RADIO
This may be the most important entry in this season's trade targets column.
For many fantasy football players, there are only a few days left to complete any ongoing negotiations as Week 11 represents the trade deadline in a large number of leagues. Additionally, the fantasy playoffs are right around the corner, and injuries have been as unavoidable as ever.
Fortunately, waiver wires look as good as they have all season, with Week 10 giving us some surprise breakouts. For those stuck at the bottom of their waiver order, though, don't fret. There are plenty of opportunities to sell high and buy low right now so that you can solidify your roster as a contender.
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers won two writing awards and received 12 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. A big congrats to our very own Byron Lindeque (Golf) and Jordan McAbee (NASCAR) for both winning Writer Of The Year awards! Be sure to follow RotoBaller's analysis and advice all year long, and win more. Win More With RotoBaller!We'll discuss two players to target and two players to trade away ahead of this week's slate, but first, let's quickly review what happened last week.
Last Week's Recap
Truth be told, last week's article was one to forget, but hindsight is always 20/20.
I first recommended trading for Mark Andrews, and still do, as he reportedly has a good chance to suit up in Week 11. The Ravens were on a bye last week, though, so we can't evaluate my suggestion with anything performance-based.
Kareem Hunt, on the other hand, played in Week 10, but your starting fantasy lineup wouldn't know it. Hunt finished with just six carries and one reception for 19 total yards in a loss to the Miami Dolphins. It is extremely puzzling that the Browns opted not to fulfill his trade request, only to hardly utilize him.
If you want the glass-half-full perspective, Nick Chubb only handled 11 rush attempts as Cleveland played from behind for the majority of the game. The offense should still take a step forward when Deshaun Watson starts in Week 13, but Hunt will need to see some more touches before he can be trusted in fantasy lineups.
The Detroit Lions deployed a three-man committee in Week 10, with Jamaal Williams operating as the clear lead back. Although he found the end zone, D'Andre Swift continued to be hardly utilized. It's still very possible that Swift's role will increase in the coming weeks, so trading Williams while he maintains peak value may not be a bad idea, but his usage suggests that he can remain in starting lineups as a solid RB2.
My entire argument for trading away Davante Adams was based on the idea that he would be competing for targets with a healthy Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow while entering a difficult stretch of matchups. Had I known that both Waller and Renfrow would be placed on injured reserve the very next day, I may have actually suggested trading for Adams rather than capitalizing on his massive Week 9.
In all seriousness, he should see a minimum of 12 targets per game over the next three weeks, so hold onto Adams for anything less than a king's ransom.
Davante Adams this season:
☠️92 targets
☠️2 drops pic.twitter.com/YxyqG5FP5y— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) November 15, 2022
Now that Week 10 is behind us, let's turn things around in Week 11.
Players to Target in Trades for Fantasy Football
Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
Believe it or not, there are people concerned, confused, and infuriated by the San Francisco 49ers' utilization of Christian McCaffrey in Week 10.
SF RB touches last night:
Christian McCaffrey: 18 (14 carries, 4 receptions)
Elijah Mitchell: 19 (18 carries, 1 reception)— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) November 14, 2022
Yes, San Francisco traded away early-round draft capital over the next two years to acquire McCaffrey, only to give a sixth-round running back more carries in his first game back from a serious knee injury. While I'll admit that this decision would be concerning in most scenarios, I think this one is quite the opposite.
Fantasy managers that drafted CMC in the early first round have been fortunate to enjoy a healthy, productive season from the former All-Pro. But let's not forget that heading into Week 1 of 2022, McCaffrey played in just 10 games since the start of the 2020 season. The 49ers are obviously aware of this and are wise to preserve their superstar. He is much more likely to remain healthy for both the NFL and fantasy playoffs if sharing the backfield workload with Elijah Mitchell.
In his historic 2018 and 2019 campaigns, McCaffrey averaged almost 23 touches per game, but 18 is still plenty for him to be a fantasy league winner. He struggled to get things going on the ground on Sunday night, but if he ran for his season average of 4.2 yards per carry, McCaffrey would have finished with 18.3 half-PPR fantasy points. On the season, he is averaging 17.9 half-PPR points per game as the RB5 overall.
In other words, a slight decrease in volume should not be a problem for one of the most productive per-touch players in the league, especially when his role in the receiving game is secure. I don't necessarily view McCaffrey as a traditional buy-low as he still won't come cheap, but I firmly believe he's worth every bit as much as he was a week ago. Send an offer to the CMC manager in your league in case the thought of a timeshare keeps them up at night.
Rondale Moore, Arizona Cardinals
What if I told you that a top-24 WR since Week 4, who is also a top-10 WR since Week 8, can be acquired in most fantasy leagues at top-36 WR value?
Rondale Moore has been quietly excellent over the past three weeks, but consistently solid since his season debut in Week 4. The second-year wideout is averaging more targets per game than Jaylen Waddle and Tee Higgins as the second option in his offense.
Because of his utilization as a rookie, the stigma surrounding Moore is that he is a gadget player who gets many of his touches behind the line of scrimmage. He's still good for a handful of those each week, but he has certainly been unleashed a bit this season.
