a lateral trade, right? It's like trade Drake, London for Parker, Washington. Great.

13:47 It's a challenge trade.

13:49 Yeah. Like we both got wide receiver ones. Like, okay. Like you may like one guy more than the other, but if they're ranked back to back and rest season rankings or wherever they're ranked, I don't really feel like your team is getting that much better. It's just, well, I think this guy's going to be better rest season or et cetera. Whereas running back wide receiver trades, okay, you can actually make your team better for where you actually need the most help at wide receiver by going out and getting a guy like Parker Washington if your running back situation is a little bit better. So he's a good name that we brought up.

14:16 Yeah, it's one of those where like when you do this show or if you've been listening to this show like every day and you're one of those types of listeners who are with us all the time, we really appreciate you. you might roll your eyes at this and be like, okay, duh, everybody knows about Parker Washington. I don't think that's the case for everybody, though. So I really wanted to make sure I mentioned him in that framing.

14:37 George Pickens was ahead of him when I put together this sheet, and I was going to be like, I would trade Pickens for Parker Washington pretty happily. He's now one spot lower, so that is one where I would actually be interested in a challenge trade in terms of the rankings, but I think it's a fair point that like so many people need running backs. And if you took Parker Washington, he's probably like your wide receiver two or maybe even three. And therefore you could say like, oh, well, like I'm in such a dire strait at running back that I can now kind of make that trade. So he's also just an awesome player. Like I just want to have as much Parker Washington as I can.

15:07 Is Parker Washington behind Zay Flowers and Drake London now? No.

15:11 He's behind both. Zay Flowers is wide receiver 8, Drake London is wide receiver 10, and then Washington is wide receiver 11.

15:15 Yeah, so I've just updated my– so I'm moving Parker Washington behind those two guys as well. I mentioned that I was still kind of figuring out how those guys were going to come back from their injuries, and they both look really, really good. Or not Drake London's injury, but Michael Penix playing his first game, obviously. Super smash.

15:30 I think that's fair.

15:31 I think you could make a really interesting case of Justin Jefferson versus Parker Washington. Like Jefferson is ranked higher, and I think probably correctly so. I have a degree of certainty with Parker Washington that I don't feel like I really have with Justin Jefferson. Ankle injury, Kyler of it all. Like, you know, we will see what that actually ends up looking like long term. But I think there is a very realistic possibility that Parker Washington outscores Justin Jefferson the rest of the season.

15:58 We haven't really seen it with Kyler yet, right? It's really weird that we've already played three games. Imagine saying this right where the Vikings are 3-0. And we still have no idea how Kyler and Jefferson gel together. Like we literally have no idea how these guys play together. And we still might not know if Jefferson doesn't play against Miami, which this would be the spot right where he should just absolutely smash. But assuming assuming his ankle is OK, that should be the expectation. Yeah.

16:27 Never wonder if you're winning a trade again. The Fantasy Pros Trade Analyzer instantly evaluates any deal based on your roster, scoring settings, and league, showing both the short and long-term impact. It even supports dynasty trades involving players and picks. Analyze your next deal at fantasypros.com slash analyzer or on the Fantasy Pros app. Erickson, give me a wide receiver to sell. So....

16:49 The theme with our running back trio to sell was selling the Buccaneers, right? You listed Bucky Irving as one of those options, and I said sell because I want to sell this Buccaneers offense, and that includes Emeka Egbuka. So this one I really toyed with for a long time, my wide receiver to sell, and I didn't want to just cop out and say, guys, just sell DK Metcalf. Like, we know exactly what we're doing here. I didn't want to do that. I know he's coming off a game where he caught a touchdown, but with Egbuka... Through three games, he has been outside the top 30 wide receivers in fantasy scoring. So that was with Baker Mayfield in this offense that has just been really underwhelming under new offensive

17:26 coordinator Zach Robinson. They are seventh worst passing yards per game, fifth worst yards per play, sixth worst in total yards per game, and dead last in EPA per play. This is what the 2026 Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense has been with its starting quarterback. Now you're throwing in an undrafted rookie free agent, Jalen Daniels, to be the starter for the next month or so for the season. I don't know if we even see Todd Bowles as the head coach by the time Baker Mayfield comes back to this team.

