Week 8's main slate is only a couple of sleeps away, and Jonathan Fuller is here to break down some fantasy football trade targets ahead of kickoff:
We're officially halfway through the fantasy football regular season. Injuries are piling up which means you or other managers in your league are getting thin at some positions, possibly even desperate to find players you are comfortable putting in your starting lineup.
Waivers can only take you so far, to really improve your team you might need to turn to the trade block. But figuring out who to trade for (and who to trade away) is tough so I've created a shortlist of realistic trade targets to get you started.
But first, let's check in on the state of the market entering Week 8 …
Fantasy Football Most Traded Players - Week 8
Per CBS, The Top 5 players being traded this week are:
The one thing missing from their “most traded” page is there’s no “market” function, where we can see who these players were being traded for. You can use Yahoo for that, but with the caveat that we don’t know the formats—a lot of trades that look lopsided on the surface come from dynasty leagues.
Now, let's get into players who I think you should target, or trade away this week in fantasy football.
Trade Targets for Fantasy Football Entering Week 8
Trade FOR: Chase Brown - RB, Bengals
It's been happening slowly, but Chase Brown is earning a bigger and bigger role in the Cincinnati offense each week. After starting the season as the second back behind Zack Moss, Brown has now led the backfield in snaps and touches each of the last two weeks.
He has rewarded the Bengals faith in him with an efficient rushing season so far, averaging 5.0 yards per carry and 3.35 yards after contact per attempt.
The one disappointing area is the passing game where he has totaled just 59 receiving yards and hasn't seen more than three targets in any game. At the same time, he also hasn't had fewer than two targets since Week 2, so he may not have a huge role in the passing game but what he does get is consistent.
An explosive player like Brown is going to break some big plays in the passing game at some point, it's just a matter of time.
While Moss is a solid pro and won't be phased out of the offense entirely, it seems like the Bengals understand that Brown is the more dynamic option for their offense. I expect him to be their lead RB for the rest of the season if he can stay healthy and I want to have pieces of this exciting Cincinnati offense.
If you need help at the RB position, Brown is my top trade target because I believe his role still has some more room to grow and he is the type of player who can bring you week-winning performances. He hasn't had the massive breakout game yet, but when he does it is going to be much more difficult to trade for him.
Chase Brown is currently the RB22 in our rest-of-season rankings, but I'm not sure if public perception is that high on him yet. I think you might be able to trade a lower-ranked RB for him straight up, but if you are trying to do a cross-position trade be sure to use our fantasy football trade analyzer to make sure you're getting a fair deal.
Trade FOR: De'Von Achane - RB, Dolphins
With Tua Tagovailoa returning this week there has been a lot of discussion about the fantasy value of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle bouncing back, but less attention has been paid to the Dolphins RB1.
It's easy to forget but Achane opened the season with two really strong fantasy finishes as the RB6 (Week 1) and RB3 (Week 2) in half PPR scoring. Coming out of Miami's Week 6 bye I was very interested to see how the backfield work was split, but Achane still led the way in snaps, rush attempts, routes, and targets.
Another significant factor working in Achane's favor is the Dolphins upcoming schedule. Here are Miami's next five opponents and their rank for fantasy points allowed to opposing RBs (i.e. 1st has given up the most points to RBs):
- Week 8 - Cardinals (12th)
- Week 9 - Bills (3rd)
- Week 10 - Rams (19th)
- Week 11 - Raiders (5th)
- Week 12 - Patriots (2nd)
None of these defenses are a concerning matchup so if the offense is functional with Tua back, we should finally see Achane look like an RB1 again. Every league is different, but I think trading away a solid starter like James Cook or Tee Higgins could be enough to get Achane on your team and I think he offers a better shot at being a true league-winner down the stretch.
Trade FOR: Jakobi Meyers - WR, Raiders
I always like to include some lower-level options in this article because they can be more attainable to trade for, and they can also be helpful for evening out trades with bigger-name players. Meyers falls into that category of player I would love to acquire but not necessarily plug into my starting lineup right away.
