Sneaky Dynasty Trade Targets

John's dynasty fantasy football sleepers to target in trades for 2025 drafts. His top sneaky sleeper trade targets and values for 2025 fantasy football leagues.

There are a few pathways to winning trades in dynasty fantasy football. The first is targeting players who are undervalued ahead of each season. There are a lot of not-so-sexy players you can make moves for that could end up breaking out in 2025.

Even if they don't have a huge breakout season, they could also easily outproduce relative to the value you gave up for them. This happens every season, yet the negativity around a lot of players isn't often heavily scrutinized, and simple luck isn't treated like what it is- pure chance.

There are many scenarios that lead to players being undervalued, and in this piece, I'll break down the situations surrounding a few players and explain why you should make moves for them in dynasty fantasy football ahead of the 2025 NFL season.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) rankings
• Quarterback (QB) rankings
• Tight end (TE) rankings
• Defense (D/ST) rankings
• Kicker (K) rankings
• FLEX rankings
• Dynasty rankings

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

Rashid Shaheed, WR, New Orleans Saints

I've probably written this at least 20 times now, but I firmly believe Shaheed is the WR1 for the New Orleans Saints, at least in the eyes of the team's quarterback, Derek Carr. The duo of Shaheed and Chris Olave only played the first six games of the season healthy and together before both suffered injuries in and after Week 6. Shaheed would go on to miss the rest of the season.

Unfortunately for Olave bag holders, in those first six games, Shaheed was the team leader in targets, target share, first-read target share, yards, and touchdowns. Olave only led the team in catches, which can be a misleading stat for fantasy managers, as each catch is obviously worth a full point in full-PPR, which is the dominant format in fantasy football currently.

Rashid Shaheed's weekly target shares: 20.8%, 26.6%, 21.7%, 30.5%, 28.1%.

Saints WR1.

— John Daigle (@notJDaigle) October 8, 2024

While Olave is valued much more highly than Shaheed is, there isn't much to suggest that the WR1 isn't Shaheed moving forward. Carr likes not only throwing the ball his way but looking his way first better, according to the stats that measure both. And No. 22 was seen as a potential breakout fantasy star before his injury. Had he played a full season, I imagine the narrative would be much different now.

Rashid Shaheed pic.twitter.com/nfSzJz61LC

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) January 4, 2025

Of course, he's a little less than two years older than Olave, but from a dynasty perspective, he's still extremely undervalued. It's reasonable to be low on the Saints offense as a whole, but it's also reasonable to expect at least one high-end WR2 or low-end WR1 season from Shaheed, who was on pace for nearly 1,000 yards receiving and eight or nine touchdowns.

This came despite a fluky zero catch game and another odd game where he was targeted seven times but caught only one pass. The offensive line being decimated early by injuries played a large part in this. He was on pace for around 116 targets, or nearly seven targets per game, which is a great number for a WR, especially one who's valued as lowly as Shaheed is.

Olave's had three seasons now; all we've gotten are disappointments and injury issues. The idea that he can be a consistent WR1 in fantasy football seems farfetched now. You should capitalize on that by picking up Shaheed- you should be able to pick him up for a great price.

Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers

This one's a little less sneaky after the trade of WR Deebo Samuel Sr. to the Washington Commanders, but it's still one I'd recommend making. Many fantasy managers are still concerned that fellow wide receivers Jauan Jennings and Brandon Aiyuk, tight end George Kittle, and running back Christian McCaffrey will present large enough barriers to Pearsall's earning targets to cap his upside significantly.

Yet both CMC and Kittle are close to the ages where big falloffs in their production are bound to hit. CMC will be 29 when the 2025 season starts, and Kittle will turn 32 in early October. It's only a matter of time before one or both of them starts to get much less volume in the passing game.

Pearsall's overall athletic ceiling is higher than both Aiyuk's and Jennings', and it's possible that the former has a tough time recovering from his ACL and MCL tears and meniscus damage from his brutal knee injury last season. Pearsall also developed very nicely throughout 2024, and were it not for the gunshot wound to his chest in the offseason that caused him to miss six games, I strongly believe we'd be singing different tunes about him.

