The NFL Trade Deadline is approaching and fantasy football leagues are also hot on the trading block, so Jonathan Fuller is here with his fantasy football trade targets entering Week 9:

We are now more than halfway through the fantasy football regular season. With just six weeks left (in most leagues) to qualify for the playoffs, there's no time to lose. This is the point of the season where many teams have to just start thinking week-to-week and doing whatever it takes to win the matchup in front of you.

Fantasy Football Trading Strategy

If you are in a strong position with just one or two losses so far, press your advantage by looking ahead toward the fantasy playoffs and make moves to acquire players with favorable playoff schedules. Our fantasy football trade analyzer makes this really easy by showing you where each player ranks in our rest-of-season rankings as well as how difficult their playoff schedule is with the defense vs position ranking for each opponent.

 

Every team is unique and you know better than anyone what your team needs to take it over the top and win a fantasy championship, but I've identified some of my favorite fantasy football trade targets to help get you started. These players should be able to help your team make it to the playoffs and make a run at a title once you're there.

Trades To Make In Fantasy Football This Week

Look To Trade For Josh Downs With Anthony Richardson Benched

I'm not going to get into the Colts' decision to bench Anthony Richardson for Joe Flacco, other than to say that it is a huge upgrade for the pass catchers in Indianapolis. The entire WR room is more valuable than it was a week ago, but I want to focus on Downs who has been a top-10 fantasy WR when playing with Flacco. 

With Flacco under center, the number and quality of pass plays in this offense is significantly higher and when Downs has been on the field, he has been the top option in the passing game. His target per route run and target share numbers are bordering on elite, and his 6.5 Utilization Score is the best among Colts pass catchers. He also rates highly in first-read target share and with Flacco throwing him the ball we can reasonably expect more of those targets to turn into catches. 

 

It's also important to note that while I wouldn't be surprised to see Richardson start again this season, Shane Steichen has made it clear they are not planning to go back to Richardson after just a week or two. With Flacco as the QB for the foreseeable future, it should be safe to make a move for one of the Colts WRs and not have to worry about their value plummeting next week.

So how highly should you value Josh Downs moving forward? He's the WR41 in our rest-of-season rankings, but  I would have him a few spots higher than that as a low-end WR3. I would prefer to have him over guys like Calvin Ridley and Khalil Shakir who are currently ranked ahead.

Buy Jaylen Warren Before It's Too Late

Last week I wrote about Najee Harris as a player to trade away, and this week I'm doubling down (in a way) with Jaylen Warren as a player to trade for.

At first glance, this might seem odd considering the fact that Harris is coming off of three straight games with at least 14 half PPR points, while Warren has yet to reach double-digit fantasy points in any game this season. 

In reality, Warren has really only been healthy the last two weeks and during that time it has been a 55%/45% snap split in favor of Najee. However, both games have featured positive game scripts for the Steelers. This has allowed them to feature Najee Harris as they look to run the clock in the second half.

 

Pittsburgh's next four opponents are the Commanders, Ravens, Browns, and Bengals. That group includes two of the NFL's top three scoring offenses (Commanders and Ravens) and another that is tied for tenth (Bengals). Even the Browns offense looks much more potent now that Jameis Winston is the starting QB. This upcoming schedule makes it much more likely that Pittsburgh will face some trailing game scripts which in turn will favor Warren getting more touches as the primary passing downs back.

The stars are aligning for Warren to see his role continue to grow and with the Steelers offense moving the ball efficiently under Russell Wilson, I'm confident that Warren's best fantasy performances are ahead of him. The even better news is that Warren has been an afterthought for most fantasy managers this season. If you need RB help, I would try to flip a bench receiver for Warren before his breakout game happens.

 

Evan Engram Is A Prime Trade Target At TE

The Christian Kirk injury is going to open up more opportunities for Evan Engram in the Jacksonville passing game, and that's on top of the solid role he already had. Since Engram returned to the lineup in Week 6 he has been targeted on 26% of his routes and has a 24% target share, both of which lead the team.

 

Although the Jaguars may not be a good team, they do have a functional passing offense and a bad defense which is the perfect recipe for accumulating fantasy points. With BrIan Thomas on the field, defenses won't be focusing on Engram either, which will allow him to rack up plenty of targets and catches. In any sort of PPR format, he should be a top-10 weekly TE moving forward, and probably closer to top-5 most weeks.

I would prefer Engram over more popular names from draft season like Mark Andrews and Dalton Kincaid who are both facing tougher target competition after their teams traded for veteran WRs.

Now is the time to use all the TE touchdowns from National TE Day to your advantage by trading away a player who had a short-term spike in production for Engram who will offer better and more stable production for the rest of the season.

Players To Trade Away In Fantasy Football This Week

Sell Romeo Doubs High

When any Packers receiver strings together a few good weeks it can be tempting to think they are going to be the main guy moving forward. However, Matt LaFleur has been telling us since the offseason that they don't have a true WR1. They have four good WRs and it will rotate from week to week who produces the most fantasy value. Recently, that has been Doubs, but I'm confident that Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks, and Christian Watson will all pop up with big games down the stretch too.

This rotation makes it difficult to trust starting any Packers WR, although Reed is talented enough he is the one guy I would want to hold on to. Any of the other three are great trade-high candidates after a big game or two, which as of right now is Doubs. It also helps his trade value that he does have the most consistent role on the team. You can point to his team-leading route participation and target share as selling points when negotiating.

 

If you roster Doubs, I would suggest trying to trade him for any of the three 'trade for' candidates I listed above. Any one of those would be a fair deal depending on which position you need to upgrade and I would feel more confident plugging those players into my starting lineup over Doubs most weeks.

Trade Away Kyle Pitts After His “Breakout”

Few players have disappointed fantasy managers more than Kyle Pitts has over the last few seasons, but he looks like he is finally starting to deliver on the hype with double-digit fantasy points in three of his last four games. So why is he on the players to trade away list if things are finally starting to look up?

I do still view Pitts as a top-10 TE option for the rest of this season so I'm not totally out on him, but I also view his production as very replaceable, and his profile is unlikely to deliver the spike weeks that really help you win when it counts. Yes, he's coming off of a two-touchdown performance this past week, but in 51 career games before last week, he had scored just seven total receiving TDs. He also hasn't been a primary target for Kirk Cousins in the end zone, with just one end zone target since Week 3. I'm not buying that he is suddenly going to be a frequent TD scorer.

You could always try to trade Pitts straight up for a better TE, but in my experience, those types of trades rarely happen since most fantasy managers place a premium on the players they already roster.

I would try to flip Pitts for a 'lesser' TE who can offer similar production while upgrading at a different spot.

 

This is just one example, but Hunter Henry is basically a generic brand Kyle Pitts. He offers a solid production floor every week but doesn't have a huge ceiling playing in that Patriots offense.