17:54 We don't know if Zach Robinson is going to keep his job as the offensive coordinator. So I know that we were saying it tongue in cheek about how this boat is taking on water. The ship has sailed on the Buccaneers. All the puns you can think about. It's all true, though. Like this offense is a disaster. So I don't want any part of it. And I'm willing to sell a player like Ibuka, who has just been meh to start the season, has not really commanded this elite level amount of targets in the offense like we thought we would from a ascending second year player. And really, it's been more of what we saw in the second half of last year with Ibuka and nothing like his hot start to his rookie year where He was a

18:33 borderline fantasy wide receiver one. That guy has not returned or shown up in 2026. There are still other pass catchers in this offense that command targets. Ted Hurst is making plays. Chris Godwin is still out there. So for me, Agbuka, he's a wide receiver three. That's where I think he should be appropriately valued. And there's a scenario where it gets even worse because of how this offense might shake out without Baker Mayfield, who was already playing really, really bad.

18:58 So I know that my process is always about buying the elite talents when their quarterbacks go down. And I still think that is the right way to approach these situations most of the time. However, where is the elite at Buka? That is my main concern. I don't know if he is elite because we've seen it now for this year, second half of last season. We haven't seen that elite guy. And that's what concerns me, that he is not good enough to overcome the situation that is just getting worse and worse as the weeks go on in Tampa Bay. If this is a fire sale scenario where the fire of the coach, the fire of the OC, are the Bucs going to be drafting quarterback next year because they have a top five draft pick? Because that's

19:38 how the story looks like it's shaping up. So Egbuka, is this just so obvious that Erickson, you can't sell Egbuka for anything? Like, what are you doing? Or is there a name brand cache with him where you can move him for something or a package him?

19:51 Well, what's interesting with Agbuka is it is a pretty encouraging schedule coming up. Green Bay and Dallas are the next two games. Those are two defense. And again, we talked about in the running back show, like Dallas's secondary is a non-starter right now. So maybe they get healthier by then, but right now that looks really appealing. Week six is Pittsburgh, possibly with still no Joey Porter Jr.

20:12 You get to Carolina, who's given up a big game, usually on the ground, but they have had an up-and-down defense this year. Chicago and Detroit are coming up shortly after that. The schedule is pretty encouraging. Again, I talk about this a lot. Maybe that's a selling point in trying to move him and say, hey, it's been tough, but look at the schedule coming up. or maybe that's a reason to hold. I kind of lean more on the hold side than the sell. I wouldn't be buying.

20:41 I am nervous enough. And again, you said like you usually like to go buy receivers after the quarterback goes down. I wouldn't do that here. So I'm with you in that regard. I do think, it's hard for me to forget about the first impression, right, that we saw from him last year. And I also had high hopes for Zach Robinson. So it's also hard for me to get rid of those entirely after three weeks. And, you know, the Vikings are a defense that are going to make a lot of teams look pretty bad. And he still had nine targets, five catches, 62 yards. Like it wasn't this big breakout game, but, you know, he led the team in receiving yards and all that. So like, I don't know, like there's enough there that I can't quite

21:21 bring myself to give up on it. But having said all that, that might be true of other managers in your league. They might be saying, oh, there's enough there. This is a guy who before the toe injury this summer, like I was going to take in like the third round of drafts, like I was super excited about. And they have this really nice schedule coming up. So there might be somebody in your league who would pay more than I'm expecting you to get, in which case I am on board with it. So that was really, again, long winded way of me saying like, I'm holding based on how I am valuing Ibuka. But I think there's a chance that managers in your league are valuing him more than I'm valuing him. in which case, yes, I

21:57 would be willing to sell in that scenario. And it's good to just communicate with your league and say, hey, guys, I'm open to moving Ibuka. I'm also open to holding him. I still do like him, but I wanted to throw it out there in case anybody is really buying into a nice kind of recovery of the season with Jalen Daniels or with the schedule coming up. So I think it's worth Communicate to your league that he's available, but that you're not desperate and just like trying to sell no matter what, if that distinction makes sense. Yeah.

