Fantasy Football Buy and Sell Candidates For Week 6

October 11, 2014

Joe Gallina analyzes the top buy and sell candidates for 2014 Fantasy Football. These undervalued or overrated players should be targeted in trades for Week 6.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Fantasy Football World

So far, this has been a very frustrating fantasy football season. First-round picks have been inexplicably ineffective, hampered by injuries or revisited by their past transgressions coming back to haunt them and end their seasons. It has been incredibly hard to predict how your players will perform, no matter how much advanced preparation you do.

Take Week 5, for instance. Within a span of six days, Tom Brady played in two nationally televised games, going down with his team as they lost by 27 points on Monday night, only to rise from the trash heap and lead a crushing 26-point victory against a solid Bengals defense. Ben Roethlisberger was supposed to have a big game against the winless Jaguars, but that never materialized. No one had ever heard of Branden Oliver before Week 5, but all he did was crush the best rushing defense in the NFL for 182 all-purpose yards.

It is fantasy seasons like this that separate the adults from the children. The NFL is a dynamic game, and you've got to constantly retool your roster and roll with the week-to-week changes that you are faced with. This week, I present you with four fantasy football players whom I think will help your team. By now, Oliver, Andre Williams and Ronnie Hillman have been plucked off of your league’s waiver wire, so you should consider trading for my buy recommendations. As usual I’ve, also highlighted two players that you should sell. What I'll will say on them is that sometimes you need to sell high while you still can. Good luck in Week 6!

Week 6 Fantasy Football Buys

Golden Tate, WR, Detroit Lions

Owned in 83% of Fleaflicker leagues 

They are dropping like flies in Detroit, and by they, I am talking about Calvin Johnson, Joique Bell and Reggie Bush. Golden Tate has steadily increased his production this season, culminating with a monster Week 5 in which he caught seven passes for 134 yards and a touchdown. The former Notre Dame standout is coming into his own, as Matthew Stafford has had to rely on him more and more with Megatron nursing a nagging high-ankle sprain.

With the potential explosiveness of Detroit’s offense, Tate would be someone I'd recommend you buy anyway, but with injuries to so many key players, he has become an indispensable weapon that the Lions will continue to utilize. Tate's 7.8 YAC is among the league’s best, and a large part of his eighth-most fantasy points among receivers. He is a deep-ball threat, and at least for now, also the primary focus in an offense that can score a lot of points-- that is a perfect combination for a fantasy wide receiver.

Rueben Randle, WR, New York Giants

Owned in 54% of Fleaflicker leagues

Giants QB Eli Manning has targeted Rueben Randle 10 times in each of the last three games. The Giants offense has found its rhythm after a slow start; they're heading into a matchup against an Eagles defense that has been very friendly to opposing wide receivers, which makes Randle someone you should be targeting. Randle’s targets were not affected by the Week 5 debut of the highly touted rookie WR Odell Beckham, Jr., which makes a strong case for adding him to your fantasy roster.

He is a good receiver who knows how to get open, and he is an important piece of an offense on the rise. Look for Randle to further develop along with the new Giants offensive scheme. He has the ability to catch a deep ball, and despite his two drops last week, he usually shows good hands. Randle is on pace for a career high in total receptions, and with Manning spreading the ball around, he should continue to be considered a very safe WR3 with WR2 upside.

Brian Quick, WR, St. Louis Rams

Owned in 61% of Fleaflicker leagues

Brian Quick has quietly been one of the most consistent fantasy wide receivers in 2014. With three touchdowns in his last two games, he has firmly established himself as one of rookie QB Austin Davis’s favorite targets. Quick is on pace to notch 84 catches and close to 1300 receiving yards.

At 6'5''and 222 lbs., Quick has great leaping ability that helps him snatch balls out of the air that other wide receivers would simply watch sail over their heads. He is a deep-ball threat with the ability to get open, and his size makes it very difficult for opposing defenses to take him down. He is developing a great rapport with Davis, averaging just fewer than eight targets per game through the early part of this season. As a rookie receiver, Quick is still a work in progress, and he's someone who might be affordable on the trade market right now.

Reggie Wayne, WR, Indianapolis Colts

Owned in 86% of Fleaflicker leagues 

Steve Smith, Sr. has received a lot of attention as a veteran wide receiver who has seemingly turned back the clock and found the fountain of youth. But Smith isn't not the only wide receiver in his mid-thirties that you should be looking at. Have you noticed what Reggie Wayne has been doing this season? Wayne has been among the most overlooked, yet productive fantasy wide receivers in football.

Reggie enjoys the luxury of being a target for the best fantasy quarterback of 2014. Andrew Luck has been great, and you need to try to get a piece of the Colts blockbuster offense into your starting fantasy lineup. After missing nine games in 2013 due to an ACL tear, the 35-year-old Wayne hasn't missed a beat in 2014. If you project his current stats to a full season, he should approach 90 catches and 1200+ receiving yards. We can all use that kind of production, and like Brian Quick, Wayne is a guy who might be more reasonably priced in a trade.

Week 5 Fantasy Football Sells 

Arian Foster, RB, Houston Texans

Owned in 97% of Fleaflicker league

Arian Foster has had two consecutive blockbuster games. If you own shares of Foster, you're feeling pretty good right now. Pat yourself on the back, enjoy the moment and then put him on the trading block. Arian Foster is the classic sell-high. A couple of weeks ago, you were probably beating yourself up, wondering why you'd drafted a guy that everyone said would have injury problems this year. Foster has had chronic hamstring injury issues, and even though he looks like a world-beater now, it is only a matter of time before they flare up again.

In Week 4, after a game-time scratch in Week 3, Foster was pronounced healthy and proceeded to rush eight times for a total of six yards. The fact of the matter is that from week to week, you never know which Arian Foster is going to show up. There is no doubt that when healthy he is among the elite running backs in the game today, but when he's injured, he's doing nothing for you. His value will never be as high as it is right now. Work out a deal and let him become someone else’s headache. You’ll thank me later.

LeSean McCoy, RB, Philadelphia Eagles

Owned in 98% of Fleaflicker leagues

Fantasy managers who invested one of their top three overall picks on LeSean McCoy are starting to get a little antsy. It looked as if McCoy was poised to have his breakout game in Week 5 against the weak St. Louis Rams run defense, but instead all his owners got was the same old tired and uninspired performance. Late in a critical part of the game, McCoy was on the sidelines. The Eagles coaching staff say he took himself out of the game. McCoy claims that his coaches took him out. It’s all a bit “Shady,” isn’t it?

In Week 4, the Eagles had a first-and-goal from five, and didn’t give McCoy the opportunity, opting to throw the ball instead. That's a bad sign, and we know that head coach Chip Kelly isn’t above running superstars out of town-- just ask DeSean Jackson. The Eagles insist McCoy is healthy, so perhaps he just needs a change of scenery…. far away from your fantasy team. If you can get close to first-round value back in a trade, it's the move to make.

In a PPR league, Giovanni Bernard and Kelvin Benjamin, or Golden Tate and Fred Jackson, for McCoy and a bench player would be a solid return. Remember there is always the possibility that McCoy will return to the form we were used to seeing. As long as you make a favorable trade, you’ll be able to live with it. If you hold on to him and he doesn’t snap out of his funk, it could jeopardize your fantasy season.

Agree or disagree with my recommendations? Follow me on Twitter @joegallina and let me know what you think!