What a time to be alive. World Series droughts are ending. Presidential elections are forthcoming. And fantasy deadlines are looming.
OK, so maybe one of these things isn’t like the others.
No matter. It’s an important time of your season, and the trade offers are going to be flying toward you fast and furious. Now isn’t the time to get ripped off.
Luckily, with my weekly fantasy trade value chart, you’ll have an idea of every player’s general value when it comes to making trades. Obviously, individual people will value certain players differently, but consider this your guide to ensuring you get back fair value in any deal.
Analysis
Since Tom Brady has returned to action, Rob Gronkowski has averaged 15.7 fantasy points per week (in four total contests). To put that in perspective, there isn’t a single wide receiver posting that many fantasy points per week this year, and just four running backs (David Johnson, DeMarco Murray, Melvin Gordon and Ezekiel Elliott) are eclipsing that mark.
To put that into further perspective, the only tight end who has more fantasy points this season than Gronk has in the past four games is Greg Olsen.
That’s absurd.
If running back was a stronger position—and if Gronk didn’t have a history of injury—he’d be the top player on this list. As it were, I think he remains among fantasy’s elite.
Marvin Jones, on the other hand, is a player who has proved to be consistently OK, rather than consistently great, which his place as the No. 7 wide receiver in fantasy points might otherwise suggest. Jones burst onto the scene with a 32-point showing in Week 3, but has since scored a total of 35 points in the past five weeks.
Yes, that’s still a nice average of seven points per week, but how high should you value a player scoring seven points a week?
Certainly not as highly as your average WR1. Here are a couple of packages you could get back for Jones if you tried to sell on him now:
- Matt Stafford and Coby Fleener
- Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles
- Giovani Bernard and Marcus Mariota
- Delanie Walker and Tyrod Taylor
Obviously, these aren’t exactly awe-inspiring deals, so you’ll probably want to try to do better. But they do represent the actual value Jones has proved to have over the past five weeks. On the other hand, he still does possess potential as the top receiver on an offense that likes to throw the ball frequently, so you shouldn’t just give him away.
But Jones is in a bit of a value purgatory at the moment, and he continues to dip closer to average than great.
Running back is a mess again this year, so you’ll notice I have a good amount of running backs high on the rankings this week. Consider the following, from Michael Fabiano of NFL.com:
Adrian Peterson, Jamaal Charles, Eddie Lacy and C.J. Anderson are on injured reserve. Doug Martin, Carlos Hyde, Tevin Coleman, Jonathan Stewart, Thomas Rawls, Latavius Murray, LeSean McCoy and Le’Veon Bell, among others, have missed time. Todd Gurley and Mark Ingram have been busts.
Reliable running backs are worth their weight in gold again this year.
Devontae Booker, then, is one of the players who has shot up the trade value chart. He’s the clear starter in Denver now and has registered 26 fantasy points over the past two weeks. If you are hurting at running back and are considering buying Booker, here’s what you might be looking at giving up:
- Kelvin Benjamin and Jack Doyle
- Cam Newton and Allen Hurns
- DeAndre Hopkins and Andy Dalton
- Travis Kelce and Davante Adams
If Booker continues to produce, of course, the price will go up. He’s probably more affordable now than he’ll be for the rest of the season, unless he fails to produce. That’s possible, seeing as Anderson was having an inconsistent season.
Still, Anderson was a solid RB2 when he was healthy. Booker doesn’t give up much in the talent department, if anything, and should be a reliable top-20 running back the rest of the way. The time to buy low is now. His value will likely only increase.
You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter. All points-against and fantasy stats via ESPN.com standard-scoring leagues.
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