Fantasy Football Trades You Need To Make Before Week 2
Week 2 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 2.
More: Fantasy Notebook: Snaps, Targets, Air Yards, & Routes Data From Week 1
Buy: Tee Higgins
Tee Higgins was the ultimate Week 1 bust. It could not have been a worse fantasy performance. Joe Burrow and the entire Bengals offense struggled to get anything going in an ugly, rainy loss to the Browns. That resulted in a goose egg in the box score for Higgins. That’s right, zero touchdowns, zero receiving yards, zero receptions. Not exactly what his fantasy managers were hoping for when they spent a second or third round draft pick on him this summer. But there’s no reason to panic yet. In fact, Higgins is on top of my list of guys I’m trying to buy ahead of Week 2.
While unsuccessful, it was clear the Bengals were trying to get him the ball. Higgins was playing his usual role, we don’t have to worry about that. He ran a route on 100% of the dropbacks and he was targeted eight times which worked out to a 25% target share. It was just one fewer target than Ja’Marr Chase. Higgins also led all NFL wide receivers in team air yards share (64%) and was fourth in total air yards (151). He was just unlucky. Whether it be poor play from Joe Burrow—he missed most of training camp and all of preseason and definitely looked rusty—or the rainy weather conditions, things just weren’t aligned for Higgins on that day.
But the usage was the same as we’re used to seeing from him and we know we don’t have to worry about Joe Burrow repeating this performance too many times. This is going to be one of the best passing offenses in the NFL, just as it has been over the last two seasons. Take advantage of this outlier Week 1 and buy Higgins at this low point. He will provide top-15 WR production from here on out.
Buy: Travis Etienne
It’s okay to buy high. Though, I’m not even sure this even counts as buying high. Travis Etienne had a very productive Week 1, but it feels like he is on the verge of some massive weeks. He scored over 20 fantasy points with 77 rushing yards on 18 carries and another 27 receiving yards while catching five of five targets. The Jaguars confirmed for us what we already knew: this is Etienne’s backfield and rookie Tank Bigsby is not a threat to be anything more than a change of pace/breather running back. Etienne played 80% of the snaps on Sunday, including 73% of the team’s third and fourth down plays.
We also got to see Etienne be more involved in the passing game which was one of the other concerns about him entering the season. However, we knew he had it in him because he caught 102 passes in his Clemson career. You don’t have that level of production at the college level without elite receiving skills. It was only a matter of time before the Jaguars woke up to this. It appears they are finally ready to unleash that side of Etienne’s game which really opens up his ceiling for fantasy football.
So know we have a full-blown bellcow in one of the league’s better offenses. It is absolutely wheels up for Travis Etienne from here on out. He is going to have a tremendous season and could get as high as the top-5 running backs. Buy him before he puts up an even bigger week.
Buy: Zay Flowers
Like I said with Etienne, it’s okay to buy high. Zay Flowers burst onto the scene in his NFL debut. He caught 9-of-10 targets for 78 yards. He also rushed twice for nine yards. This performance confirmed what we knew about Flowers coming into the season. He is an explosive playmaker who is versatile and will command targets from the start. And even then, he exceeded our expectations. Of course, he benefited from the absence of Mark Andrews but I fully expect Flowers will continue to be a target magnet, especially as we see this Ravens offense improve over the course of the season. Lamar Jackson was not on his “A-game” against the Texans but he still found a way to get his rookie playmaker to nine receptions. But you can take advantage of your league mate’s skepticism about Flowers being able to continue to be a target magnet when Andrews returns by making an offer now.
A guy doesn’t come out and run 93% of the routes and have a 45% target share in his first NFL game and then get stuffed back in the box when the tight end comes back. Flowers is going to continue to eat. Even if he’s behind Andrews in targets, he was clearly multiple tiers above both Odell Beckham and Rashod Bateman, both of which had a 14% target share.
This is a stud wide receiver who is going to have one of the most productive rookie seasons we’ve seen in recent years. Go get him now and enjoy the show.
Buy: Anthony Richardson
If you watched the Colts game, Anthony Richardson’s NFL debut was largely pedestrian. However, he was the QB4 on the week in fantasy football. This is exactly why we were drafting Anthony Richardson. He got there because of his rushing production. He ran for 40 yards and a touchdown, giving us 10 points just from rushing. And it could have been even better. Richardson got banged up at the end of the game with the Colts inside the five-yard line. It’s very possible he would have added another score had been able to stay in the game. Richardson also threw for 223 yards and a score while completing 65% of his passes. It was a respectable game for an NFL debut. When we compare the passing to the other two rookies who started (CJ Stroud and Bryce Young), Richardson was the best passer of the day.
