You can find basic fantasy football "who to start" and "who to sit" information just about anywhere, but trading insight is harder to come by.
Today, I'm going to walk through a few trading strategies to optimize your team.
First, let's get some facts straight for the "anti-traders" among us:
1. Your team has room for improvement.
Unless you drafted the Patriots' offense and Joseph Addai, odds are your squad has a few weak spots.
In shallow leagues, these can usually be made up via smart pickups—but in larger leagues (such as my 16-person league), the waiver wire can be very barren.
2. Some of your players are over-performing.
Instead of riding them out (I'm looking at you, Wes Welker), trade them to someone who's willing to overpay.
The reverse is also true—if you see a player is undervalued (e.g. Reggie Brown or Lee Evans), nab him while you can.
3. Odds are you have another team you want to screw over.
Let's say Team A needs a RB this week, and is dealing with Team B. You can jump in, talk to Team B, and see what Team A was offering. Then, you can raise the asking price by making a verbal offer, and talking about how great the RB on Team B is.
Team A will either overpay to get him or won't get him at all.
With that established, let's get down to the nitty-gritty...
Strategy 1: Trading Up
To trade up, you need to have a bit of depth.
The basic trick is to trade TWO good players on your team for ONE very good player on another team, plus a toss-in.
If I have three RBs—let's say DeShaun Foster, Joseph Addai, and Fred Taylor—and only two RB slots, I won't be getting full value from my roster.
However, if I trade BOTH Taylor and Foster, I could get a player like Willis McGahee (and a player to drop later), who I would be able to start every week with Addai, maximizing my total points.
And you never know—the toss-in could evolve into something valuable.
Strategy 2: Roster Relief
In a deeper league, odds are a good chunk of your bench players are "sleepers"—guys who are playing poorly but who are due to bust out.
Let's say you have some key players due for a bye and your sleepers aren't performing. What do you do?
Spend the week before the bye hyping up your sleepers' stats to the rest of the league. Then, trade one of your sleepers for someone who's already had his bye week.
Why?
Most owners don't take the bye week into account, so if Player A has 500 yards and a TD and Player B has 550 yards and a TD, they might equate them—even though Player A has played an extra week.
Use this to your advantage.
Strategy 3: Blackmail
Let's say I have waiver priority. Someone in the league has been dominating because he owns Ronnie Brown—but UH OH! Brown goes down!
I use the waiver wire to pick up Jesse Chatman, and spend the week wearing down my opponent because he needs him badly.
This works best when a player like Travis Henry has an impending suspension (or is injury prone), and I pick up Selvin Young first.
Strategy 4: Sell High
Pretty basic: If you own a player who just had an unbelievable game (Kevin Curtis?), sell him as high as you can ASAP—because you can probably get way more than what he's worth.
Strategy 5: The Grand Scheme
This is going to be a little hard to explain, so bear with me.
The Grand Scheme is a rare trade maneuver that can only be performed if you're SURE certain events will occur.
Guessing wrong here can end your season. I pulled one of these off over the past few weeks, so here's a sample:
Step 1: I trade Chad Johnson, Tatum Bell, and Muhsin Muhammad for Reggie Wayne, Wes Welker, and DeShaun Foster.
Analysis: It looks like my opponent is trying to trade up for a better receiver, but Wayne is still top-five, so it doesn't effect me. I needed the RB help too (this was the last week before Tatum Bell lost his job to Kevin Jones), but the real kicker for me was Welker.
Wes had done nothing up to this point, but I was confident he was going to be very involved in the Dallas game (Dallas would likely key on Moss, and Stallworth is injury-prone).
Sure enough, Welker has a ridiculous game. The only downside is that Moose and Brian Griese are starting to gel.
Step 2: I trade Welker and Foster for Marshawn Lynch and Roddy White.
Analysis: Here I sell high and get Lynch for pennies. Lynch's stats had looked near enough to Foster's, but Foster hadn't had his bye yet.
Getting Roddy White was icing on the cake, because White was the Falcons' only target. Lucky for me, White decided to have a huge game, racking up over 100 yards and a score.
