The dynasty trade market heats up in the middle of the season as owners point towards a contending or building mindset according to their 2018 results thus far. With sample size growing for the current season, owners are more comfortable projecting roles, usage, and performance than entering Week 1 or in the early weeks. As a result, becoming more active with bolstering a playoff-caliber roster or shifting to 2019 viable options is critical. This week's edition will look at contending rosters for 2018.
contending ROSTER TRADE IDEAS
The general idea behind trading as a contending dynasty team is two-fold - acquiring production for the current year but also making dynasty trades which look at multiple seasons to aid a team, not a redraft-centric approach of buying a month or two of impact. The natural win-win trade for contending teams is targeting the non-contenders by offering rookie picks and/or hopeful producers and young players for 2019 and beyond.
*All listed trades have been executed in dynasty trades in the past week and are the type of construction I would recommend to non-contending dynasty teams*
QUARTERBACKS
Seeking older players from a non-contending team is a tried and true trade strategy for target production. With the NFL rules shift, dynasty GMs should be less concerned with age at quarterback than ever before. Brees and Brady may very well have 2-3 more quality seasons. In my True Impact metric (accounting for production over baseline and start rate) has Brees as QB1, Brady QB5, and Rivers QB10. Here are some recent trades involving these targets:
- Brees, 1st for T.Y. Hilton, 2nd
- Brees, Ezekiel Elliott for Philip Rivers, Latavius Murray, 1st, 1st, 2nd
- Brees, 2nd for Derek Carr, 1st
- Brees for Andy Dalton, Keelan Cole, 1st (Superflex)
- Brady, Marshawn Lynch for 1st, 2nd (Superflex)
- Brady for Corey Clement, 3rd
- Brady, Julian Edelman for Alex Smith, Devin Funchess, 2nd (Superflex)
- Rivers for John Ross, 3rd
- Rivers for Michael Crabtree, 2nd
- Rivers for Josh Allen, Dak Prescott, Taywan Taylor
- Rivers for Dak Prescott (Superflex)
RUNNING BACKS
All of them are top-20 True Impact scores with McCaffrey RB8 overall and RB8 on a per-game basis with his bye week already passed. White, and Johnson are RB9/10 in scores with Lynch and Peterson short-term bets but the weekly volume is solid and in the RB15-20 range for True Impact.
- McCaffrey, DeSean Jackson for Allen Robinson, Keke Coutee, Duke Johnson Jr, 1st, 2nd
- McCaffrey, Adam Thielen for Austin Ekeler, Keke Coutee, 1st, 1st, 1st
- White for Christian Kirk
- White for 2nd, 4th
- White, 2nd for Dallas Goedert
- Johnson for Nick Chubb
- Johnson, Brees, 3rd, 4th for Alex Smith, Derrius Guice, Marlon Mack (Superflex)
- Johnson for Golladay
- Lynch, 4th for Mike Davis, 2nd
- Lynch, Tom Brady for 1st, 2nd (Superflex)
- Lynch for 3rd
- Peterson for 3rd
- Peterson, Emmanuel Sanders, Chris Hogan for James Washington, Quincy Enunwa
- Peterson for Jay Ajayi, 3rd, 3rd
WIDE RECEIVERS
Thielen is the WR1 in True Impact, double the impact of WR15 to put things in context. Jones and Green are older, but still top options and eventually Jones has to score a touchdown, right? Kupp gets less respect in the trade market than his numbers and offense strength would indicate.
- Thielen, Alex Smith for D.J. Moore, 1st, 2nd
- Thielen for Calvin Ridley, 1st
- Thielen for 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd
- Jones for Dallas Goedert, Tre'Quan Smith, 1st, 3rd
- Jones, Brandin Cooks for Dalvin Cook, Royce Freeman, 1st
- Jones for Allen Robinson, Hayden Hurst, 1st
- Jones, 2nd for Dalvin Cook
- Kupp for 1st
- Kupp for Taylor Gabriel, Tyler Lockett, 3rd
- Green for Deshaun Watson
- Green, 3rd for Amari Cooper, Chris Godwin, 2nd
- Green for Keke Coutee, Ito Smith, 1st
TIGHT ENDS
Gronkowski has been human through six games, TE3 in the True Impact metric and firmly behind Zach Ertz and Travis Kelce. However, the dominant weekly upside remains. Reed is healthy and a focal point for Washington's lagging passing game, TE9 in True Impact.
- Gronkowski, T.J. Yeldon for Will Fuller, Austin Hooper
- Gronkowski for Mitchell Trubisky, 1st
- Gronkowski for Taywan Taylor, Anthony Miller, C.J. Uzomah
- Reed for Chris Thompson
- Reed for 2nd
- Reed for LeSean McCoy
- Reed for Nelson Agholor