Meyers missed the last two games with an ankle injury but returned to practice this week and seems to have a decent shot to play. The Raiders next three games are against the Chiefs, Bengals, and Dolphins. There is a high probability they will be trailing for the majority of those games which should lead to plenty of pass attempts.
Before his injury, Meyers had seen a 22% target share, 31% air yard share, and 33% end zone target share. Those are very strong numbers and resulted in a 6.8 Utilization Score, which was tied for 24th among WRs. Now that the Raiders have traded Davante Adams to the Jets, Meyers should be their top WR and the second target in the passing game behind Brock Bowers.
There is a strong chance Meyers sees a 25%+ target share going forward for a team that has been top-5 in pass rate so far. In any type of PPR format that should make him a low-end WR2 or high-end WR3 most weeks, making him the ideal bench WR to fill in when you have starters on bye or out injured. Since he isn't viewed as a star fantasy asset, you might be able to get him as a throw-in as part of a larger deal. If that isn't possible, I would try to get him in exchange for a bench player at a position where I have more depth.
For example, I would love to use the big game from Rachaad White last week as an opportunity to sell high on him now that he is in a full-blown committee with Sean Tucker and Bucky Irving. Our trade analyzer has that as a fair deal and you can probably leverage the fact that it slightly favors the White side to help get the deal done.
Players To Trade Away In Fantasy Football - Week 8
Trade AWAY: Keenan Allen - WR, Bears
The Bears are coming out of their bye so their players aren't top of mind for most fantasy managers, but the last time we saw them in action Keenan Allen scored two TDs. If it weren't for those two scores, he would likely be viewed as one of the most disappointing fantasy picks of the season considering he has yet to hit 50 receiving yards in any game.
I don't think Keenan has looked completely done, but he is an aging receiver who is on pace to post the worst yards per route run of his career by a wide margin. The warning lights are flashing and I would prefer to get out too soon rather than hang on too long. We've seen plenty of teams use their bye week to get rookies more involved in the offense and the Bears might choose to do that with Rome Odunze.
If that happens, it is going to significantly impact Keenan's rest of season outlook.
The only things that make me nervous at all about this recommendation are the Bears upcoming schedule and Keenan's role in the red zone.
Chicago's next three matchups are against the Commanders, the Cardinals, and the Patriots. All three are bad pass defenses so we could see Caleb Williams put up big numbers in this stretch of games. Keenan also leads the team in red zone targets, so if the Bears are scoring a lot through the air, we could see him deliver more solid fantasy outings.
That being said, I would much rather bet on the highly drafted rookie to emerge over the rest of the season. With Keenan having a big game in Week 6 and Rome not, I would try to flip the veteran straight up for the rookie. They're only a couple of spots apart in our rest-of-season rankings, but by the time the fantasy playoffs get here, I think you will strongly prefer having Odunze on your roster over Allen.
Trade AWAY: Najee Harris - RB, PIT
Najee has had back-to-back games with 100+ rushing yards and a TD and the Pittsburgh offense looked pretty good in Russell Wilson's first start.
Najee's value has arguably never been higher, so why am I suggesting to trade him away? The primary reason is that I don't think that he's the best RB in his backfield.
After struggling with an injury to start the season and missing Weeks 4-5, Jaylen Warren appears to finally be getting up to full strength. Since Warren returned two weeks ago, Harris has been below his season average in all usage categories. In Week 7, Warren saw a season-high snap share, rush attempt share, and route participation. His role is growing and it is directly cutting into Najee's workload.
I'm not panicking on Najee, there should be plenty of work to go around in this run-heavy Steelers offense, but as I said earlier, his value has never been higher. Now is the time to test the waters and see if another manager is willing to value Najee based on his last two games.
I would prefer to have Chase Brown straight up over Najee for the rest of the season, but you might be able to get something in addition to Brown if your trade partner is just looking at the box scores.
