New Reality No.130: Early-Season Dynasty Trading

Chad Parsons's New Reality No.130: Early-Season Dynasty Trading Chad Parsons Published 09/12/2019

The opening week of the NFL season presented the first data points in months. Dynasty GMs are left with a variety of avenues to navigate player value including:

  • What was a trend and what was an outlier from Week 1?
  • Assessing your roster strengths and weaknesses going forward
  • The fertile ground of early-season waiver wire players
  • Are trades needed for the dynasty roster?
  • Finally, setting the Week 2 lineup

The highest leverage aspects of the Dynasty GM's action plan this week are how they will assess potential roster weaknesses and navigating the trade market.

THE SELL LIST

The easier list and action plan involves players to sell as the marketplace is the rest of the league, where buying a player is a market of you (the buyer) working a deal with one specific GM about a specific player.

Both quarterbacks are building their sample size without impressive results as a strong distributor of fantasy points in the passing game. Starting with Garoppolo, he has 10 games played in his three-year San Francisco career to-date with a mere 13-to-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio and below (worse than) the NFL average in interception rate in both 2017 and 2018. Unlike Trubisky, Garoppolo offers minimal rushing ability to boost his fantasy numbers. Trubisky is also in a conducive offensive system but is hardly the reason for any success of the Bears offense. Trubisky made progress in 2018 to slightly above-average in many categories but still struggles with accuracy on intermediate and downfield throws.

Both Garoppolo and Trubisky are generally in the mid-teens of dynasty quarterback rankings and/or ADP (average draft position). In a start-1QB format, seeking an option like Christian Kirk or packaging Trubisky or Garoppolo together with a mid-level (Jarvis Landry type) wide receiver to pivot to an elite quarterback like Patrick Mahomes II are examples of recent trade construction for optimistic executed deals. In the Superflex marketplace, either one should garner a future Round 1 rookie pick or even something added on to the pick.

Williams dominated the Chiefs' running back snaps in Week 1, but it felt like LeSean McCoy was merely getting his feet wet with the offense and ramping up for more snaps and usage in short order. Williams shifting to a 1B or more receiving-centric role will still have value but more in the low-RB2 or Flex lineup conversation than an auto-start like Week 1. Williams was a tough sell in the offseason based around the general market being skeptical of Williams to be the unquestioned starter and being such a late-career bloomer if he did pull off the strong start-to-finish 2019 performance. Any future first-round pick would be a dynasty trade win in return for Williams, but even a 2020 Round 2 pick and an injury-away type running back is an acceptable outcome.

Cohen was the leading snap running back for the Bears in Week 1 at 70%, but the number is misleading as Cohen was largely in a receiver alignment instead of in the backfield. Mike Davis and David Montgomery are firmly ahead of Cohen for running back opportunities in the crowded backfield and the Bears are a spread-it-around attack on offense anyways to temper Cohen's upside, which will be high variance and tough to project week-to-week as a satellite option. In trading away Cohen the goal should be to acquire a more stable long-term asset and/or a running back with a more prototypical profile to be an unquestioned starter. Recent trades of this ilk include Cohen, 3rd, and 4th for 20 1st, Cohen for T.Y. Hilton, and Cohen and 20 3rd for Devin Singletary as ideas.

There are multiple variables at play to make Gordon not worth the trouble. First, his own long-standing oscillation between eligible to play and out of commission. The second part is Antonio Brown's potential presence in the offseason, which would siphon the upside from all other pieces. Yes, the best case is Gordon could be active for the entire season and Brown could torpedo his chances in New England as quickly as they start. However, a heavy majority of the outcomes involve one of those two things turning against Gordon and this sell window dissolving quickly. Examples of recent trades include:

The Eagles are absolutely loaded on offense with a host of weapons to siphon targets from Ertz after his record-setting 2018 season. Four Eagles had at least five targets in Week 1 and that did not include Dallas Goedert, who saw a hearty 55% of snaps and is bound to have a handful of quality games. With Evan Engram crashing the elite tight end tier, Ertz is losing his grip on true impact in start-1TE formats. Recent trades including Ertz to offer ideas:

THE BUY LIST

  • Backup Running Backs

Dynasty GMs chase opportunity in-season and No.2 running backs can be the best investments for future weeks. They are an injury away from a prominent role for a fraction of the cost. The most affordable No.2 backs who stand to inherit a strong workload with a single injury include:

Brown outproduced Todd Gurley in Week 1, mainly with his dominance of red zone carries. In addition to being one of the most valuable injury-away backs in all of fantasy if Gurley misses time, Brown will have flex or RB2 viability if his red-zone work is a sustaining role within the strong Rams offense. Ty Montgomery and Jaylen Samuels are other high upside backups considering their athleticism, receiving acumen, and dominance of snaps if the starter is out. Johnson is the sneaky name on the list. Kareem Hunt is out for two months and Dontrell Hilliard is a possibility to stay in the change-of-pace role with Johnson taking most of the interior work with Nick Chubb out. Johnson is the most likely name of the list on many dynasty waiver wires.
Also, the stock may be slipping some on the following primary backups based on their performance (or lack thereof) or the strong season start by the team's starter:
Harris was a healthy scratch in Week 1. A few more of them softens his stock where a 20 3rd and a sell high type asset is worth offering for the Day 2 pick where a Sony Michel injury can unlock Harris' upside. Mattison was impressive in Week 1, but the huge game from Dalvin Cook can cover the injury history for Cook quickly. Mattison was always an injury-away proposition this season and he also added a quality debut in Week 1, showing well as an interior runner. Penny, like Harris, can be a sagging stock back by the week. Chris Carson is the unquestioned starter with a strong share of the backfield. Betting on a discounted Round 1 back is a quality historical bet and, at worst, Penny is one of the best handcuffs in the NFL.
Krik was second on the Cardinals in targets Week 1 and Kyler Murray showing well as a pure passer is a tide-riser for the entire Arizona offense. Kirk's metric profile and Year 1 production was enough to point to a high floor outcome with WR1 ceiling in either of 2019 or 2020. Some recent trades including Kirk:
Donte Moncrief played poorly enough, despite having the snap and target edge as the Steelers' WR2, in Week 1 to point to a progressive shift to Washington as the season wears on. Washington is an elite metric prospect and Moncrief a career disappointment. Trades involving Washington include:

Photos provided by Imagn Images
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