Fantasy Football Week 2: Updated Trade Value for Top 100 Players

Oh, the fears we have and the whims we'll follow after Week 1 of the football season.

Football is such an immediate and emotional sport that years of solid production can be erased in the minds of fans after just one week. Here are some of the conclusions we might have drawn after Week 1 last year:

• Sell Cam Newton! The bum only had 12 fantasy points in the opener against Seattle! (He'd go on to be the No. 3 fantasy quarterback.)
• Marshawn Lynch can't be trusted! I mean, 43 rushing yards and four fantasy points against Carolina? Sell, sell, sell! (Lynch was the No. 4 fantasy running back at the end of the season.)
• Leonard Hankerson is about to blow up, y'all! Five receptions for 80 yards and two scores against the Philadelphia Eagles, baby! Robert Griffin III found himself another weapon! (Hankerson would only play in 10 games last year before being lost to injury. After scoring 20 points in the opening week, he never exceeded six fantasy points in the next nine contests.) 

So yes, we all have to be careful jumping to snap judgements. On the other hand, if the other owners in your league want to jump to conclusions, well, that's on them. And if they're willing to sell one of their studs based on one poor performance, well, you should facilitate that wish for them. 

With my following trade value chart, you'll be sure to get the best possible deal and one that the hasty owner in your league will long regret.

Quick Notes

Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

I haven't included any defenses on the rankings yet because I think it's way too early to be worrying about trading for a defense when you could just stream them on a weekly basis and hold on to your other players.

Eventually I'll be using VORP (value above replacement player) to help determine each player's trade value, but it's not a telling metric after just one week. Finally, these values are meant to serve as a guide for you when you make your trades, but they aren't an exact science. You should always be taking into account your league format, team needs and other considerations.

Quarterbacks

Position Rank	Overall Rank	Player	Team	Value
1	8	Peyton Manning	Denver Broncos	29
2	10	Drew Brees	New Orleans Saints	27
3	11	Aaron Rodgers	Green Bay Packers	27
4	23	Matt Stafford	Detroit Lions	24
5	25	Cam Newton	Carolina Panthers	23
6	33	Andrew Luck	Indianapolis Colts	20
7	57	Matt Ryan	Atlanta Falcons	13
8	60	Nick Foles	Philadelphia Eagles	12
9	65	Robert Griffin III	Washington	11
10	78	Russell Wilson	Seattle Seahawks	6
11	92	Colin Kaepernick	San Francisco 49ers	3
12	98	Tom Brady	New England Patriots	2
13	99	Tony Romo	Dallas Cowboys	2

The top seven quarterbacks shouldn't come as any surprise to you. Peyton Manning is coming off of a historic year and started off strong against the Indianapolis Colts. His upside makes him insanely valuable. Ditto for Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, even if the latter started off slowly against the excellent Seattle defense.

Matt Stafford showed why he should be a top-five player in Week 1, while Cam Newton was sidelined on Sunday but has been consistently great for fantasy owners in his career. Then there is Andrew Luck, who is becoming consistently elite at the position in fantasy, and this week's MVP, Matt Ryan. 

Nick Foles showed in the second half against the Jacksonville Jaguars why he still belongs in the QB1 discussion and still holds a decent value, but after that, you can see where the question marks begin. Without question, there is an owner out there right now that is disillusioned with Robert Griffin III after his poor preseason and disappointing showing against the Houston Texans.

If you were going to go after him, now would be the time to do so. Here are the types of deals or packages you'll be giving up if you want him:

• Toby Gerhart
• Jordan Cameron and Riley Cooper
• Pierre Thomas and DeAndre Hopkins
• Trent Richardson and Mike Wallace
• Colin Kaepernick and Eric Decker

None of these deals are cheap, no, but you can see how all of these players (perhaps outside of Jordan Cameron) have some flaw or their role on their team is perhaps in question. If RG3 blows up like he's capable of doing this season and you gave up one of the above packages, are you going to be disappointed?

Of course not. You'll be thrilled. Don't be afraid to inquire about RG3 in your league.

