Win-Now Dynasty Fantasy Football Trade Targets: 8 Potential League-Winning Buys for 2025

July 10, 2025

Matt Donnelly's dynasty fantasy football trade targets for win-now strategies. His top eight league-winning trade targets and veteran sleepers for dynasty in 2025.

For fantasy managers, the question is usually whether to blow up the roster or go into a complete rebuild. Well, it doesn't have to be that black and white; sometimes the best option is to retool on the fly. 

For dynasty managers in particular, it's all about managing windows of opportunity. Some managers are always in win-now mode, focusing on the present season, while others prefer to plan with three- or even five-year windows. Whatever your preference happens to be, there are always options out there on the trade market that can address both strategies. Here are some players fantasy managers should be looking to trade for in their 2025 dynasty leagues.

For a deeper dive into dynasty strategy, rankings, and trade tactics, check out our complete Dynasty Fantasy Football Guide.

Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield is the perfect quarterback for those looking to compete in 2025 and beyond. Arguably the most underrated quarterback on the market, having posted consecutive top 10 fantasy finishes in 2023 and 2024, yet for one reason or another finds himself coming off the board as the QB14 according to Dynaty Data Labs' ADP Startup tool.

Since arriving in Tampa, only Jared Goff (9,204) has more passing yards than Mayfield has accumulated. Meanwhile, Mayfield's 69 touchdown passes have led the NFL over the same period. Last season, Mayfield's 7.2% touchdown rate was the seventh-highest recorded since the 2015 season. It's criminal how little love Mayfield is getting in these fantasy streets.

Consistency is key, and only Lamar Jackson (16) had more weekly top 12 finishes in 2024 than Mayfield's 13, including closing out the season with six such performances over the final seven contests.

Baker Mayfield absolutely CRUSHING Pat Mahomes in recent years pic.twitter.com/zpoqjRyMPL

— John Frascella (Football) (@NFLFrascella) June 26, 2025

Mayfield may not be a sexy name, but he has some of the best weapons. Mike Evans is seeking his 12th consecutive 1,000-yard season, Chris Godwin is returning after missing 10 games last season, Bucky Irving looks to continue to build on his successful rookie season, and Jalen McMillan proved to be a viable option down in the red zone.

If getting the band back together weren't enough, Mayfield will also be able to utilize one of the best receivers to ever come out of Ohio State, rookie Emeka Egbuka.

Kenneth Walker III, RB, Seattle Seahawks

Last season, Kenneth Walker III was limited to just 10 games, and of those 10 contests, Walker may have been realistically healthy for eight of them. In the eight games in which Walker accounted for at least 12 carries, he rushed for 511 yards and scored eight touchdowns (seven rushing). 

Despite the lost time, Walker finished as the RB25 in fantasy. However, Walker's 16.5 fantasy points per game average had him as the RB12, yet his current startup ADP has him pencilled in as the RB18.

Most Elusive RBs In The NFL?

RB Leaders by Missed Tackles Forced per Attempt (2024)

[+ min. 155 carries]

1. Kenneth Walker (0.30)
2. James Conner (0.29)
3. Bucky Irving (0.26)
4. Derrick Henry (0.21)
T5. James Cook (0.20)
T5. Bijan Robinson (0.20) pic.twitter.com/0EHgGIABGR

— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) June 17, 2025

Savvy fantasy managers may have noticed that in limited action last season, Walker saw a career-high 53 targets after being targeted on just 72 occasions over the previous two seasons. Walker's 12.7% target share was the fifth highest behind Alvin Kamara (19.6%), Christian McCaffrey (17.1%), De'Von Achane (14.4%), and Breece Hall (13.0%).

Seattle also made a couple of key additions that should help Walker further his production. While Seattle parted ways with DK Metcalf and Geno Smith, they welcome  Cooper Kupp and Sam Darnold to the offense, which changes the dynamic of the passing game, but not as much as the other change in the offense. 

That "other" change comes to us courtesy of new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and his outside run scheme, which also benefits Walker's running style. Kubiak has a history of involving his backs in the pass game. As an offensive coordinator, Kubiak's backs have seen a 12.7% target share.

Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets

To say the New York Jets were an offensive dumpster fire last season may be an understatement. Perhaps it was the Aaron Rodgers effect or something completely different, but Hall went from the RB4 in fantasy, producing 261.5 fantasy points in 2023, to the RB16 last season.

While that decline could deter many fantasy managers, the reality is that there was a 1.5-point difference per game in PPR formats (16.3 in 2023 to 14.8 in 2024).

Like Walker before him and the next back we will talk about, Hall is ever-present in the passing game and will slide in as the second read in newly acquired quarterback Justin Fields' progressions. Last season, Hall was still in the top five among his running back peers in routes run, targets, and receiving yards. 

Not only does Hall benefit from being the second option in the passing game, but he also benefits from the threat Fields poses in the run game. Sure, Hall will ultimately lose some touches to Fields, but looking back on Fields' most successful seasons, David Montgomery and D'Andre Swift each touched the ball 230 or more times. 

Alvin Kamara, RB, New Orleans Saints

While we await to see who emerges as the Saints' starter under center, one thing we know is that Alvin Kamara is as consistent as they come at the running back position in fantasy football. Kamara has led the NFL in target share in three of the past four seasons and finished with a 17% or greater target share in each campaign.

Kamara, Hall, McCaffrey, and Austin Ekeler are the only backs to average 30-plus receiving yards per game in the previous three seasons, as Jared Smola of Draft Sharks pointed out.

