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Fantasy football trade targets: Week 2 buy low, sell high candidates for 2025. Jorden's trade analyzer article looking at overvalued and undervalued players.
Just like that, after months of anticipation, hot takes, and offseason hype, Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season is in the books. We saw several highly-touted superstars fall flat out of the gate, and some electric performances from guys that went undrafted in the majority of redraft leagues (hello, Quentin Johnston).
It's natural to have strong opinions right away, especially if a player's output confirms what you believed about them heading into the campaign. But this is the most important time of the year to remind yourself not to overreact. While it's tempting to say Tyreek Hill is washed and Emeka Egbuka is a bona fide WR1, we don't have anywhere close to enough data to make these season-long evaluations. That said, adjusting your expectations and reacting appropriately are key to staying ahead of the curve in fantasy football.
We're going to talk about two players to acquire in trades and two players to trade away, keeping in mind the market value of all four and exploring their potential in the coming weeks. As I've done during each of the past three seasons, I will give a quick weekly recap to stay as transparent as possible about my hits and misses. There's a clean slate right now, but let's get off to a hot start in your pursuit of a fantasy title, beginning with players to buy low.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
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Players to Target in Trades for Fantasy Football
Terry McLaurin, Washington Commanders
After years of dealing with abysmal quarterback play, Terry McLaurin finally broke out in 2024 with rookie sensation Jayden Daniels under center. McLaurin's 13 touchdowns propelled him to a WR6 finish in half-PPR scoring, by far the best of his career.
Needless to say, expectations for McLaurin were high heading into Week 1, even though a contract dispute kept him away from the Commanders during the preseason and, consequently, relatively low on fantasy draft boards.
Unfortunately, McLaurin was quiet on Sunday, hauling in two of his four targets for 27 yards. New addition Deebo Samuel Sr., on the other hand, found the end zone on a rush attempt and added seven receptions for 77 yards. The box score begs the question: Is McLaurin now the WR2 in Washington?
As I alluded to earlier, we don't have a large enough sample to answer this question. Maybe Samuel does lead the Commanders' receiving corps this season, but if the team believed this was the likely outcome, would they really have given McLaurin a WR1-sized bag?
Contract talks between Scary Terry and Washington ended in late August when the 29-year-old signed a three-year extension paying him over $32 million annually.
Seeing a player start slow after holding out during the preseason is not unique. One recent example that is commonly mentioned is 2024 Brandon Aiyuk, but let's not forget that Ja'Marr Chase was also a holdout last summer.
Chase turned in two mediocre efforts before exploding for 1,708 yards and 17 touchdowns last year.
Furthermore, McLaurin was incredibly close to having a strong fantasy day that would have prevented him from making an appearance in this column.
Jayden Daniels misses a WIDE OPEN Terry McLaurin for a TD 😬 pic.twitter.com/A7x7BFoRVp
— Kalshi Sports (@KalshiSports) September 7, 2025
If Daniels could have hit McLaurin in stride here, it likely would have resulted in a 69-yard touchdown. Daniels approached his top wideout after the play and seemed to apologize for the overthrow. The duo will certainly be looking to make up for the miss soon.
Samuel will have his games, but his presence should ultimately help McLaurin. It's only a matter of time before he and Daniels get on the same page and pick up where they left off last year.
See if the manager who drafted McLaurin is panicked and willing to send away a potential top-12 fantasy option for WR2 or flex prices.
Jonathan Taylor, Indianapolis Colts
Unlike McLaurin, Jonathan Taylor had a productive season opener. 2021's leading rusher managed 71 rushing yards on 18 carries and added 27 yards on three receptions in a convincing win over the Miami Dolphins.
The Colts' offense, led by quarterback Daniel Jones, was firing on all cylinders in the 33-8 rout.
Taylor's showing, while perfectly acceptable, was held back by two things. First, he was stuffed at the goal line in the second quarter before Jones snuck it in himself from one yard out. Second, Taylor sat out for most of the second half.
This was partially due to a neck injury he suffered in the third quarter, but head coach Shane Steichen confirmed after the game that Taylor would have returned if the victory wasn't all but secured.
While the numbers Taylor posted are passable, his first-half usage indicates some monster performances are on the way.
Is Jonathan Taylor hurt? Will he play in Week 2? What's his fantasy football outlook?
(via @NFLAidin)https://t.co/5X6XNLZ1ZJ
— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) September 10, 2025
We can't expect Indianapolis to continue playing at this level, but if the Colts just slightly exceed expectations from here on out, Taylor could be a league-winner.
He proved a few years ago that he has the talent to finish as the RB1 overall. Following Week 1, we know that Taylor is still an every-down workhorse with pass-catching ability and a quarterback who is willing to target him.
Danny Dimes will steal at least a few more rushing touchdowns from Taylor, though this shouldn't be of much concern for fantasy managers. Taylor was already drafted with the expectation that the Colts wouldn't operate a high-scoring offense.
Still, there's a chance the manager in your league isn't aware of what actually transpired on Sunday, or better yet, is frustrated that Taylor already missed more than a quarter of play because of an "injury".
Some players I'd try to flip for Taylor include De'Von Achane and Kyren Williams, who both struck pay dirt this past week.
