Week 6 is in the books! Cooterdoodle is back to walk us through the fantasy landscape from a buy, sell, hold perspective…
Before we get into player specifics, I want to draw your attention to some key concepts to remember when considering who to buy, who to sell, and who to hold on to.
Here’s one for this week:
Find your diamond
Bye weeks and injuries have some fantasy managers in panic mode, and you might be one of them. But it’s time to capitalize and find a diamond.
I believe that there's a shiny trade waiting for you somewhere out there. You just have to find the right manager to trade with. Check on your league. Sift through each team's lineup. If a team is depleted at a particular position (or multiple positions), you might be able to get a deal on a true gem.
Try to upgrade to a stud at a position while trading away multiple depth pieces to a needy team for a win-win deal. It’s never too late to keep pushing and building towards a championship run.
No matter your record, sift through the dirty, messy lineups in your league to find that trade that will help you through the remainder of the season. Find your diamond!
Now let’s get into some buyin’, sellin’, and holding!
Players to buy
Patterns are emerging! It’s time to get out your pocketbook and think about buying:
Jared Goff, QB - Lions
Before Week 6 kicked off, we talked on the Fantasy Life Matchups podcast about how Jared Goff was quietly a top-10 QB in passing yards and tied for seventh in passing TDs.
Heading into Week 7, Goff continues to climb the charts. He's now fifth in passing yards and also tied for fifth in passing TDs.
Oct 15, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) drops back to pass against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
With a strong supporting cast of Amon-Ra St. Brown (Matthew Berry’s Ride-or-Die), rookie phenom Sam LaPorta, and another big playmaker in Jameson Williams now back on the field, Goff should continue to produce fantasy QB1 numbers.
You might even be able to buy Goff at a discount if your league thinks that David Montgomery’s injury will negatively affect the Lions’ passing game as defenders get a reprieve from stacking the box.
Takeaway: Follow the Ride-or-Die Adjacency Principle.
Chris Olave, WR - Saints
I told my husband, a fellow Chris Olave manager, about the players I was going to write about this week. When I mentioned Olave, he looked at me like I was crazy. “Buy him? Why would you tell people to do that?”
And I get it. The Saints haven’t looked good, and Olave managers haven’t felt good for most of the season. But that being said, buying low on Olave can help you feel good for the rest of the year.
The numbers still say that Derek Carr can make Olave a fantasy star in 2023. Air yards mean something, right? End-zone targets mean something, right? And surely double-digit targets mean something, too?
If the Saints can get on the same page out on the field, there’s a clear path to Olave being a direct beneficiary. I’m willing to take that gamble.
Takeaway: Numbers, don’t fail me now. I really want to prove my husband wrong.
Puka Nacua, WR - Rams
I’ve talked about Puka Nacua quite a lot this season, so I’ll keep this one very short…unlike my list of reasons for buying Puka. But I still want to write something catchy…like Puka’s hands. And much like Puka…I’ll be quick.
So I’ll just leave you with this:
Takeaway: Takeaway? Yes, take Puka away from your leaguemates!
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Player to sell
Sometimes there’s bad writing on the wall even when a player has been performing. It’s time to think about selling.
Elijah Mitchell, RB - 49ers
“Cooter, you want me to sell a healthy RB who suddenly has an opportunity to be the No. 1 guy in his backfield?”
I get the skepticism. The NextManUp bug is biting at your heels. You’re probably working with an already-depleted pool of RBs due to injuries and with an already-depleted player pool due to bye weeks.
But I need you to recognize that most teams are in the same boat right now. Everyone is desperate to find the next man up. But be cautious! We saw the NextManUp bug bite after Week 6 when fantasy managers ran to the waiver wire for Emari Demercado (who gave them a total of 17 yards).
I’m not saying that Mitchell will only get to carry the ball two times in Week 7 like Demercado after James Conner went down. But I am saying that some of your leaguemates might be expecting Christian McCaffery-lite fantasy points from Mitchell, and to me, that screams “SELL HIGH!” on Mitchell.
Given the likelihood that Mitchell and Jordan Mason will share the workload in this 49ers backfield in McCaffrey's absence and that neither of them have McCaffrey's elite skill set to begin with, you can try to sell high on Mitchell. Target a more consistent, long-term starter like Jerome Ford or Rachaad White.
Takeaway: Sell high on the idea of Elijah Mitchell.
Player to hold
Here are some “They did so great, I bet I could get some value for them right now" players that we are not letting go of, no matter what.
Remember, we’re not chasing the next big thing if we already have it.
Josh Jacobs, RB - Raiders
If you drafted Josh Jacobs, you did so because of his nine top-10 RB performances in 2022. You also probably drafted him because five of those nine top-10 RB weeks were also top-three RB performances.
But in 2023, having Jacobs on your roster hasn’t felt nearly as sexy with a bunch of single-digit fantasy outings and just two TDs in six weeks.
And then there was Week 2…we don’t need to talk about Week 2.
So why hold Jacobs? Well, like I mentioned above, the RB player pool is…depleted. Thin. Non-existent. Empty! You get the idea.
In a world where bell-cow RBs are hard to come by, Jacobs has at least been consistently seeing a heavy workload. In fact, his 2023 usage has been eerily similar to his 2022 usage.
He’s got that bell-cow in him, baby! I’d hold onto one of the few bell-cow RBs in the league right now even if Jacobs hasn't been elite in fantasy thus far.
Takeaway: Mooo!
Other players to acquire via waivers or trades
Zay Flowers, WR - Ravens
Garrett Wilson, WR - Jets