Running Backs

Position Rank	Overall Rank	Player	Team	Value
1	1	LeSean McCoy	Philadelphia Eagles	30
2	2	Adrian Peterson	Minnesota Vikings	30
3	3	Jamaal Charles	Kansas City Chiefs	30
4	4	Matt Forte	Chicago Bears	30
5	5	Marshawn Lynch	Seattle Seahawks	30
6	9	Eddie Lacy	Green Bay Packers	28
7	12	Arian Foster	Houston Texans	27
8	18	DeMarco Murray	Dallas Cowboys	25
9	19	Alfred Morris	Washington	25
10	20	Le'Veon Bell	Pittsburgh Steelers	25
11	21	Montee Ball	Denver Broncos	25
12	22	Giovani Bernard	Cincinnati Bengals	25
13	26	Doug Martin	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	22
14	32	Andre Ellington	Arizona Cardinals	20
15	37	Reggie Bush	Detroit Lions	19
16	38	Ryan Mathews	San Diego Chargers	19
17	40	C.J. Spiller	Buffalo Bills	18
18	43	Rashad Jennings	New York Giants	17
19	53	Frank Gore	San Francisco 49ers	14
20	54	Zac Stacy	St. Louis Rams	14
21	55	Shane Vereen	New England Patriots	14
22	58	Joique Bell	Detroit Lions	12
23	62	Chris Johnson	New York Jets	12
24	63	Knowshon Moreno	Miami Dolphins	12
25	64	Toby Gerhart	Jacksonville Jaguars	11
26	66	Terrance West	Cleveland Browns	10
27	76	Pierre Thomas	New Orleans Saints	7
28	81	Trent Richardson	Indianapolis Colts	5
29	82	Lamar Miller	Miami Dolphins	5
30	83	Fred Jackson	Buffalo Bills	5
31	84	Bernard Pierce	Baltimore Ravens	5
32	87	Stevan Ridley	New England Patriots	4
33	88	Steven Jackson	Atlanta Falcons	3
34	90	Maurice Jones-Drew	Oakland Raiders	3
35	91	Darren Sproles	Philadelphia Eagles	3
36	95	DeAngelo Williams	Carolina Panthers	3
37	97	Danny Woodhead	San Diego Chargers	2

Running back continues to be a position of great uncertainty, so it should come as no surprise that the five most valuable players are the elite players at the position. After Marshawn Lynch's huge opener, he moves back up to the elite tier and bumps Eddie Lacy down a few places on the trade value chart. 

Arian Foster also was bumped up slightly (though I am still concerned with his injuries), while players like Doug Martin and Andre Ellington saw their value diminish slightly.

Cliff McBride/Getty Images

Meanwhile, that sound you here is Zac Stacy free-falling down the value chart, and why not? After hints that Benny Cunningham might eat into his carries this season, Stacy rushed just 11 times for 43 yards, while Cunningham had five carries for 21 yards.

The Rams have already had to resort to their third-string quarterback, Austin Davis, and they've never seemed to know how to use their other weapons like Tavon Austin. Teams can simply hone in on the running game and dare either Shaun Hill or Davis to beat them through the air.

That didn't stop Stacy from being a waiver-wire stud a year ago and legitimate RB2 for the duration of last season. But so far this year, he's becoming a very, very hard player to trust.

But let's say you do trust him and want to snag him while his trade value is at an all-time low. What are you giving up to get him?

• Russell Wilson and Terrance Williams
• Pierre Thomas and Julian Edelman
• Matt Ryan
• Michael Crabtree and Stevan Ridley
• Jason Witten and Lamar Miller

Sure, it's possible Stacy was a fluke performer last year and he'll continue to be a bust. But what if he isn't? What if he regains last year's form and becomes a consistent producer for you? Wouldn't you be glad you gave up any of the above deals to land a steady running back?

I'd be glad. I lowered Stacy well down my rankings because there haven't been many positives for him thus far this year, but as a fantasy owner I'm also not giving up hope just yet that he can turn things around. 

