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Top dynasty fantasy football trade candidates for 2025, including Terry McLaurin, Kyren Williams, and Jauan Jennings. Sell these 3 players in dynasty leagues.
It's easy to adjust our expectations season by season for fantasy football players and base the majority of our opinions on how their previous season went. But sometimes, other factors at play might have given them a boost before they regress, which can leave you with an asset that falls greatly in value in dynasty fantasy football.
A perfect example of this was Miami Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. In 2022, it seemed like his ceiling was massive. He logged 75 catches for 1,356 yards and eight touchdowns that year, yet has grabbed just six TDs since and 879 yards per season since then. One-year wonders are absolutely a thing in the NFL, yet many want to believe he's just had bad luck the past two years.
That's not always how it works. We should just take the bitter pill and accept that sometimes players have abnormally great seasons. Rather than bury our heads in the sand and pretend they don't happen, we should instead try to look for the warning signs and act on them. So, let's dive into some regression candidates to sell in dynasty fantasy football.
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A Forethought: There Are Different Kinds Of Regression
In this piece, I'll be using regression as a broad term. The two major types of regression we will break down are efficiency regression and volume regression. In the case of Waddle and Los Angeles Rams running back Kyern Williams, we've seen serious efficiency regressions in certain two-year spans of their career.
Williams just finished his third season in the NFL, and while he still was a fantastic point-scorer, his yards per carry average fell by nearly 20 percent, plummeting from 5.0 in 2023 to 4.1 in 2024. In his case, the sophomore slump was real, and he had less success when teams prepared for him to be the starting RB.
What's funny is that he'll be on the list for two reasons -- the second being that his value was propped up by massive volume, and that's often a fragile thing in NFL running back rooms. So, let's dive in (for real this time) to players you should trade away.
Kyren Williams, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Even if he still gets a huge workload in 2025, it's hard to see the aforementioned massive decline in rushing efficiency and not be alarmed to some degree. 4.1 yards per carry is not very good in the NFL, and Williams' fantasy production is propped up by massive volume.
In addition, he's one of the worst RBs in the league at hanging onto the ball. In the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs against the Philadelphia Eagles, he fumbled the ball twice -- yes, we should blame him for the fumble that was credited to quarterback Matthew Stafford -- and one was recovered by the Eagles. The Rams came very close to winning that game. Williams fumbled it away.
KYREN WILLIAMS FUMBLES IT AND EAGLES ARE SETUP 1ST & GOAL 😱
(via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/WeWWNOO5Tg— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 19, 2025
It's hard to believe Rams head coach Sean McVay won't at least consider getting backup RB Blake Corum more work in 2025. Williams spent all of 2022, his rookie season, in the dog house. It seems likely that McVay isn't a fan of giving rookie RBs a ton of touches, instead opting for them to develop.
Corum profiled very similarly to Williams, yet he possesses notably better speed. Regardless, some running backs like Williams rely on massive volume (350 touches in 16 games, the second-most rushes per game in the league) and hog nearly all of the goal-line carries. The moment this absurd volume fades, Williams' value could evaporate quickly.
And you can likely get an excellent deal for him.
Terry McLaurin, WR, Washington Commanders
There's no doubt that Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin not only had the best season of his career but is now set up for much more future success. His team drafted quarterback Jayden Daniels, ending the team's long drought of mediocrity and giving McLaurin the first good signal-caller he's ever had.
Also, former owner Dan Snyder sold the team, so that helped. Still, Scary Terry's 13 touchdowns might not be what new norm we should expect. The team severely lacked other pass-catching options. Daniels was able to resurrect tight end Zach Ertz's career, but they are seriously hurting for a legitimate WR2.
𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗦: Some people around the league expect the #Commanders to acquire a WR2 to complement Terry McLaurin, per @JFowlerESPN
Washington could also be seeking to make improvements on the offensive line. pic.twitter.com/L2FnpYWbef
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) February 12, 2025
A touchdown regression would be pretty reasonable, considering that McLaurin didn't have seven or more TDs in any of his other seasons and that Daniels spread the ball around well even with so few other good options. It's likely a legitimate WR2 would be targeted at a pretty high rate on this team.
Jauan Jennings, WR, San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings had a breakout season in 2024, and while his metrics and efficiency back up that he's a solid receiver, he's in an offense where he'll have much more competition for targets moving forward. It's unlikely that we see him have volume close to what he had for stretches this year.
In addition, fellow team wideout Ricky Pearsall's breakout was delayed until near the end of the season due to the gunshot wound he suffered. He'll likely command far more targets in 2025. And WR Brandon Aiyuk missed most of the season due to his knee injury but will be back next season. It seems unlikely Jennings will get 113 targets again.
Ricky Pearsall's rookie highlights for the timeline pic.twitter.com/4SxwWCAzr0
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) February 23, 2025
The absence of running back Christian McCaffrey also led to quarterback Brock Purdy targeting his running backs far less. When CMC is on the field, he gets fed both rushes and targets at an absurd rate. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan adjusts the offense in his absence to funnel more volume to the dedicated pass-catchers. McCaffrey will likely be healthy for the start of 2025.
Nearly 19 minutes of Jauan Jennings highlights from the 2024 season 🍿 pic.twitter.com/8eXVBW5Moj
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) February 5, 2025
Again, nothing here is suggesting that Jennings is a bad player. But there are simply a lot of players to feed receptions, and Shanahan likes to spread the ball around. Aiyuk, Pearsall, Jennings, McCaffrey, and tight end George Kittle all have earned their fair share of work in the passing game. That's five players, and that's assuming WR Deebo Samuel Sr. isn't even on the team next year.
There just doesn't seem to be a pathway for Jennings to get even more targets this upcoming season than he did in 2024. Considering that Pearsall and Aiyuk were both selected with much higher draft capital, Kittle is one of the league's best TEs, and McCaffrey will continue to get approximately one quintillion dump-off passes in addition to being a great route runner in his own right, JJ is probably a good player to sell.
Adding a small plus for him to get your hands on Pearsall is probably a great idea.
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