Trade Targets for Week 3 (Fantasy Football)

There are always several players you could look at via trade to make your team better. We will look at three solid trade target options and three players you should try to trade away. Every league’s market will be different, so don’t force anything, but these tips can help you on your path to a Footclan Title!

Players to Trade For

Travis Etienne

The debate with Travis Etienne in the offseason was whether or not he would be in a work-horse role or in a committee with rookie running back Tank Bigsby taking a significant portion of the team’s rushing attempts. So far, Bigsby has been nearly irrelevant while Etienne dominates touches. Through two games, Etienne has 30 rushing attempts to Bigsby’s seven and eight targets to Bigsby’s one. Among running backs, Etienne is currently sixth in route percentage but is 26th in target rate, per Fantasy Points. Hopefully, he will see an uptick in targets, but it’s good to see his route percentage has increased from last season. After a down week for fantasy production, there may be an opportunity to snag Etienne.

Jerry Jeudy

While the star for the Broncos in Week 2 was rookie wide receiver Marvin Mims, Jerry Jeudy is still the wide receiver you want to roster. In his first game returning from the hamstring injury, Jeudy played 68% of snaps and earned five targets, catching three for 25 yards. While that is far from a stunning stat line, Jeudy had an 18.5% target share, second on the team to Courtland Sutton. Mims was deployed as the deep threat, catching both of his targets for 113 yards and a touchdown. Mims isn’t going away and will be involved, but Jeudy will have a chance to lead this team in targets for the rest of the year if he’s healthy. Jeudy could be a solid WR2 for your team the rest of the way. The chart below shows Air yards and first-read shares, which Ryan Heath posted on Twitter. You can see Jeudy is already ahead of Sutton regarding first reads!

Michael Thomas

I feel gross writing this, but I wanted to dig deeper into some options to target in trades. Michael Thomas has had a great start to the year and will likely be a solid WR2 or WR3 option if he remains healthy. Thomas does have some risk, so don’t overpay, but he could help your team win some games. Through the first two games, Thomas has been targeted 17 times, tied for 17th most in the NFL and just four less than Chris Olave. While Olave is the clear number-one option, Thomas is still getting work and, according to ProFootballReference, has more red zone targets than Olave, so he should have plenty of touchdown opportunities. Derek Carr has been serviceable, so while this offense may not light it up every week, there will be opportunities for plenty of fantasy points.

Players to Trade Away

Raheem Mostert

This recommendation to trade Mostert is primarily due to his injury risk, but also keep in mind Jeff Wilson Jr. will return in a few weeks, potentially reducing Mostert’s workload. Nobody has challenged Mostert for touches through two games, but that will likely change with Wilson returning. With Mostert being highly productive, there will likely be a trade market for him, especially for teams needing running backs. Mostert did play in 16 games last season, the first time since 2019. He has only played at least ten games four times in his eight-year career. I do not want to chance it when he is 31 years old with that kind of risk.

Rachaad White

Running back depth is hard to find, so I wouldn’t recommend trading Rachaad White away for anything. However, if you can upgrade a tier to a running back you would prefer, that is a great move. White had a poor Week 1 performance against the Vikings, a rush defense that D’Andre Swift torched in Week 2, so there were some questions about why White didn’t have a better game. White had a much better game for fantasy in Week 2 and did catch all five of his targets for 30 yards, so the passing game usage went up compared to Week 1 when he was targeted twice. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, White has had back-to-back weeks being negative in rushing yards over expected. While I like his pass-catching ability, I don’t believe in his rushing talent, so I will attempt to trade up a tier at running back after his RB9 overall performance in Week 2 in half-PPR scoring.

Nico Collins

One of the biggest surprises this season is third-year wide receiver Nico Collins. The breakout through two games is surprising because he has not shown many signs of being a number one receiver before, but also because he has a rookie quarterback throwing him the ball. Stroud has played well, and that is good to see early on. I am putting Collins on this list of players to trade away because I do not think his production is sustainable. He is currently the WR7 overall in half-PPR leagues. If you believe in the breakout and think he finishes the season in the top 12 or top 15, then you may hold on. Still, I look at him more as a borderline top-24 type of player, and I want to take advantage of his early production to see if I can find a manager who is losing patience with a proven fantasy stud. Year after year, we see surprising players start off hot and return to reality at some point in the season. Per Ben Cummins’ tweet below, Tank Dell could be a problem soon for Collins. Dell ran more routes than Collins in Week 2 and caught seven of 10 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown.

Tank Dell played more snaps and ran more routes than Nico Collins in Week 2.

Result: 7 for 72 and a TD on 10 targets.

All he does is ball. https://t.co/ECND4me7K6

— Ben Cummins (@BenCumminsFF) September 19, 2023