Ricky Pearsall's rookie highlights for the timeline pic.twitter.com/4SxwWCAzr0

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) February 23, 2025

If he hadn't missed that time, it seems probable that he could have led the team in targets, receptions, and yards over the last eight contests of the season. And rather than Jennings being seen as a candidate to be the team's WR1 in 2025, maybe consensus would think that Pearsall had clearly taken over that role and would firmly hang on to it through next year while Aiyuk gets back to 100 percent.

And that's if that ever happens. Multi-ligament knee injuries can often ruin careers, and many players never return to their former best after such ailments. Aiyuk's knee was heavily damaged. At the very least, it's reasonable to expect Pearsall to have a breakout year and be the team's most productive receiver in 2025, so his current value seems way, way too low.

San Francisco 49ers rookie WR Ricky Pearsall's debut was delayed, but he made some plays to close out 2024!

He finished with 210 receiving yards and 2 TDs in the final two games of his rookie season! pic.twitter.com/S3lyID4AWt

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) January 7, 2025

Having him ranked below players like George Pickens seems odd, too. Pearsall has premium draft capital as a first-round pick and will remain in head coach Kyle Shanahan's elite offense with quarterback Brock Purdy throwing him the ball. Doesn't make much sense. The ceiling could be very high. You should at least make a move for him, then trade him after 2025 if you think his production will go down as Aiyuk heals.

Travis Etienne Jr., RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

After a miserable season that saw Etienne follow up his 2023 RB3 campaign with an absolute dud, there's reason for hope for him and the entire Jaguars backfield. New head coach Liam Coen ran the most effective running back room in 2024 as offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His squad led the NFL in rushing yards by running backs last season.

This is some FILTH from Liam Coen

Blast Motion to Kickout the Edge + Influence Wham on the Nose 🥵 pic.twitter.com/gTRLV8dYM5

— Coach Dan Casey (@CoachDanCasey) December 2, 2024

I've written at great length about how Coen's schemes in Tampa allowed his backs the best possible situation to succeed. The Buccaneers offensive line outplayed the skill level of their players due to the consistently good setups they had, allowing them to effectively neutralize opposing rush defenses. The same should be true in Jacksonville. TB's offense made big strides in Coen's first year there.

Something to note for Liam Coen’s offense:

RB Target Distribution:#Bucs: 21% (4th)#Jags: 15% (24th) pic.twitter.com/vGrylMENp6

— Daniel Griffis (@DanDGriffis) February 16, 2025

Of particular interest to Etienne is Coen's offense, which relies more on passes to the running backs. Backup RB Tank Bigsby is not the pass-catcher that ETN is, so this change will likely benefit No. 1 more by getting the ball in his hands more. Even setting aside the bump in overall rushing production and efficiency the coaching change will bring, simply catching the ball more will boost Etienne's point totals in PPR leagues.

His value took a big tumble after his abysmal 2024 season, but it was probably overcorrected. Last year, he dealt with injury issues, a poor roster, and one of the worst offensive coaching staffs in the league, in particular former offensive coordinator Press Taylor, who was regularly lambasted for his lack of creativity. The plethora of injuries to key pieces in the passing game, including the team's starting quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, also decimated the offense's productivity.

ETN never gets mentioned with “Break Away” Speed. Well, In Liam Coen Offense Travis Etienne will be hitting his head on the goal post with those schemed up runs. All he needs is a little daylight and he’s gone #DUUUVAL
pic.twitter.com/tpThmYLX7u

— Duh🤡 (@DuhCL0WN) January 30, 2025

I believe he's a good running back who's been held back by injuries, poor offensive line play, terrible blocking schemes, and alarming offenses during his tenure in Jacksonville. That will change in 2025, so you should load up on him in your leagues while you still can. It's hard to imagine his value won't go up significantly.

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