2024 RB Leaders in Designed Targets per Game@FantasyPtsData

1. De'Von Achane, 2.1
2. Alvin Kamara, 1.8
3. Rachaad White, 1.6 (1.1 from Week 12-on)
4. Aaron Jones, 1.5
5. Bucky Irving, 1.4 (1.9 from Week 12-on)
6. Kenneth Walker, 1.4 pic.twitter.com/kfF08QgkCn

— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) June 24, 2025

Even at 29 years of age, Kamara finished fifth in fantasy points per game last season, averaging 19 per contest on his way to an overall RB8 campaign. Over the previous eight seasons, Kamara has finished as the RB8 or higher on a points-per-game basis in seven seasons, with his worst outing coming in 2022, when he averaged just 14.1 fantasy points per game (RB14).

That type of consistency wins fantasy championships, and with Kamara turning 30 years of age before entering his ninth NFL season, ageist managers may be looking to get out before the feared age cliff, which is ideal for those dynasty managers programmed to win now.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle Seahawks

If volume matters for running backs, the same can be said for wide receivers. Jaxon Smith-Njigba saw his target share increase from 16.2% in 2023 to 23.1% in 2024, his targets per route run climbed from 0.189 to 0.213, and his yards per route run escalated from 1.32 to 1.96 while accounting for a 25.8% receiving yards market share per the Fantasy Points Data Suite.

With the inflation in opportunity, Smith-Njigba rose from WR45 to WR9, and he may not be done yet.

The young Seahawks receiver is one that dynasty managers should be willing to pay up for, as he continues to improve. Fantasy managers should not be worried about the addition of Cooper Kupp for two reasons: Kupp is getting a little older and has been dealing with injuries since his Super Bowl campaign.

Second, Kupp is a downgrade from Metcalf, who is now with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Expect more targets to be funnelled toward the third year wide out, much as they had been funnelled towards Puka Nacua in Los Angeles the last couple of seasons. Smith-Njigba came on strong over the second half of the season, averaging 82.4 receiving yards per game from Week 9 on after being limited to 48.5 yards per game the previous weeks.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba last season:

Weeks 1-8:

48.5 Yards Per Game
1 Touchdown

Weeks 9-18:

82.4 Yards Per Game
5 Touchdowns pic.twitter.com/4GbvwFnOdy

— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) June 28, 2025

Even if Kupp were to assume all 108 of Metcalf's vacated targets, there is the matter of the 49 receptions and 74 targets left behind by the departure of Tyler Lockett. That's 182 targets available, and Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling aren't filling that production.

Davante Adams, WR, Los Angeles Rams

Davante Adams may lose some value from managers looking beyond the five-year window, but for those looking to compete for a championship this year and next, Adams has plenty of short-term value. Despite seeing targets from Gardner Minshew, Aidan O'Connell, and the ghost of Aaron Rodgers, Adams was still a productive fantasy asset.

Despite poor quarterback play and missing three games, Adams still finished as the WR14 in fantasy and averaged 17.0 fantasy points per game, and 17.6 fantasy points per game post after his mid-season trade, the ninth-most at the position.

Rams wide receiver target share ranks since Sean McVay got to LA: 8th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 1st, 4th, 1st, and 1st.

Rams wide receiver fantasy points scored (PPR) during this time: 5th, 4th, 4th, 12th, 1st, 15th, 3rd, and 2nd

— JJ Zachariason (@LateRoundQB) June 16, 2025

Adams showed last season that he can be productive even with another alpha receiver opposite of him, as he caught 67 passes for 854 yards and seven touchdowns in the 11 games he played in New York alongside Garrett Wilson.

Please make no mistake, Nacua will get his, but Adams is well-positioned to see 100 or more targets as Matthew Stafford has proven he can support two high-calibre pass catchers. While Nacua has averaged 133 targets as Stafford's top option, Kupp averaged 8.1 targets per game when available.

DK Metcalf, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers

This offseason, the Steelers decided to move on from George Pickens and adopt a proven commodity like Metcalf, who comes with fewer distractions. Metcalf has been a pillar of dependability throughout his career, missing just three games in six seasons and hauling in at least five touchdowns, 105 or more targets, and 900-plus receiving yards in each of those seasons.

Last season, Pickens averaged 9.3 targets per game. Metcalf will see all that and more as Rodgers will certainly develop tunnel vision with his latest weapon. The volume alone should have Metcalf considered a safe WR2 with upside, especially when factoring in how Rodgers and Adams connected from Week 9 on, where Adams averaged 20 fantasy points per contest.

Currently, Metcalf is going as the WR28 in dynasty startup leagues, which sees him coming off the board in the middle of the seventh round. That suggests that people don't value Metcalf and his potential as they should, and that he could potentially be acquired for a second-round rookie pick.

Evan Engram, TE, Denver Broncos

The jury is still unsure whether Sean Payton has found his "Joker", but we do know that Engram has the potential to be a top-5 tight end in fantasy any given season. Last season, Engram was limited to just nine games, but in 2023, Engram's 12.9 fantasy points per game and nearly 210 fantasy points positioned him as the fourth-highest scoring fantasy tight end.

Engram comes to Denver as the favourite to be second in line in the target department behind Courtland Sutton in an offense that had previously created the legend that is Jimmy Graham and is now led by an up-and-coming quarterback in Bo Nix, who was the QB5 in fantasy from Week 5 onward last season. 

Despite the limited action last season, Engram is one of three tight ends with an average of more than 100 targets per season over the previous three years. With plenty of volume and an ascending quarterback entering year two, Engram has top-5 potential once more.

TEs who have 90+ targets over the last 3 years ⬇️

Yes, this is an Evan Engram and David Njoku tweet. pic.twitter.com/FsXD42nwmB

— Lobo (@LobosFFDen) June 13, 2025

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