22:28 I mean, all of this requires that nuance context because it's the price, right? What can you get for Ibuka? Where is he in the rest of season rankings?

22:37 He is at, I had his player card up. Why does he were 24?

22:43 So that's pretty high for someone that's not.

22:46 It was high. It was 19 a week ago. It just dropped five spots in the last week.

22:50 I mean, he has not finished as a top 24 receiver any week this season. Yeah. And that was with his starting quarterback.

22:56 Has he been inside the top 30? No, wide receiver 32 is his best finish.

22:59 Yeah. So that's what I mean. That's what really cuts it out to me, where it's like the week that he scored the touchdown, he didn't have the yardage or the catches to go along with it. So he hasn't really put together a complete week. We're seeing more of the bad version of McBuka, like we saw at the end of last year, his rookie season. And that's where I get concerned. And the fact that he's still being valued as a top 24 guy when he has not been that guy with his starting quarterback, unless you want to spin it as Jalen Daniels, an upgrade over Baker Mayfield.

23:25 And I mean, the way Baker Mayfield has been playing, I don't necessarily disagree, but, but yes, to your point, like. I that's why I just think that this is going to get worse for Tampa Bay. Like when we're talking about next week, it's going to be a whole man. Their face of the Dallas Cowboys. But oh, man, this offense was so bad in week four against Green Bay.

23:45 Like that's the concern where then what are you doing with that? So you held him versus. That yeah, that's why I'm like. think i just don't want bucks man like.

23:55 Would you rather him or lad mcconkie they're back to back.

23:58 Oh i would easily much i'd have a lad easy that's easy for me.

24:01 Oh really okay i'm surprised.

24:03 You'd rather have a muka than lad no no.

24:05 No i would rather have lad i just i thought it was close i didn't think it was easy um lad has been two bad weeks in a row we just we talked about that defense that herbert has coming up when we talked about the quarterbacks like lad has his last two weeks were five fantasy points 8.6 fantasy points that's wide receiver 61 and wide receiver 43 respectively And now he gets at Seattle, Denver, at Kansas City, by at Rams, Houston, at Baltimore. So, like, I agree.

24:31 I would prefer Ladd, but I think it's closer than your reaction, at least.

24:36 Ladd did hurt his rib. So that's one thing that at least I would give him that excuse. And there was that first drive in the first Chargers game where Ladd and Herbert looked unstoppable.

24:47 Yeah.

24:47 Which has never been a case for anything with the Buccaneers offense this year. So like that itself would be the reason why I would gravitate towards Ladd as the option there.

24:56 What about Ibuka or Rice, who was getting terrible usage early on? Debro was all over this. Got better usage in week three. Would you rather have Rice? Is that one also easy?

25:05 Yeah, Rice definitely as well.

25:06 Yeah, I agree on Rice. One more, Jamison Williams or Emeka Ibuka. He's two spots behind in consensus.

25:13 Yeah, Jamo has been not good. to say the least, the first three weeks of the season.

25:17 Would you say buns or cheeks?

25:21 He doesn't deserve that. It's been so bad. The Sam Laporta splits have been bad for him in terms of how his targets, receptions, yards have all dipped when Laporta's been healthy, and that has been the case. But going back to which offenses do you want to attach yourselves to? Do you want the Buccaneers offense that is declining out their quarterback, or do you want Jared Goff, who plays in a dome, with a terrible defense, plays in shootouts.

25:48 Jameson Williams could bust, but the games that he has monster performances, I'm willing to buy that. So I would actually also take Jamo here.

25:59 I've got a wide receiver to sell for you, Jordan Addison. He's wide receiver 43 in the rest of the season, consensus rankings. Obviously coming off of a nice game, five catches, 90 yards, and a touchdown. I just kind of feel like Addison is such an up and down. He's such an up and down receiver already who's now playing with an up and down quarterback. And I just kind of want to take the opportunity coming off a really good game.