Wide Receivers

Position Rank	Overall Ranks	Player	Team	Value
1	7	Calvin Johnson	Detroit Lions	29
2	13	Demaryius Thomas	Denver Broncos	26
3	14	A.J. Green	Cincinnati Bengals	26
4	15	Dez Bryant	Dallas Cowboys	26
5	16	Brandon Marshall	Chicago Bears	26
6	17	Julio Jones	Atlanta Falcons	26
7	24	Jordy Nelson	Green Bay Packers	23
8	27	Randall Cobb	Green Bay Packers	22
9	28	Antonio Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers	22
10	30	Alshon Jeffery	Chicago Bears	22
11	34	Andre Johnson	Houston Texans	19
12	35	Percy Harvin	Seattle Seahawks	19
13	36	Vincent Jackson	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	19
14	41	Cordarrelle Patterson	Minnesota Vikings	18
15	42	Emmanuel Sanders	Denver Broncos	17
16	44	DeSean Jackson	Washington	17
17	45	Victor Cruz	New York Giants	16
18	46	Larry Fitzgerald	Arizona Cardinals	16
19	47	Pierre Garcon	Washington	16
20	48	Jeremy Maclin	Philadelphia Eagles	16
21	49	Roddy White	Atlanta Falcons	15
22	50	Reggie Wayne	Indianapolis Colts	15
23	51	Keenan Allen	San Diego Chargers	15
24	52	Michael Floyd	Arizona Cardinals	15
25	56	Marques Colston	New Orleans Saints	13
26	59	Torrey Smith	Baltimore Ravens	13
27	61	Kendall Wright	Tennessee Titans	12
28	67	Michael Crabtree	San Francisco 49ers	10
29	68	T.Y. Hilton	Indianapolis Colts	10
30	71	Eric Decker	New York Jets	8
31	72	Wes Welker	Denver Broncos	8
32	73	Terrance Williams	Dallas Cowboys	8
33	74	Golden Tate	Detroit Lions	8
34	75	Julian Edelman	New England Patriots	7
35	77	Sammy Watkins	Buffalo Bills	6
36	79	Mike Wallace	Miami Dolphins	6
37	80	Cecil Shorts	Jacksonville Jaguars	6
38	85	Brandin Cooks	New Orleans Saints	4
39	86	DeAndre Hopkins	Houston Texans	4
40	96	Riley Cooper	Philadelphia Eagles	2
41	100	Anquan Boldin	San Francisco 49ers	2

I'll be honest with you, folks—there is so much depth out there at wide receiver, I don't think you necessarily should be looking to make a deal for an elite wideout unless you are in a deep league and are really, really hurting at the position. 

When players like Roddy White, Reggie Wayne, Keenan Allen and Kendall Wright are WR3s in 10-team leagues—and that's how I have them valued in any trade scenarios—you know the position is deep. 

So let's say instead that you are comfortable with your depth at wide receiver but are hurting at some other positions. You have a guy in Vincent Jackson who you know will probably be pretty good this year but you don't like how streaky he is and you don't completely trust Josh McCown (me neither, for what that's worth). 

Who might you get for V-Jax if you deal him?

• Reggie Bush, Ryan Mathews or C.J. Spiller
• Andrew Luck
• Vernon Davis
• Jason Witten and Terrance West
• Russell Wilson and Knowshon Moreno

Not bad, right?

All of those deals will strengthen your team in other areas and, more than likely, you'll still be just fine at wide receiver. In almost every league I'm in, I have really solid depth at receiver. Don't be afraid to sacrifice a little depth to make your starting lineup stronger.

Tight Ends

Position Rank	Overall Ranks	Player	Team	Value
1	6	Jimmy Graham	New Orleans Saints	29
2	29	Julius Thomas	Denver Broncos	22
3	31	Rob Gronkowski	New England Patriots	21
4	39	Vernon Davis	San Francisco 49ers	18
5	69	Jason Witten	Dallas Cowboys	9
6	70	Jordan Cameron	Cleveland Browns	9
7	89	Greg Olsen	Carolina Panthers	3
8	93	Dennis Pitta	Baltimore Ravens	3
9	94	Zach Ertz	Philadelphia Eagles	3
10	100	Martellus Bennett	Chicago Bears	3

To be blunt, I don't think you should be trading away any of the top-10 tight ends right now. And I think if you have one of the top six at the position, you have a major value advantage over others in your league. Running back may be a weak and unpredictable position, but the pickings are pretty slim at tight end. There are a lot of okay options but few who stand out.

One guy whose value is really low right now but could be poised for a huge year, however, is Zach Ertz. Now absolutely would be the moment to go out and get him, because you'll likely have to give up very little in return (unless his owner either doesn't have another good tight end or is pretty savvy about these things like you are). 

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

If you really like Ertz and think his upside is huge, don't be afraid to overpay for him. His value in a deal right now is pretty low, but if I needed a tight end and I had, say, great depth at wide receiver, I'd absolutely give up a Sammy Watkins, Golden Tate or Terrance Williams to get him.

Would I be overpaying now? Yes. Would I be overpaying making that same deal in about a month if Ertz has a few more double-digit games?

Nope, not at all. I never recommend overpaying for a player, of course, and because Ertz is more potential than production at the moment, I think his market value is pretty low. But if you are mining for diamonds in the rough and have a strong hand to deal from, don't be afraid to pay a slight premium on Ertz. 

Hit me up on Twitter—I'll answer your fantasy questions and make some corny jokes too. It's more fun than karate class with Antonio Brown.