The fantasy trade market is always a fun one to evaluate. Articles like this are essentially glorified "Who's Hot and Who's Not" pieces but the tables are turned to where sometimes, you want to trade for those that are cold and trade away those hot.
We are more than halfway through the season and with teams nearly out of contention, it is the ripest time to pick away under-performing players and trade away over-performers that appear to continue their tears. These are the players in your leagues that should be traded for before your deadline passes. Also, given that the trade deadline in most leagues is coming up, this article will change a bit in the coming weeks. Stay tuned but it should remain along the lines of a "Buy/Sell" but maybe geared towards to the fantasy playoffs.
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Players To Trade For
Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
Five of Lamar Jackson's eight games thus far have gone for fewer than 20 fantasy points (replacement level for QBs) and his blow-up games have been few-and-far-between. With back-to-back duds on his stat-sheet, Jackson's perception is skewing downward as the season creeps into the second-half. Nevertheless, there is hope for a bounce-back. All of the Ravens past three opponents have been top-10 in rush defense by DVOA and two are in the top-5 defensively overall, countering the Ravens as well as possible.
Of Baltimore's upcoming opponents rest-of-fantasy-season, only Pittsburgh in Week 12 ranks in the top half of the league defensively. Jackson and the rest of the Ravens offense will have the opportunity to make up for their lackluster first-half fantasy production. Jackson recently stated on the Rich Eisen Show that opposing defenses are calling out their plays which is a tad concerning but could make for a less vanilla offense moving forward if OC Greg Roman can muster to change things up.
Also, WR1 Hollywood Brown stated right after the game that he was frustrated with not being thrown the ball much, if at all, and that frustration could lead to some positive changes as well despite the negative perception. If the Ravens want to make a real playoff push, they're going to have to learn how to throw the ball more effectively when defenses counter them and the rest of this season is the perfect time to try that out.
Phillip Lindsay, Denver Broncos
While I will not concede that Lindsay is a better running back than Melvin Gordon (mostly due to Lindsay's lack of receiving ability), Lindsay is not the one with a DUI court case in the coming weeks. If I recall correctly, Gordon is set to appear in court next week and if the ruling of his DUI stands, it is very likely that the league takes immediate action and suspends him for what I believe is a three-game period. In that time, Lindsay will once more take lead-back duties with Royce Freeman handling the complementary load on passing-downs and two-minute drills.
Unfortunately, last year, Lindsay and Freeman had a near even-split of snaps but given that Lindsay's wrist was an issue, there may be more of a favorable split available to him during Gordon's potential absence. Lindsay's been extremely efficient on the ground when on the field but that may be due to his sporadic usage. 5.8 yards-per-carry is wholly unsustainable for a runner like him with a full workload but he should remain fairly effective and utilized more as a receiver as he only has seven targets in five games.
DeVante Parker, Miami Dolphins
With Preston Williams placed on IR and Isaiah Ford traded to the Patriots, the Dolphins are going to utilize their WR1 DeVante Parker more and more. With the QB change two games ago, the team has been in a bit of a flu getting adjusted to the new offense with Tua Tagovailoa at the helm but things looked a LOT cleaner in their second game together where throwing the ball was more imperative than versus the Rams.
Parker's late-season breakout in 2019 coincided with Preston Williams' torn ACL. While he may not be force-fed the ball to the same degree in 2020 given how proficient their defense has been relative to last year, Parker and Mike Gesicki are really the only real targets present in Miami at the moment unless you consider Jakeem Grant and Mack Hollins viable WR2s. It shouldn't surprise anyone if Miami runs the ball more evenly than last year but given that their starting RB, Myles Gaskin is out for the next few weeks as well, it's likely that they are forced to pass even with a lead given that their back-ups Jordan Howard and Matt Breida are not very viable.
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