26:26 I think there might be managers out there who say, OK, like seeing him really with Kyler, maybe there's a nice connection here. I just kind of want to take advantage of that and trade him. This might look really dumb because they play Miami this week and maybe the correct answer is wait one more week and then, oh, he's coming off of two really big games and then you try to trade him. I'm not opposed to that being the path that you choose to take. But for me, I just think it's such a roller coaster that I don't want to ride that coming off of a wide receiver 10 finish in a really nice game. I just want to kind of snap at the opportunity and see what I can sell him for. Because I don't think this is going to be a consistent thing with him,

27:05 given the offense he's in and the player he is. And I like the player, just like, you know, this ankle injury doesn't seem that concerning for Justin Jefferson. So when he's back, what do the targets look like? All of that. And, you know, he is not ranked that highly, which I think is worth noting. Again, some of the names around him, Brian Thomas Jr., who has been buns slash cheeks. Romeo Dobbs, who's been terrible. Casey Concepcion. Like, he's not ranked amongst a bunch of receivers that are super appealing. So... It might be that you actually can't get that much for him. But I think if you can find a manager in your league who's like, oh, look at the connection with Kyler. Jefferson's banged up. I

27:39 want this guy on my team. I think you take advantage of it.

27:42 I agree. These boomer bust wide receivers that you can flip after they pop off. It's the same reason why you buy Jameson Williams after he has turd games and then you sell them after he has.

27:52 A monster performance. I had Jameson Williams in mind when I mentioned this in the sheet because I knew you would bring him up. Yeah.

27:58 And I think too, the fact that Jefferson is banged up a little bit, I think, and they're facing the Dolphins. Like there's a chance that Addison still has another really productive game in week four.

28:06 I bet he does. I bet he has a big game this week.

28:08 Yeah. But that's also a reason why, okay, I don't need this type of production because nobody started him last week, right? So this is something I always think about with trades, right? Where someone blows up on your bench and you're super frustrated, trade that guy. Because clearly you didn't have the confidence to start him anyway, number one. And it's just going to It's going to be a player that brings you more pain than success or joy because you never know when to start them. Trade those guys. Those guys have no reason to be on your roster because all they do is just make you tilt your face off. So Addison, definitely one of those players.

28:39 Move them. Yeah. Let's do some tight ends. You've got one to buy and one to sell. Can go through these a little quickly. Who do you have for us?

28:47 So Travis Kelsey is going to be the guy for me to sell because I just don't think that his production is going to sustain here. So if you look at yards after the catch, Travis Kelsey leads the entire NFL and yards after the catch. And to me, that just seems very unsustainable for the soon to be 37 year old Chiefs tight end. And the big thing, and you actually kind of alluded this to when talking about Rashi Rice, Rashi Rice had one of his biggest games of the year in week three, caught seven of a team high, nine targets for 88 yards. He did not score, but his target share tripled from week two up to nearly 35%. While Travis Kelsey's target share fell by more than half, 23.4 to 11.5%. So Kelsey scored a touchdown.

29:30 He got the first play of the game, a 48 yard catch and run. This is not going to sustain because we've seen in the past when rushy rice has been operating at a high level, he eats into Travis Kelsey's underneath targets. And that's not to say rice is actually being used a little bit more downfield. I just don't think that Kelsey's production is going to sustain the way that it's been over the last three games where he's been ripping off like these monster plays so much yards out to the catch and At his age, I don't think that's going to sustain. Rice's career high in terms of target share happened in this last game. Third highest area share ever in a game. So if Rice is now healthy and he's ready to go and this

30:13 knee rehab injury thing is all past him and that's why he was struggling in the first two weeks of the season to command targets, then this is a rude awakening for those that have been riding Travis Kelsey. So the fact that he scored a touchdown last week, I think is the perfect time to wipe your hands clean of Kelsey. Cash out now. because I don't think that it's going to get better if Rice continues to see this much involvement.

30:34 Sorry, I was getting a call. Did you give your tight end to buy as well or just the sell? I got distracted. I didn't hear if you did that to start.

