Trade Targets & Trade Bait Ahead of Week 6

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.

Breece Hall (RB - New York Jets)

Even with the injury to Braelon Allen, it looks like the Jets continue to insist on their approach of getting Hall the ball a lot when he's on the field, but only giving him about 60-65% of the snaps. And that's a good thing now that the Jets don't have a particularly threatening RB2 to Hall, as it helps prevent unnecessary wear-and-tear on plays not relevant to his fantasy production.

But that's not why Hall is a buy to me... He's currently sitting as the RB18 and has looked excellent (5.3), but has been missing one thing: touchdowns. He's the only top-40 RB to have yet to score a TD of any kind. That's the difference right now between him being a mid-RB2 on the year so far and being a top-10 RB for fantasy.

I'm going all-in on trying to acquire him before he starts finding paydirt (and the Jets' offense actually starts to click), especially given the fact that you can likely acquire him for the price tag of an RB2 as he's been 'good but not great' in the box score.

Tetairoa McMillan (WR - Carolina Panthers)

He's been the WR version of Breece Hall (above) so far this season: a healthy chunk of volume, he's been good but not great, and he's yet to find the end zone.

It really is just a matter of time before that transition from 'good' to 'great' kicks off for the rookie 1st round pick, who has already established himself as the go-to target in the Panthers' offense, capturing a 25.3% target share, including the 7th-most targets among all WRs.

Having seen 8 targets in each game, resulting in 10+ points in 4/5 games, the floor is there. The ceiling may come very soon with the Panthers drawing a very favorable matchup against the Cowboys' league-worst pass defense and a short-term schedule that is the 4th-best among WRs over the next month.

This will likely be one of the last times you can get Tet for a mid-to-low WR2 price tag, especially as the schedule lightens up for him here and as he develops more throughout the season (as rookies naturally do).

TreVeyon Henderson (RB - New England Patriots)

The Patriots can't keep rolling with Rhamondre Stevenson for much longer, especially after RB Antonio Gibson went down to a season-ending injury this past week, and Stevenson has lost 3 fumbles over the last 3 weeks. The transition to favor Henderson will have to come if the Patriots plan to stay competitive.

We saw a season-high 50% snap share for the rookie in Week 5, and that may be an indicator of things moving forward as he becomes more involved as the offense shifts Stevenson from the 'lead back' role to more selective utilization. You can get Henderson for pennies on the dollar after fantasy managers have likely been majorly disappointed in the rookie after high preseason expectations and just one top-24 finish through the first five weeks.

The good news (on top of a likely expanded role) is that the schedule looks amazing for Henderson. Over the next three weeks, he draws the Saints, the Titans, and the Browns - now, while the Browns may not be the most lucrative matchup for fantasy, all three of those games present likely run-heavy game scripts, and the matchups against New Orleans and Tennessee present top-10 fantasy matchups. Plus (not to get ahead of ourselves), Henderson has what currently would be the 3rd-easiest remaining SOS for RBs and the 4th-easiest playoff SOS.

We always see an example or two of rookies (especially rookie RBs) taking a bit of time to come into their own, but then exploding in the second half of the season. I'd be willing to bet Henderson is one of those instances. I'm aggressively pursuing him as a FLEX/high-RB3 option at what should be an appealing discount.

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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.

Christian McCaffrey (RB - San Francisco 49ers)

Right now, it's Christian McCaffrey and Jonathan Taylor, then the rest of the RBs. Normally, I wouldn't be saying to entertain trading away the overall RB1, that is that with just 3 touchdowns (none of which were rushing) through 5 games. However, Christian McCaffrey is the anomaly to that for one reason: volume.

He's on pace for over 300 carries for the season, which is a bit high, but nothing alarming. What is alarming has actually been the reason for his successes: he's on pace for 132 catches and over 440 touches.

Volume is always the safest thing to bet on for fantasy football, but there comes a point where too much volume is a bad thing. Do you trust that McCaffrey can hold up for all 17 games with over 400 touches? It's definitely some food for thought.

Now, by no means should you be giving CMC away... I'd simply recommend looking around and seeing what you can get for him. Can you get Bijan Robinson + another startable player? Can you get a top-5 WR + an RB2? Now is likely the time to sell him if you are going to sell him; this will likely be the maximum value you can get this year. If you are trading him away, you should be walking away with at least 2 excellent players that will be every-week starters in your lineup.

D'Andre Swift (RB - Chicago Bears)

It's been a pretty horrific start to the season for D'Andre Swift on the ground, averaging just 3.3 YPC. Now, part of that is due to a sub-par offensive line, but Swift isn't doing himself any favors either, ranking 9th-worst among qualified RBs in RYOE/Att (Rushing Yards Over Expected/Attempts).

He's stayed afloat for fantasy so far, ranking between the RB20 and RB28 mark in each week, but this could be the peak for his fantasy value the rest of the season if the Bears' RB room begins to shift, as may be the case. The season opened with Swift as the workhorse back (81% snap share, 95% of RB touches) in the opener, but since then, it has become a 1-2 situation with rookie Kyle Monangai, resulting in Swift failing to exceed a 66% snap share any week since the opener.

With the rookie having gotten more involvement and a bye week in Week 5, change could theoretically be on the way. I'm not as optimistic on Swift as I was entering the year, so I'd definitely look to shop him coming off a 16-point performance in Week 4 (his last game) that was otherwise saved by a TD.

DeVonta Smith (WR - Philadelphia Eagles)

For the first time in forever, the Eagles did something crazy in Week 5: they passed the ball. In a rare pass-friendly game script, the Eagles' offense was forced to throw the ball 38 times, and with Broncos' DB Pat Surtain shadowing A.J. Brown, it was DeVonta Smith who was the big beneficiary, bringing in 8 of 10 targets for 114 yards (19.4 points, WR10).

That makes it two of the last three weeks where Smith hit 8+ catches and 19+ points. Coming into the season, we knew it would be inconsistent production from both Smith and Brown, but a relative lack of floor (two games of 3 or fewer targets, 5 or fewer points) is a bit more concerning than anticipated.

It's very clear that the Eagles' game plan is to play risk-adverse, ground-and-pound offensively while their defense takes care of business. It's an excellent strategy given their talent, but it's not one that's friendly for fantasy football.

I'd be very inclined to trade away Smith after the big game in an abnormal game script. Even if the Eagles' offense does transition to a more balanced approach, you're still going to get sporadic production from Smith - I'd take the value you can get for him off a 19-point game and 19+ points in 2 of his last 3.