Players to Trade Away for Fantasy Football
Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens
I mentioned WR2 on the week Johnston earlier, so it's only right we shout out this week's top scorer at the position: Zay Flowers. Flowers was superb in a Sunday night classic that saw the Ravens lose to the Bills in the final seconds of regulation.
Despite the loss Zay Flowers dropped a career high in receiving yards 🔥 pic.twitter.com/GtHmXIl43i
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) September 8, 2025
On the surface, Flowers seems like a player who should be coveted in fantasy. He is still just 24 years old, plays in a dynamic offense, and is a top option for arguably the best QB in football.
Lamar Jackson only attempted 19 passes in Week 1, with nine of them going in the direction of Flowers. This target share (47.4%) is obviously not sustainable. Last season, Flowers earned a 25.7% target share, so even 30% over the course of 2025 would be a nice level-up.
What makes Flowers difficult to trust is that we've seen this type of performance from him before. He logged five games of 100-plus receiving yards in 2024. Chase and Justin Jefferson, last season's respective WR1 and WR2, also had exactly five 100-yard games.
This highlights how inconsistent Flowers was in his second year. All three receivers suited up for 17 games, but while Chase and Jefferson ended on top, Flowers finished the campaign as WR24. Solid, no doubt, but disappointing considering the weekly ceiling he proved to have.
When elite fantasy receivers have down games, they can usually muster 10-12 points. When Flowers has a down game, he actively hurts your lineup. Excluding a Week 18 contest in which he barely played, Flowers scored fewer than six half-PPR fantasy points five times.
This isn't to diminish Flowers' talent or say he can't become a true difference-maker. But to this point in his career, he has not been consistently utilized in a Ravens offense that frequently targets its tight ends and runs all over opponents with Jackson and Derrick Henry.
In Week 2, Baltimore will face the division-rival Cleveland Browns, who completely shut down the Bengals' receiving corps in the opener. This wasn't because Cincinnati didn't need to throw the ball; neither team ever held anything more than a one-possession lead.
That said, the Browns were tormented by opposing wideouts last year, so Flowers could very well feast this week. We just simply haven't seen enough consistency from the third-year pro to bet on it.
It's currently unclear when emerging tight end Isaiah Likely will return from his foot injury, but we could see him steal some targets away from Flowers when he does. We can't expect Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman, and DeAndre Hopkins to combine for seven opportunities again. Capitalize on this outlier performance if you can.
Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
If you only looked at the fantasy points scored by Travis Kelce in Week 1, you would assume it was business as usual for the 35-year-old. With nearly 12 points and a TE3 finish in half-PPR formats, it's hard to complain about what Kelce did for your team on Friday night.
Of course, no one looks at only the points a player scores on a given week, so I'm not suggesting that you'll be able to sell Kelce on the promise that he's still a top-three tight end. Anyone can check the box score and see that he had just two receptions and four targets.
Those numbers don't look so good, but the "1" in the touchdown column and 47 receiving yards to go along with them are just fine. Regardless of how anyone feels about this stat line when taken out of context, the numbers don't come close to telling the whole story.
With Rashee Rice suspended for the first six games of the season, the Chiefs were already shorthanded heading into opening weekend. Given the role Rice has played so far in Kansas City, things were lining up for Kelce to be the biggest beneficiary of his absence. Rice does most of his work in the short-to-intermediate areas of the field with a career average depth of target (ADOT) of about five yards.
At this stage of Kelce's career, he can't be asked to do much more. If Kelce had posted the Jahmyr Gibbs line of 10 receptions for 31 yards, it would have made perfect sense. Instead, he was hardly involved at all. Rice wasn't the only receiver who left a bunch of vacated targets up for the taking.
Xavier Worthy has been downgraded to out. https://t.co/mSzTgOh0SL
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 6, 2025
Xavier Worthy collided with Kelce on the team's third offensive play and missed the remainder of the contest. The Chiefs deployed Marquise Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Tyquan Thornton as their top wideouts for basically the entire game, and Kelce only commanded four targets.
It's also important to note that Kansas City never had the lead and could not get anything going on the ground. The only chance the Chiefs had was by way of Patrick Mahomes and the passing attack. Mahomes threw 39 passes and connected with Kelce for a 37-yard score on a defensive lapse by the Chargers in the fourth quarter.
Take away this broken play, and Kelce finishes with one reception for 10 yards in a divisional game that absolutely required the Chiefs to throw the ball to win. This sort of utilization, or lack thereof, is not going to suffice if you drafted Kelce in the middle rounds of your draft.
Over the next two weeks, Mr. Swift will face two NFC East opponents in the Eagles and Giants. Philadelphia was the second-toughest defense against fantasy tight ends last season, and New York was the fifth-toughest.
It's unclear at this point when Worthy will return, but he should have a chance to suit up before Week 7, when Rice's suspension ends. In other words, Kelce has two intimidating matchups in the span where he should be most involved in the offense. He'll be even more difficult to trust than he is now when both Rice and Worthy are a full-go.
Pivoting off an all-time great isn't an easy decision, but it would be better to get a decent return for Kelce now than to hold on too long and get nothing.
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