30:40 Got distracted. See, this is why you're going to be out buying Travis Kelsey, 37-year-old tight end in a 28-year-old body. That's a word thing.

30:48 I paid attention to everything you said about Travis Kelsey. I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss that you also give him a buy.

30:54 No, I mean, it would not surprise me if I said Kyle Pitts is a buy in one year and not the other because that's definitely what it feels like. Yeah. For starters, transparency. Kyle Pitts was someone I was not drafting. Did not want any part of Kyle Pitts in terms of his draft stock. I cited a lot of the Drake London splits, the Kirk Cousins splits, that he's much worse when Drake London is healthy in the lineup. And that has been apparent for three games. He's much worse with Michael Penix Jr. than Kirk Cousins. And Cousins is not walking through those doors anytime soon to take over as the Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback. But that all being said, I don't think what Kyle Pitts has done through the

31:34 first three weeks of the season is going to be what it looks like for the rest of the year, right? He's basically done nothing. And I think it's fair to point to the first two weeks as, okay, Mulligans. We talked about how this offense was so horrible with Cooper Rush as the quarterback. So I kind of want to give him a clean slate for those first two games.

31:56 And then this past week, okay. It's the first game with Michael Penix back. Penix is obviously going to lean on Drake London as his number one guy, which is what we've seen from him in the past. Kyle Pitts, another nothing burger for him. But now that it's been three weeks in a row, Kyle Pitts is basically being dropped across leagues because he hasn't done absolutely nothing. But Stefanski, we've seen in the past, operate with tight ends. And the thing with me, it's the price for Pitts, where he's just dirt cheap, man. Like you're going to find him on waivers this week. People are going to be dropping him to pick up Kenyan Sadiq and these other tight ends. I actually looked at him versus Sadiq in

32:29 my rest of season rankings for a long time, trying to figure out who I actually would want for the rest of the season. I don't know if I actually came to a strong conclusion on which guy I actually do want more, Kyle Pitts or Kenyan Sadiq, but that's like the territory that we're talking about with his price.

32:44 So the route participation is still okay. 75%, I believe. in his two healthy games or the two games that were not played by the Cooper rush where Cooper rush in week two, they took out pits out of the game because it was a blowout. So that's my spiel on pits worm thoughts.

33:04 I couldn't agree with you more on selling Kelsey. I couldn't agree with you less on buying pits and with pits. I'm actually in, I am in total agreement with you on tossing out those first two games, but I, It's not just week three that he has not been on the same page with Michael Penix. It's been all the time.

33:24 You just hit on this. So Fantasy Pros has the with or without you kind of splits tool. Would strongly encourage everybody to check out. Kyle Pitts with Michael Penix Jr. as the quarterback. He almost cuts his fantasy points in half that he scores. It goes from, on average, 13.18 with Penix not there to 7.79 with Penix in there.

33:47 You know, the targets are down by a couple. The receptions are obviously down. Receiving yards go from 57-ish a game to 35 a game. He just doesn't get the usage. And look, Penix loves throwing to Drake London. He does not throw to Kyle Pitts that much. And so while I'm okay to throw out Weeks 1 and 2, I'm not okay to throw out Week 3 because I think that's more reflective of what Pitts has been with Penix as a quarterback in the future. So with Drake London— healthy and performing and Michael picks healthy. I don't, I don't see Michael Pennix healthy. I don't think that there's going to be a lot there for, for Kyle Pitts.

34:21 So I'm not interested in buying him. He's a tight end 14 rest of season rankings. Like I'd rather take an injured Terrence Ferguson right now and hope that when he's healthy, he's getting better. You know, the usage we were hoping for this week, Mark Andrews has looked good at times this year. He hasn't been that productive yet.

34:37 I think I'd rather have him than Kyle Pitts. Jake Ferguson, I think, is not somebody that I want to be heavily investing in, but I do think he'll be more productive than Pitts for as long as Penix is the quarterback here. On the Kelsey side, I, again, couldn't agree more. Just given the age, early production, I just don't think it's going to last throughout the entire season, and I'd be really interested in selling. Would you sell Kelsey for Pitts straight up? Because there's a five-spot gap in the rest of season rankings at tight end between them.

