Trade Targets & Trade Bait Ahead of Week 2

Trading is the quickest way to take your team from sitting on the bubble of a playoff berth to a championship contender, or vice-versa if you make the wrong deal, which is why it is so important to make sure you are targeting (and selling) the right players at the right time.

And yes - every player has a price. It doesn't matter whether they are the best player in fantasy football or a dwindling kicker - every player has a price that they should be traded away for or should have something given up to get.

For people in leagues that are more active in trading, this is for you. These are my favorite players to target and my favorite players to shop as their current value and future value don't necessarily align due to easy matchups, surrounding injuries, improving/changing scenarios, etc.

Top Trade Targets/Buy-Low Candidates This Week:

Players to try and trade for this week - they may be available at a discount compared to what they should produce going forward.

Ricky Pearsall (WR - San Francisco 49ers)

Pearsall is about to take off! The 49ers' 1st round pick from last year is seemingly the last man standing in the receiver room just 1 week into the season - Brandon Aiyuk is on the PUP list, Jacob Cowing is on IR, George Kittle is now on IR with another hamstring injury, and Jauan Jennings exited with a shoulder injury in Week 1. It's so bad that the team had resorted to trading for Skyy Moore late in the preseason and signed Kendrick Bourne today.

It's a very narrow window to go out and acquire Pearsall - he was good in the season opener, but not too good to the point that his trade price skyrocketed. He drew a modest 7 targets and tallied 4 for 108 yards. With CMC already supposedly dealing with calf problems, there's no way they can continue to give him the 10 targets he commanded, much less the 31 touches he received in Week 1. It would not surprise me if we start seeing Pearsall in the 10-15 target range until at least two of Kittle, Jennings, and Aiyuk return.

You've probably got this week or next (as he draws New Orleans in Week 2, and may not be needed as much) to acquire him at a likely mid-WR3/FLEX price tag. I've got him as a low-end WR2/high-end WR3 this season, but as a high-end WR2 in the short term until receiving weapons start returning.

Tee Higgins (WR - Cincinnati Bengals)

Four things happened in Week 1 that very likely won't happen again in 2025 (except maybe when Cincy and Cleveland play again):

• Cincinnati's defense gave up only 16 points

• Cincinnati's offense only scored 17 points

• Joe Burrow completed just 14 passes

• Joe Burrow threw for just 113 yards

The culmination of those four things resulted in the duo of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins combining for 5 catches and 59 yards. That's a stat line you expect one of them to have in a bad game, not both of them combined.

Higgins was the WR17 in points and the WR6 in PPG last season. Cincinnati is going to start steadily getting into more pass-friendly game scripts as the season progresses, beginning with the likes of Jacksonville, Minnesota, and Denver over the next three weeks, then a modest stretch before getting a 3-week schedule of Baltimore, Buffalo, then Baltimore again later in the season. The Bengals offense is going to have to explode.

Get in early or not at all in the Bengals' offense for fantasy. There's the very realistic possibility that Higgins won't have a worse game this season than his 3-for-33 game in the opener. Time to buy him for an appealing WR2 price tag.

Quinshon Judkins (RB - Cleveland Browns)

Here's your 'Gamble of the Week'!

After an offseason of waiting for Judkins to sign his rookie contract, it looked like he might actually go the entire season unsigned as the Browns waited for potential disciplinary action for him (stemming from his domestic violence charges, which have since been dropped). Then, at the 11th hour before the 2025 season kickoff, Judkins signed his 4-year, $11.4M, fully-guaranteed contract and received a two-game exemption from the NFL (so he would not count against the Browns' 53-man roster).

There are rumblings about him potentially making his NFL debut this week against Baltimore, as HC Kevin Stefanski was non-committal about it on Monday, but the Browns' 2nd round pick practiced on Tuesday. Even if he doesn't play in Week 2, he's a decent investment for the season. It's very hard to imagine that once Judkins is in football shape, he doesn't take over as the workhorse in Cleveland.

For context, there were five Browns players to carry the ball in Week 1 - none exceeded 3.0 YPC, and just two exceeded 2.5 YPC. Their names? Joe Flacco and Harold Fannin. Yes, you read that right; all three Browns' RBs that played (Jerome Ford, Dylan Sampson, Raheim Sanders) failed to hit 2.5 YPC - in fact, only one hit 1.5 YPC (Sampson, 2.4). It was that bad.

The team started with a committee, getting all three backs involved with 3+ touches each on the opening drive, but it got to the point where the coaching staff essentially gave up and let Dylan Sampson take the reins because he was the least bad on the ground and was at least an option catching the ball out of the backfield. My point being, it's going to be Judkins' backfield (at least on the ground) once he's there.

"When will he get there?" is a question, but "How long will he be there?" is the bigger question. The league is still in the midst of its investigation of Judkins' domestic violence situation, and while he wasn't convicted legally, that doesn't matter for the NFL's disciplinary policy. It seems like it'll be somewhere in the 2-6 game range, but nobody's sure, hence the gamble.