Adding that rushing production launches him into QB1 range. Because of that rushing production, Richardson will likely score as a top-12 quarterback more often than not. What he can do on the ground, gives him a nice floor while unlocking a ceiling that most other quarterbacks don’t have. It’s very unlikely that this is his last top-5 week of the season. I would not be shocked to see him lead all quarterbacks in scoring at least once this season.
Buy: DJ Moore
Week 1 was about as ugly as it gets for DJ Moore fantasy managers. We were hyped for the possibility that after years of terrible quarterback play in Carolina, Moore was finally going to enjoy a steady performer under center. Instead, it looked like more of the same in his Bears debut with Justin Fields struggling and only looking Moore’s way twice. However, we have to expect things can only go up from here, right?
After all, this was their first game together and it came against a quality Packers defense that harassed Fields all game. The most exciting thing we can point our fingers to is the pass attempts. Fields averaged 21.2 pass attempts in 2022. The most passes he attempted in a single game was 28. In Week 1, however, Fields threw the ball 37 times. That is incredibly encouraging for Moore fantasy managers. We have to trust that the Bears will find a way to get Moore involved. He is one of the true alpha wide receivers in the NFL and they invested a lot to get him. This is a guy who consistently put up WR2 fantasy production in terrible offenses with bad quarterback play.
Things will get better for Fields and the offense and DJ Moore is going to be a big part of that. He will again be in the 24%+ target share range like he was in each of the last four seasons in Carolina and he will be a top-20 fantasy scorer on the season. Go buy low while your league mates are in panic mode.
Buy: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Jaxon Smith-Nigba is somehow flying under the fantasy radar after Week 1 I’m taking advantage. He is the best wide receiver of the 2023 rookie class. In his NFL debut, JSN tied for the team lead in targets while running just 65% of the routes. His role will only expand from there. And Tyler Lockett is already banged up so if he misses time or is limited, Smith-Njigba will be the biggest beneficiary. Even with Lockett on the field, JSN is going to have a bigger and bigger role as the season goes along.
We know he can produce in the face of heavy target competition. After all, Smith-Njigba had a historically productive sophomore season at Ohio State while playing alongside both Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave.
JSN is in the mold of a Keenan Allen or Amon-ra St. Brown type. He’s a technically refined route-runner whose awareness and football IQ make him a quarterback’s best friend. He is a smooth operator with good hands and a few nifty moves to add yards after the catch. As Geno Smith starts to see his talent in action, he will lean on his rookie playmaker more and more over the course of the season. Right now is the cheapest it will cost you to get him on your fantasy team.
Sell: Courtland Sutton
This was supposed to be Courtland Sutton’s time to shine. No Jerry Jeudy, no Tim Patrick, no KJ Hamler, and even Greg Dulcich went down early in the game. His only target competition was a rookie. Yet, Sutton only managed four catches for 32 yards on five targets. The Broncos offense didn’t look like it experienced some massive turnaround at the fingertips of the all mighty Sean Payton, either. However, Sutton did manage to score a touchdown. That saved his fantasy day. If the managers in your league see that Sutton put up a nice 13.2 fantasy points , they might be willing to take him off your hands at a respectable price.
Sutton’s target share against the Raiders was 15%. You would think that would be much higher considering the other options available in that offense. What’s going to happen when Jeudy comes back? And Dulcich? And Marvin Mims’ role expands? It’s not going to be good. In fact, Sutton’s fantasy production in games that he has played with Jeudy over the last two seasons is half of what it is in games that he plays without him.
Maybe no one in your league is trading anyone straight up for Courtland Sutton, but use him as a piece to push those bigger deals to the finish line. But do it now before the impending return of Jerry Jeudy.
Bonus Week 2 Buys:
- Nick Chubb
- Rhamondre Stevenson
- Kenneth Walker
- Joe Mixon
- Elijah Moore
- George Pickens
Bonus Week 2 Sells:
- Romeo Doubs
- Mike Evans
Do you have trade questions? Jump in our Discord and join the discussion!
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