35:10 No, I think I would definitely aim higher than Pitts. Because like that, again, I want to be clear, right? Because I agree with you in terms of Pitts as his production has fallen. That's why I didn't draft Pitts, right? Like this isn't a problem that I'm really running into. It's because I did not like Pitts in the combination.

35:25 But the fact of the matter is the dude is now free, right? And he was a tight end that was drafted as a top 10 guy, consensus, tight end during draft season. The two bad, and the fact that it's been three compounded bad games, I just think that there's an opportunity for, hey, see what happens, right? Is he going to have one catch every single week? No, especially with the fact that it's such a concentrated target share between guys like London. Jahan Dotson doesn't catch targets in this offense. So, and Kevin Stefanski, right? That was one of the big selling points for the Pitt stands was Stefanski likes to feature tight ends. And he continues to talk about how, okay, we got to get Pitts more involved. So I do think that he's going to

36:05 see more volume in future weeks. it feels crazy to think that you'd rather have pits than Kelsey. But I think when we have this conversation in a couple of weeks, it may not seem as crazy. Pits is hard from bulletproof, right? As we've seen when he plays with London and also with Michael Penix, but man, I think I just want, I think I want more health more for Kelsey because Kelsey has been really, really good and really productive. I think you should definitely aim higher. I don't think I would do a tight end for tight end trade with Kelsey.

36:33 I think it's tight end for best available running back and receiver and Whoever has the worst tight end situation, I am sending them Travis.

36:39 Kelsey with deals. Yeah, but you might need to get a tight end back. You might not have another one if you have Kelsey.

36:43 Well, I mean, you can trade Kelsey and pick up Kyle Pitts after he gets dropped. Because I think that's the thing. I mean, people on Discord are asking me, Can I drop hits? Can I drop hits? Can I drop hits?

36:53 Yeah, I mean, that's a fair question. He does owe us six touchdowns. Whatever year of the league he's in, he gets that many touchdowns. And this is year six.

37:02 So you know when they're coming. Weeks four through 18. Yes.

37:10 All right, let's do some buy, sell, or hold, excuse me, on the receivers. Then we'll get out of here. I mentioned a couple. Actually, all three of these names have been mentioned over the course of the show. So we'll do the first one here. Ladd McConkie, Jameson Williams, Rasheed Rice. Again, all of them will come up earlier on the episode, so I'm curious what direction you're going. Buy, sell, or hold. Ladd, Jameson, Williams, and Rasheed Rice.

37:31 Yeah, you sly dog. Sliding all these names in so that I already give out takes and then I have to either stick to them or completely change my train of thought. Buy, sell, hold. Ladd, Jamo, Rice. So Rice is definitely a hold. I think you're seeing the usage trend in the positive direction for him. He was someone that I was kind of on the fence with last week.

37:53 And now after obviously seeing what happened in Miami, that's positive. So I want to hold Rashi Rice. Jameson Williams is always just Lions offense, man. You just want to have parts of it. And if he can catch fire like he did in the second half of last year, he's a good buy low target. I feel like he's always a good buy low target. Like when in doubt, I'm just like, just buy Jameson Williams. I am like, like, You know he's going to have a couple of big games.

38:17 So JMO with the buy and then Ladd. I know I did talk about him over Ekbuka, but Ekbuka was also my sell. So unless I can sell Ladd or sell Ekbuka to get Ladd, probably be selling Ladd too. Okay.

38:29 So yeah, so that easy choice of him was relative to Ekbuka, not.

38:33 Strong endorsement of Ladd. Yes. That's a good way to paint a picture of it.

38:38 One other trio here. How about three rookie receivers, Erickson? Buy, sell, or hold? Denzel Boston, Carnell Tate, Casey Concepcion.