Step 3: I trade Chris Chambers, David Carr, and Jeff King for Patrick Crayton, Daunte Culpepper, and Donald Lee.
Analysis: First of all, I needed a TE. Secondly, Crayton's Yahoo! ranking was very high, and Chambers had just been traded to SD.
Capitalizing on the hype about how good Chambers will be in San Diego (he won't—you heard it here first), I upgraded slightly at QB2 and TE2, and got myself Crayton.
Now to finish The Grand Scheme...
Step 4: I trade Lee, Crayton, and White for Antonio Gates, Fred Taylor, and Muhsin Muhammad
Analysis: Maurice Jones-Drew is hurt, so Taylor gets a value boost. Gates is golden—the best TE money can buy. Best of all, I get Muhsin back to fill my WR2 spot (and split time with Reggie Brown) just as he gets back into a groove.
RESULT
I essentially traded Chad Johnson, Jeff King, David Carr, and Chris Chambers for Reggie Wayne, Marshawn Lynch, Antonio Gates, Fred Taylor, and Daunte Culpepper.
I upgraded substantially at every position. The next step? Wait until Brown has a great game, and package him (with Moose) for a player like Larry Fitzgerald, who's due to explode.
Happy Trading!
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9 months ago
Hey Jeff,
At least in the leagues I play in, I find that "trading up" rarely works. People have obsessions over the best players, and I think offering two good players for a great one and a toss-in still seems unappealing to most.
It seems illogical on it's face but then again, I can't say I don't feel the same way when somebody wants to take one of my studs and offers me two solid players.
from 9 months ago
Alex,
The real issue is how people look at their players. Antonio Gates is the best TE in fantasy, but if you can convince an owner that Chambers will be taking all those red-zone catches, any Gates owner will be looking to jump ship. A great example is a player like Frank Gore. To the untrained eye, Gore has been underproducing, AND he might be giving up some carries to Robinson to rest himself. Now, if you look into it, Gore has been CARRYING the entire team, and as soon as Alex Smith gets back, he'll be running like the top back he was meant to be. However, with all this bad news mounting, people will trade down to get rid of the risk.
9 months ago
Trading up works. I did it after week 1 when I packaged Matt Schaub and Cadillac Williams to get Ronnie Brown (and Joey Harrington, who I subsequently released). It worked like a charm as I rode Ronnie for the first half of the season, but now I'm stuck looking to replace him and a trade is my only option.
So Jeff, lets play some scenario analysis:
My RB's are Shaun Alexander (who has underperformed all year), plus a collection of backups/sleepers in DeAngelo Williams, Selvin Young, and Jesse Chatman (who I luckily snagged as the handcuff for Brown). Unless the Travis Henry suspension finally comes through and Young becomes a star, I really need a RB2 at the least.
My receiving core, on the other hand, is pretty damn solid. I've got first half fantasy stud Braylon Edwards along with T.(D.)O., Calvin Johnson, and Bernard Berrian. I've also got Tony Gonzalez at TE which always helps.
So my question is do I trade on my strength and try to flip a WR for a good RB, or do I stick with what I have to make up for my spotty RB group? I'm thinking I can get pretty good value for Edwards while his stock is high, but on the other hand I could see him playing at a high level the rest of the year, especially with the Browns always playing from behind.
What's my move, trade for a RB or stand pat?
9 months ago
I would say try and package Alexander and your worst player (someone who you have just as bust-out insurance, like Roydell Williams) to get a player with huge upside like Lynch. Alexander's name is still enough to boost his trade value, and people don't seem to realize how good Lynch is going to be for the rest of the year. It's not even funny.
Chatman will likely put up the points Brown did, if not more. You should feel confident starting him every week, and Young's value will skyrocket in exactly three weeks. Either Henry will end his season via injury, or the league will hand down a suspension. Either way, Henry is running on fumes at this point.
On an unrelated note, you may want to deal Berrian, as his value plummets with every Griese start. Not only is Berrian not a red-zone factor with Moose getting those catches, but he's been dropping a lot of passes. Try and trade him and DeAngelo Williams to a Larry Fitzgerald or Anquan Boldin owner who has run out of patience. You'll thank me later.
