RosterWatch Trades of the Week
Mike Loyko, Rosterwatch Director of Scouting

This is Rosterwatch’s first installment of Trades of the Week.

*Trade questions for the next edition should be sent to info@rosterwatch.com*

Our readers send us trades they have made or are contemplating making and I give my opinion of the moves that are made. I am known throughout my fantasy leagues as the “guy who makes crazy trades every week”.

I have no problem trading my best players to get two players I want. I will trade anyone at anytime, that’s my philosophy. Too many fantasy players hold on to their star players and are reluctant to move them, despite losing value in the process.

I am here to tell you what I would do in your situation. You can either take my advice or laugh at it. Without further adieu here are the trade and roster upgrade question we got from the readers this week.

Should I trade Cam Newton for Fitz and Andre Johnson? I have Stafford as my back up. I also got Megatron, Brandon Marshall, Greg Jennings, and Jordy Nelson.

I have no clue how you got so much WR depth.

Your RB’s are either horrible or you’re in an 8-team league. While I would definitley explore trading one of Cam Newton or Matthew Stafford, because most weeks one or the other will be sitting on your bench, I’m not sure how much this trade helps you.

You would basically be trading a back up QB who will be on your bench most weeks for two wide receivers who most weeks won’t help you. Your wide receivers are all set, I would look into trading Cam Newton for a bonafide #1 RB. He is one of them most desirable players in fantasy football this year and you should have no problem moving him.

From a pure value standpoint, Larry Fitzgerald scares me because he has one of the worst QB situations in the NFL. I am lukewarm on Andre Johnson, I wouldn’t start him over Megatron, Marshall or Jordy Nelson most weeks. My advice, don’t do this trade, but look to move Cam Newton for players at a position on need.

I was offered Victor Cruz for Stevan Ridley. My rbs are Peterson, Richardson, Ridley and Redman. My wrs are Steve Smith, Greg Jennings, Steve Johnson, Meachem and James Jones. I need rbs more, but is Cruz too good to pass up?

This is a great question. I love both players this year and have Stevan Ridley on my most important fantasy team. His value has already sky-rocketed and I think he will only get better as the year goes on.

Through two games it’s clear he is one of the center-pieces of the Patriots offensive attack. In any fantasy league I like to have three top 15-20 RBs and right now you have that. If you trade Ridley you have to be comfortable starting Isaac Redman during your bye weeks or in your flex. I’m not sure I would feel good about that.

Your wide receivers are ALRIGHT, not great but, definitely not bad. Greg Jennings injury is beginning to scare me and Steve Smith is always an injury risk. I think Victor Cruz is one of the top three fantasy football wide receivers this year and am actively trying to trade for him in multiple leagues.

If you had better running back depth, I would be Gung-Ho about that trade. I would still do the trade because Cruz (right now) is the best player in the deal, but don’t be surprised to see Ridley continue to put up these numbers year round.

Got CJ Spiller, Reggie Bush, Ryan Mathews, Deangelo Williams, and Kevin Smith. I am thinking of trading Williams or Smith, what would their value be?

I would advocate trading both and trading them soon.

Kevin Smith’s trade value is probably at an all-time high which is now on the downward slope of its curve. With Mikel LeShoure returning in the near future, Smith’s role in the offense will diminish some. If your moving Smith, I wouldn’t expect you getting more than a #2 WR or top ten TE in return.

If you need a WR try to trade him for someone like Demaryius Thomas, Miles Austin or Antonio Brown. Those types of players are comparable value especially if your dealing with a RB needy team. Do it quickly, because his value is diminishing each week.

DeAngelo Williams doesn’t have much trade value in my opinion. The Panthers backfield is so crowded that it’s tough to trust any RB on a week to week basis. The way carries are split and with Mike Tolbert emerging as a pass catching threat, I think you will have trouble trying to move him. I would wait until a bye week, when a team is going to be desperate for a RB and trade him for whatever you can. Until then, keep him on your bench if all three Panthers RB are active.

This is my first time playing fantasy football and I’m off to an 0-2 start. I thought I had a pretty good team, but I lost week 1 by 4 points and week 2 by 28 points. So I was hoping you could give me some advice.
My Roster:
QB: E. Manning, S. Bradford
WR: Julio Jones, Dez Bryant, Danny Amendola, Aldrick Robinson, Greg Jennings
RB: A. Peterson, C. Benson, M. LeShoure
TE: J. Written, B. Myers, E. Dickerson
K: M. Crosby
Def: San Francisco

When evaluating a fantasy football team, the first thing I ALWAYS look at is who you have for running backs.

Peterson looks very good despite only being 9 months removed from shredding his knee. You need to keep him. Behind Peterson you are extremely weak at the RB position. I HATE Cedric Benson this year and every other year, he is nothing more than a RB4 in my mind.

While your WR are pretty good they are inconsistent. Be prepared to have big weeks when Julio and Dez catch touchdowns, but on other weeks they won’t do much because they aren’t volume pass catchers. In my opinion a lot revolves around Greg Jennings and him getting healthy. If he is healthy I would try packaging Dez Bryant and Jennings for another top RB to go with Peterson.

If you are in a PPR league I would be fine with using Amendola as my WR2, as he will get a good amount of points each week. You could also look to trade Julio Jones right now for another RB, such as Marshawn Lynch, Reggie Bush, Trent Richardson or maybe even Darren McFadden.

Your weak RB position is a big reason why you are 0-2 and you need to find a way to upgrade. By the way I love your kicker and DEF combo, don’t trade them as they will win you a week by themselves before the year is over. Thanks for the Question.

Finally, here is my personal trade of the week and my rational behind the move:

I traded Ray Rice and Antonio Brown for Robert Griffin III, Marshawn Lynch and Darrius Heyward-Bey

My Roster Currently is

QB: Alex Smith and Jay Cutler
RB: Ray Rice, Ryan Mathews, Stevan Ridley, Kendall Hunter
WR: Julio Jones, Percy Harvin, Antonio Brown, Kenny Britt
TE: Jason Witten, Kyle Rudolph
K: Nate Kaeding
DEF: New England and Arizona

After starting 0-2 and having some really bad performances mixed in with some bad luck, I decided I needed to shake things up big time. I had seen enough of Jay Cutler to last a lifetime and in a 6 point per passing touchdown league, I needed a legit every week QB, otherwise I had very little margin for error.

I love RG3 and the start he has gotten off to. I see no reason outside of injury why he can’t continue to produce at 85-90% the rate he has the first two weeks. While it’s tough to trade Ray Rice, getting Marshawn Lynch back makes it much easier to move him.

While there is some drop off going from Rice-Lynch it’s not as big as some make it out to be. The main difference is Rice catches a ton of balls and Lynch has a minimal impact in the passing game. Through two games the Ravens offense concerned me a little bit, in terms of Rice’s production going forward.

It’s pretty evident that the Ravens are moving towards a more vertical passing oriented offense and I think it will be hard for Rice to duplicate his numbers from last year. Since I have Julio Jones and Percy Harvin (I get points for return yards too), I won’t be starting Antonio Brown over one of them many weeks. Brown was essentially a bench player on my team and one of the players I had tried to move in previous trades for a QB. In the end I felt that the value of RG3 and Lynch was far greater on my team than Rice/Alex Smith/Antonio Brown.

Now that I have made that trade, I am trying to make a move for Victor Cruz or one of the elite TE this week. I’ll let you know how it goes next week.

If you have any questions or trades that you want answered on Rosterwatch send them to
@NEPD_Loyko or @Rosterwatch.