38:47 You sick, sick fiend putting these three rookies against each other. I think you got to hold Denzel Boston. Maybe he's even the buy, honestly. Honestly, I think Denzel Boston might be the buy because he's coming off a game where not super productive. out-targeted by Casey Concepcion. Concepcion was brutal, though, in terms of his actual efficiency with the amount of volume that he got, which to me isn't a signal of, oh, this is a guy, this is time to buy low on a receiver. It's, okay, we gave Casey Concepcion a ton of volume and it was not good. Let's give the ball to somebody else. Unfortunately, I think that's how coaches think sometimes.

39:25 By the way, just to give the stat line, Erickson, nine targets and he was wide receiver one Oh two on the two catches for nine yards on those nine targets.

39:35 Dude, that is a brutal. So that's tough to obviously be like, yeah, you got to hold on to this guy. Boston has definitely been the better of the two Cleveland Browns rookies. So I think that he would be the buy. He did have another catch in this past game that got wiped off due to a penalty. So if that catch had counted, he would have been closer, I think, to around 64 receiving yards total, which is more in line with his first two weeks of actual production. So Boston, maybe there's a bit of a buying window with him after he was out targeted by Casey Concepcion, even though he was more productive again. So Boston will be my buy. Concepcion, unfortunately, probably is my sell, even though I think both Browns

40:15 receivers are kind of holds. I think the fact that Boston has just been so much better than Concepcion to start the year. Just maybe too aggressive, assuming that Concepcion would be the number one receiver in this offense. So maybe he would be probably my sell. Again, if you can sell off the targets, that makes sense. And then no one's buying Carnell Tate anyway, so you can't really sell him. So he would probably be my hold because I do think that he has looked decent at times.

40:38 Attached to Cam Moore is never fun, but that's why you can't really trade him for anything. So I will hold Carnell Tate, hold on to the top five talent, 25% target share, back-to-back weeks. And I'm not afraid of Wanda Robinson being a major thorn in his side for the majority of the season.

40:54 Colonel Tate, I feel very much like the Braveheart gif of just hold, hold. I know it's not been good. Top five rookie receivers, it just is a smart bet. Even if it doesn't look good in the first three weeks of the season, it might not pan out. I'm not saying it's a 100%. Stone cold, lead pipe lock. I am saying that it is a smart bet to hold on those types of players.

41:18 Can you trade Concepcion to get Cardinal Tate?

41:24 So by the way, I was going to mention, these guys are all ranked very near each other in the consensus rest of season rankings. It's Boston wide receiver 39, Tate wide receiver 40, Concepcion wide receiver 42. So they are all right within each other.

41:35 Yeah, so I'm actually higher on all of those receivers relative to the rest of season rankings, but I also have them in that order. Boston.

41:43 Would you trade Jordan Addison for any of these guys?

41:48 I think I'd trade for Boston probably.

41:50 Because Addison is behind all four or all three of them in consensus the rest of the season.

41:56 Behind them or in front of them?

41:57 Behind them. He's wide receiver 43. They're 39, 40, 42. He's one spot behind Concepcion. Yeah.

42:00 So.

42:06 Yeah, I actually think I agree with holding Tate if you have him. I would be willing to buy him, honestly. Again, just on principle because I don't think it would cost much. I would not spend up, but I would be willing to buy him at what I think is a low cost on principle and just blindly trust top 10, top 5 rookie receivers later in the season. Just blind faith.

42:27 Comments. Let Worm hear it. His week 1 sell is now a buy. Carnell Tate.

42:32 Let him hear it. I, um, I really do not think the Titans offense is any good.

42:39 No, no.

42:39 I mean, dude, you're not, I stand by that early stance, but again, on principle, like this is a smart thing to do.

42:46 So you, you could sell them by players at different weeks and different times. Cause the price, again, the price has gone down. It's not going up.

42:52 So also like, man, he could have had a better game. Like if, if, if, uh, like, but yeah, I don't know. Um, Again, I don't think they're any good. They also do have a little bit of a nice schedule at the end of the season. I think you could pick between Boston and Tate and be fine. I wouldn't argue, but I agree with Concepcion as a sell there. We'll go ahead and wrap things up there. Thanks everybody for checking this out.

43:14 If you missed part one, please go check out the running backs and quarterbacks version of this show that we did as well. For Erickson, I'm Ryan Wormley. 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.