If you are in a spot where your RBs don't appear what you were anticipating heading into the season (i.e., Kenneth Walker or Austin Ekeler owners), Judkins is a worthwhile dart throw. Give up a bench piece or two that did well in the opening week to go acquire Judkins. He's a roll of the dice, but the potential for an RB2 is indeed there.

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Top Trade Bait/Sell-High Candidates This Week:

Players to try and trade away this week - this isn't saying that they'll be bad, but right now is likely when you're going to get the most for them.

Emeka Egbuka (WR - Tampa Bay Buccaneers)

We all knew the early part of the season was going to be very friendly for Egbuka's fantasy prospects, but there was no way to expect a 2-TD, 24-point performance in his debut game. It's an extremely encouraging step for the rookie's prospects within what should be an above-average offense this year.

My concern isn't with the production, but rather with the workload. In a game where Baker Mayfield threw the ball 32 times, with both Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan sidelined, and with Cade Otton in a very limited capacity, Egbuka only drew 6 targets and 4 catches. Granted, he turned 2 of those 4 catches into TDs, but the point remains the volume wasn't there.

I have no doubts that Egbuka will be a quality fantasy option this season (likely a top-30 WR), but we came into the season knowing that the best of his production would likely come in the first month of the season while he was operating in the definitive role of the Bucs' WR2.

Could he end up continuing WR2-level production over the next month? Absolutely!

Could Week 1 be the highest his trade value hits this season? Possibly.

If you plan on riding out Egbuka the entire season, that's a sound idea, seeing as he's likely your WR3. However, if you have any inclination to trade him, you're likely going to want to do that before Chris Godwin returns, and in the timespan before Godwin returns, coming off a 2-TD game may be the peak of that production. It's worth considering moving him for a more volume-secure WR2 option (i.e. Tee Higgins above) if you are open to moving him.

Javonte Williams (RB - Dallas Cowboys)

On the surface, Javonte Williams checked off all the boxes in the opener:

• Plenty of Volume (17 touches)

• Goal-line work (2 goal-line TDs)

• Lion's share of the RB work (77% of touches, 77% of snaps)

The only thing missing was efficiency, as Williams averaged just 3.6 YPC against a severely depleted Eagles D-Line that had lost superstar DT Jalen Carter before the opening snap (due to ejection). That's a red flag for me, but what's even more of a red flag is that 59% of his points this week came from two 1-yard TDs. Outside of the goal-line plunges, we wouldn't be talking about Williams, but rather we'd be discussing when Jaydon Blue would be taking over as the starter this season. That's rather concerning, given that the Cowboys never trailed by more than 4 points at any point in the game.

I love the appeal of having the starting RB for the Dallas Cowboys, but the security isn't the greatest at the moment due to Williams' inefficiencies over the past few seasons (has not eclipsed 3.8 YPC since 2022). I'm not actively shopping Javonte, but I would definitely be listening to trade offers for an RB2/WR2 after a game where he banked on two short-yardage TDs - those types of games don't come by often.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt (RB - Washington Commanders)

Let me preface this by saying this is not an indictment of Bill's fantasy prospects or an indication that he will necessarily be a "backup" for Washington.

It was an excellent debut for Croskey-Merritt, leading the Commanders' backfield in attempts, yards, and fantasy points with 10 for 82 and a TD, including breaking off a 42-yard run.

My concern with him is that his 'name value' (a.k.a. the hype around him) doesn't align with what his fantasy prospects should say. This was a very favorable game script for him - the Commanders comfortably playing with a lead for over 88% of the game time. Even with that game script, Bill ended up with just 31% of the team's rushing attempts and 33% of the snaps in what appeared to be a pure committee split with Croskey-Merritt, Jeremy McNichols, and Austin Ekeler sharing the rushing work, with the latter serving as the passing down/two-minute back.

I really like Croskey-Merritt as a player and would love to be all-in on him for the remainder of the season, but I think it's going to be a lot of volatility within that backfield for anyone not getting receiving work, especially seeing as Washington has one of the tougher schedules in the league, really only facing Las Vegas, Denver, and New York (Giants) the remainder of the season in games that don't feature an opponent having an above-average offense. Barring a massive change in the rotation, it's going to be tough to comfortably say "yeah, he's a good start" for Croskey-Merritt due to his reliance on a friendly game script. It's just very difficult to imagine him taking on consistent 'lead back' duties based on what we have seen and heard from Washington this offseason.

Again, I really like the player and think he's going to be a quality RB3 option the rest of the year for fantasy, but I feel that you can probably get a lot more for him by the name value and excitement around him as it is right now. I'd test the waters to see if you can flip him for a more stable RB2/FLEX (or even package him with other assets to move up for a high-end RB2).