Fantasy Football Trades You Need To Make Before Week 6

Week 6 Fantasy Football Trades: Top Buys & Sells

If you’re going to win a fantasy football championship, you have to be trying to find ways to make your team better week in and week out. One of the best ways to do that is to shop the trade market. Be active with making trade offers, updating your trade block, and engaging in conversation with your league mates. It’s also important that you make quality trades. The best way to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of by your league mates and that you are offering fair deals is to utilize our fully customizable redraft fantasy football trade calculator. Now here are a few buys and sells to consider building your trades around in Week 6.

More: Fantasy Notebook: Snaps, Targets, Air Yards, & Routes Data From Week 5

Buy Zay Flowers

Even with the return of Rashod Bateman and Odell Beckham Jr. to the lineup in Week 5, Zay Flowers still ran a route on 100% of Lamar Jackson’s dropbacks. Flowers now has target shares of 47%, 15%, 33%, 22%, and 28% to begin the season. He has seen double-digit targets three times and has had at least one catch go over 20 yards in all but one game. The Ravens have started to use Flowers on more downfield routes in recent weeks, as well, to try to take full advantage of the rookie’s skill set. That was reflected in his 168 air yards in Week 5 which was top-5 in the NFL.

This is a talented receiver with a versatile skill set and an explosive playmaking ability both before and after the catch. He is only going to get better from here. Lamar Jackson has been playing well in the new Todd Monkin offense and his comfort level within that system and with Flowers will continue to grow throughout the season. Flowers is already a top-36 wide receiver in fantasy points per game and that’s without a boom week to date and without scoring a touchdown. Both are going to come soon. In fact, Flowers is second in the NFL with the most targets without scoring a touchdown. Flowers is quietly trending up. The big plays are coming. The touchdowns are coming. The top-12 fantasy weeks are coming. Buy now before it happens.

Buy Roschon Johnson

We’re back again. I have been pounding the table for Roschon Johnson for months. Just when it looked like it was about to happen, the Bears changed course and re-committed to Khalil Herbert. Johnson was up to a near-even split with Herbert in Week 3 before Herbert got hot. In Week 5, though, both Johnson and Herbert left with injuries—an ankle for Herbert and a concussion for the rookie. Herbert is expected to miss multiple weeks while the 10-day break between games should give Johnson a good chance of returning in time for Week 6. 

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. While a Johnson takeover was likely to happen eventually, it was always in the cards that a Herbert injury would accelerate the process. If you followed me at all during the summer, you already know my affinity for the rookie. And no, it’s not because we share a last name. Johnson is a big, athletic back with an all-purpose skill set. He’s 220 lbs, with speed and explosion. He has receiving skills and is a quality pass-blocker which will help keep him on the field for all three downs. His only backfield competition without Herbert is D’Onta Foreman who has been routinely a healthy scratch all season.

Even when Herbert comes back, it’s hard to envision him retaking the job. Johnson will be playing well, but we also see running backs who sustain high ankle sprains like Herbert come back and be ineffective for several weeks after their return. This could absolutely be Johnson’s job for the rest of the season. If the Bears offense continues to play like it has over the last two weeks, Johnson is going to be a guy we want in our lineups from here on out.

Buy Rashee Rice

This is one you can get thrown into bigger deals or even find on some waiver wires. Rashee Rice has not given us the big boom weeks yet, but they’re coming. Rice is still playing a limited role within the Chiefs offense which is why his fantasy output has been underwhelming. However, with his limited opportunities, Rice has been very efficient. Despite running just 10 routes in Week 5, Rice was targeted five times. That’s an insane targets per route rate. In fact, Rice leads all qualified NFL wide receivers with a 36.4% targets per route rate for the season. That’s more than Tyreek Hill (35.8%), Davante Adams (30.5%), Stefon Diggs (27.9%), and literally every other NFL wide receiver, including the almighty Puka Nacua (30.1%).

Of course, in order for this to really matter, Rice is going to need to start running more routes. But it’s obvious Patrick Mahomes likes him, given how often he throws to him when Rice is on the field. And Rice is the only Chiefs wide receiver with multiple touchdown catches on the season. He is actually top-12 among wide receivers in red zone targets. He is also No. 13 in yards per route, No. 11 in fantasy points per route, and top-30 in total yards after catch (PlayerProfiler.com). If it weren’t evident enough that Rice is getting open at a high rate given his per route metrics, he is also top-3 in PlayerProfiler’s route win rate metric, meaning Rice has “won” on his route 60.3% of the time. 

This rookie is talented and he has a pretty good quarterback, too. All he needs is more opportunities. Once those come, Rice will be a viable weekly starter in fantasy lineups. If that happens soon, we could see some blowup games with upcoming matchups with the Broncos, Chargers, Broncos again, and Dolphins over the next four weeks. Get him now while it costs you next to nothing. 

Sell Kyle Pitts

If you made the mistake of drafting Kyle Pitts in August, he just saved your ass with a seven catch, 87-yard performance. While it’s likely those 15.7 fantasy points were on your bench, Pitts breathed a bit of life into his fantasy football value. It might be just enough to be able to sell him off to the hardcore Kyle Pitts groupee in your league—every league has one. While Week 5 was great for Pitts, the Falcons offense really has shown no signs of changing. We can’t be surprised when he drops back down to two catches for 12 yards in Week 6. After all, Jonnu Smith was still heavily involved with an 18% target share and a 6-for-67 line of his own. Smith even ran one more route than Pitts, for what it’s worth.

This performance only serves as a reminder to us that he is incredibly talented. But it’s just a tease. Don’t think that things are suddenly going to be different in Atlanta. It’s a run-first offense with a bad quarterback and a play caller who does not go out of his way to get his playmakers the football. I’m telling you, Week 6 is right back to 2-for-12. Sell while the window is cracked.

Bonus Buys

• Michael Pittman

• Marquise Brown

• Isiah Pacheco

 

Bonus Sells

• Derrick Henry
• Kyren Williams

 

Do you have trade questions? Jump in our Discord and join the discussion!

 

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