9 months ago
My fantasy team started out great.. I racked up lots of points and was leading the league at 4-0. Then injury took over and I've gone down burning. Brown, Delhome, C.Williams, and S.Jackson were all on my team..
I could use some trades big time but I'm not sure who to package... Any recommendations..
E. Manning (NYG - QB)
S. Rosenfels (Hou - QB) --- bye week fill in
D. Huard (KC - QB) --- incase Rosenfels doesn't start
T. Owens (Dal - WR)
J. Cotchery (NYJ - WR)
C. Johnson (Det - WR)
E. James (Ari - RB)
S. Jackson (StL - RB)
F. Taylor (Jac - RB)
J. Chatman (Mia - RB)
D. Clark (Ind - TE)
G. Olsen (Chi - TE) ---- was thinking of trading Clark if Olsen starts doing better
N. Kaeding (SD - PK) -- plan on dropping after Week 10 (brown's bye)
K. Brown (Hou - PK)
Seattle (Sea - DST)
Detroit (Det - DST)
from 9 months ago
I'm going to assume you're in a standard league, where you can start QB, RB1, WR1, WR2, RB/WR, TE, K and D.
That said, Huard is not the answer...anywhere. You should be fine starting Manning, but you may want to consider an upgrade if your league weighs heavily on QB points.
Owens is your only real #1 WR, and I would say it's your weakest area after TE. Try and get some poor sap to trade you Larry Fitzgerald and someone equivalent to Heath Miller in exchange for Cotchery (who will suffer with the rookie QB at the helm) and Clark (whose value will only go down from here).
Likewise, you might want to consider trading Edge while he's hot for someone like Marshawn Lynch, who has a very friendly schedule through the playoffs.
Your team has a good chance of succeeding provided that Stephen Jackson plays, or that Chatman pans out. Otherwise, you have a serious problem. Maybe package Detroit (who is very hot right now) and Fred Taylor to get Maroney or Jamal Lewis. Either one is more likely to finish out the season than Taylor, and their values won't get any lower. Use the free waiver spot to pick up Ryan Grant or Echemandu.
QB: Manning
WR1: Owens
WR2: Fitzgerald
RB1: Lynch
WR/RB: Chatman
TE: Miller
K: Brown
D: Seattle
Bench: Rosenfels/Huard (you only need one -- I reccommend Sage), Calvin Johnson, S. Jackson, Maroney/Lewis, Olsen, Grant, Kaeding (hand onto him...his value will go up rather quickly).
Hope this helps!
9 months ago
Jeff,
Thanks for your help. I made a couple of trades before seeing your reply.
I ended up trading Calvin Johnson & Fred Taylor for Kevin Curtis.
and in a seperate trade I traded Greg Olsen for DeShaun Foster.
So my lineup now looks like this:
starters:
E. Manning (NYG-QB)
E. James (Ari-RB)
S. Jackson (StL-RB)
K. Curtis (Phi-WR)
T. Owens (Dal-WR)
D. Clark (Ind-TE)
N. Kaeding (SD-PK)
Detroit (Det-DST)
Bench:
J. Chatman (Mia-RB) A. Battle (SF-WR) D. Foster (Car - RB)
J. Cotchery (NYJ-WR) A. Echemandu (Hou-RB) S. Rosenfels (Hou-QB)
A. Green (Hou-RB) Seattle (Sea-DST)
any other players you think will have a good 2nd half of the season at WR and RB...?
Thanks alot for your help
9 months ago
Well, I think Edge is going to be on the decline, and I think Jackson is going to be a non-factor if he can't stay healthy. Also, I would be starting Cotchery over Curtis.
That said, consider some of these moves:
James + Curtis for a top tier RB1 (Addai) or someone on the rise (Lynch) and a high-end sleeper (Patrick Crayton).
Curtis + Seattle for Pittsburgh D and a toss-in
A. Green for Reggie Brown. Trust me on this one.
S. Jackson and Arnaz Battle for Frank Gore. The owner of Gore will probably want to sell right about now.
A few names to go after on the cheap:
Lawerence Maroney
Justin Fargas
Ryan Grant
Julius Jones
Priest Holmes
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