In his last three games, Rondale Moore has 24 catches for 255 yards.
That’s a 1400 yard season pace.
Trending up, perhaps?
— Johnny Venerable (@JohnnyVenerable) November 14, 2022
With Marquise Brown expected back no later than Week 14, it's fair to question if Moore can sustain this productivity in an offense that also features DeAndre Hopkins. It may have been more difficult to respond to this question a week ago, but now that the Cardinals have lost Zach Ertz to a season-ending knee injury, the answer is a resounding yes.
Whenever Brown returns, he will line up on the outside across from Hopkins, leaving slot duties to Moore. He will remain a full-time player, and with Ertz's nearly seven targets per game vacated, there is no reason to project a significant drop-off for Moore. Trey McBride will now take over as the starting tight end, but the rookie's chances of making an impact this season are slim as he has just four targets in nine games.
I took a glance at a few updated rest-of-season rankings posts across the web, and the highest I could find Moore ranked was WR27. This is simply too low for a player currently producing as a fantasy WR2 on the fastest-paced offense in the league. If he can be had for that price, pay it and sneak an every-week starter onto your roster.
Players to Trade Away for Fantasy Football
D'Onta Foreman, Carolina Panthers
In six games this season with Christian McCaffrey, the Carolina Panthers averaged 90.3 rushing yards. In four games without him, they have averaged 159.5.
D'Onta Foreman has been a waiver-wire wonder over the past four weeks as the fantasy RB7 in half-PPR scoring. There are many factors at play here, including two matchups against the Atlanta Falcons' 22nd-ranked run defense, but Foreman has undoubtedly looked the part.
So why is there any hesitation to continue firing up Foreman as a fantasy starter? For one, Chuba Hubbard returned from an ankle injury in Week 10, and although he was only given five carries, it's noteworthy that he got the start ahead of Foreman in Week 7 as both backs posted top-20 RB performances.
Foreman has definitely shown enough to earn himself the starting job going forward, but don't be surprised if Hubbard becomes more involved in the coming weeks. Carolina is also giving snaps and touches to undrafted rookie Raheem Blackshear, so this could end up a three-way timeshare, albeit not an evenly-split one.
We also must discuss the elephant in the room, which is the Panthers' quarterback situation.
#Panthers coach Steve Wilks announces that PJ Walker has a high-ankle sprain, which means Baker Mayfield is back in as the starting QB. Sam Darnold will back him up.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 14, 2022
P.J. Walker was far from great under center, but the team scored just three fewer points in Walker's four full starts than it did in Baker Mayfield's five. I am completely removing Carolina's disastrous Week 9 from the sample as Mayfield's three touchdown drives came in garbage time with the game well out of hand.
The point is that there is a very real chance the Panthers are worse with Mayfield, who ranks dead-last in completion percentage amongst all quarterbacks with at least three starts this year. If Carolina struggles to move the ball and give Foreman opportunities in the red zone, he will likely fail to maintain his fantasy value as he is not effective as a pass-catcher.
The two soft matchups against Atlanta were glossed over, but it absolutely needs to be mentioned that the road gets much tougher for Foreman in the coming weeks. The Panthers will face two stout run defenses in the Ravens and Broncos before a Week 13 bye. Imagine how difficult it will be to trade Foreman heading into a bye if his fantasy scoring plummets in the next two games.
Allen Robinson, Los Angeles Rams
Whether you've had Allen Robinson all season long, or just recently picked him up off of waivers, congratulations, a rare opportunity to trade him away has presented itself.
Of course, Cooper Kupp suffered a devastating ankle sprain in Week 10, derailing his season and many fantasy managers' championship aspirations along with it. Heading into last week, Kupp was averaging a ridiculous 11.6 targets per game as the heart and soul of the Rams' offense.
These targets have to go somewhere, so it only makes sense that the receiver recently signed to a $46.5 million contract would be the primary beneficiary. Maybe he will be, but I'm not willing to bank on it. He saw fewer looks than Tyler Higbee and Ben Skowronek last Sunday and has been borderline useless for fantasy in all but two games since the start of last season.
Although Robinson has played on around 90% of snaps all year, It was Skowronek that saw the greatest uptick in playing time with Kupp off the field.
% of WR offensive snaps in Week 10:
1) Justin Jefferson 100%
2) Allen Lazard 98.4%
3) Ben Skowronek 98.3% 👀
4) Kendall Hinton 97.3% 👀👀
5) Brandon Aiyuk 97.1%— Vlad Sedler (@RotoGut) November 15, 2022
Robinson may possess more touchdown upside than Skowronek, Higbee, and Van Jefferson, but it's also important to remember that the Rams are scoring at the fourth-lowest clip in the league and that their offensive line is possibly the worst unit in the NFL. I advocated trading away Darrell Henderson Jr. in Week 7 for similar reasons.
You're probably not getting all that much for Robinson, but his value is as high right now as it will be all season. Consider sending him off in a package deal, specifically to the manager that just lost Kupp.
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