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Fantasy Football Trade Targets, Sells, and Holds – Week 9

Not Sure If It’ll Work? Go for it

Sometimes a guy doesn't make this list for the wrong reason.

"I'm not sure that'll work" is certainly a legitimate concern, especially when you're trying to nail down top buy and sell candidates in a given week.

But most of the time, none of us is totally sure what will or won't work on the fantasy trade desk.

That doesn't mean you should go spam your league with crappy offers just in case. That's a waste of everyone's time. And annoying.

But if you're thinking about making an offer -- as a buyer or seller -- and just not quite sure if it'll work, go ahead and send it.

In most cases, the worst you'll get is a no.

Other times you'll kick off a negotiation that ends with a helpful deal for both sides.

And sometimes you'll even land a surprise yes.

Week 9 Buys

• Evan Engram
• Amari Cooper
• Malik Nabers

Week 9 Sells

• Calvin Ridley
• Mark Andrews
• David Montgomery

Week 9 Holds

• Zay Flowers
• Javonte Williams

Want Help Building Those Trades?

Making a good trade comes down to finding the proper value. And we’ve got a great place to start.

Check out all our chart options:

• PPR fantasy trade value chart
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• Tight End Premium fantasy trade value chart
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• Dynasty superflex trade value chart 

Fantasy Trade Targets (Buy)

These guys promise upside for the coming weeks.

Evan Engram, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars

Sometimes we have to guess at how things will look after a starter goes down. But we’ve seen the Jaguars without WR Christian Kirk.

He played 1 snap in Week 13 last year before leaving with a groin injury that wound up ending his season.

From that game on, here’s how Engram ranked among TEs:

• First in targets (10.2 per game)
• First in catches (8.3 per game)
• First in yards (73.2 per game)
• Tied for third in TDs (4)
• First in PPR points (19.3 per game)

Engram has just 1 TD so far this year. He had that big game (10-102) in his injury return against Chicago in London). But he has gone for just 35 and 36 yards the past two weeks, finishing TE19 and TE12 in PPR.

His upside reaches well beyond that going forward.

Amari Cooper, WR, Buffalo Bills

Why did the Bills bother trading for Cooper if this is how they were planning to use him vs. Khalil Shakir and Keon Coleman?

Answer: That’s not the plan.

Sure, the participation and production across Cooper’s first two games with the team didn’t come by accident. But the Bills didn’t send a third-round pick to Cleveland to get a new WR3.

In spite of Cooper’s receiving lines making last week look like a decline, we actually already saw a dramatic increase in his playing time. The veteran ran a route on 34.3% of Josh Allen dropbacks against Tennessee. That climbed to 63.2% at Seattle.

Check in to see if the Cooper manager in your league is pissed about Cooper’s first two weeks in Buffalo. And take a shot on the guy who remains the best bet to lead WR production the rest of the way.

Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants

A month ago, you would probably have had no chance of prying this rookie away from the manager in your league. But then Nabers missed two games with a concussion. And his two games back have proved relatively disappointing:

For the season, though, Nabers remains tied with Cooper Kupp for most expected PPR points per game among WRs. Even those past two meh performances saw him garnering a target on 31.3% of Giants pass attempts.

Sure, his QB stinks. That’s been the case all year.

But Nabers’ role has been wonderful since his Week 2 breakout against Washington. And his remaining schedule ranks third-best in the league for WR scoring.

Take a shot at getting him now before he faces the team that already allowed him a 10-127-1 receiving line once this season.

Recent Buys

Let’s look back at our Trade Target recommendations from the past two weeks and how we’d treat those players now …

• This might be an even better week to buy Samuel. He had a merely OK Week 8 vs. Dallas: 4-71 receiving and 15 yards rushing to tie for WR39. He came away with oblique and rib injuries. And now the 49ers hit their bye. If his valuation gets lower at any point this season, then it’ll probably mean he’s no longer a buy because something went wrong.
• The buy window likely closed on Achane, who delivered 10-97 rushing and 6-50-1 receiving in QB Tua Tagovailoa’s return game last week. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be willing to acquire him. But you’ll have to pay up to do so.
• Worthy’s Week 8 went similarly to his Week 7: He got another 8 targets (second on the team) but caught just four for 37 yards. The TD likely boosted his value to current managers, though, and made the rookie tougher to buy. If you didn’t already grab the rookie, you might be best off waiting to see if DeAndre Hopkins outperforms him in the second game since the trade.
• Lamb’s first game coming off the bye was all we could have hoped for. He’s not realistically attainable at this point.
• Jacobs has delivered his two best fantasy scores of the season since we bought him ahead of Week 7. Hope you got him.
• Odunze has been more of a stash for later in the season than nearly any other guy we’ve featured in this section. He remains on pace for potential usability, though he shouldn’t currently start in most fantasy leagues.

Fantasy Sells

Weekly reminder: These are not necessarily “must” sells. See details for each option in his description.

Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans

If you’ve been sitting on Ridley this long, then you undoubtedly thought “FINALLY!” as he posted a 10-143 in last week’s beatdown at Detroit.

Or maybe you shouted something much worse because he scored it on your bench.

Either way, let’s go ahead and sell.

Ridley’s profile to this point would often position him as a “buy.” 

• He still sits just 52nd among WRs in PPR points per game, compared with 33rd in expected.
• His team just recently traded away Ridley’s top contender for targets (DeAndre Hopkins).
• And the 1-6 Titans get the best WR scoring schedule the rest of the way.

But What Are We Chasing Here? 

Ridley already failed to deliver on expected fantasy points in Jacksonville last year, with a better QB than either guy who’ll line up behind center the rest of the way for Tennessee.

And even if Ridley plays up to his role, how valuable is a fantasy WR3? It’s possible more usage comes his way, but it’s not like Hopkins was holding him back. The veteran saw just 21 targets across six games before leaving for K.C.

Ridley’s working on the worst Pro Football focus receiving grade of his career and a career-low 43.1% catch rate. His team has passed at the ninth-lowest rate vs. expectation. And his QBs stink.

If you can’t move RIdley for anything meaningful, fine. We’ll see what he can do with that strong schedule finish.

But might as well try to sell him off what’s likely to remain his season high for catches and yards.

Mark Andrews, TE, Baltimore Ravens

If you stayed patient with – or a prisoner of – Andrews, then he finally rewarded you with 4 TDs over the past three games and four straight usable weeks.

Yet even over that span, he ran a route on just 55.3% of Baltimore dropbacks. That at least beat Isaiah Likely’s rate. But it also ranked just 23rd among TEs.

And then the Ravens traded for WR Diontae Johnson.

Perhaps the trade signals that Baltimore plans to pass more. But the team has passed at the fourth-lowest rate vs. expectation so far. And the only two reasons the Ravens don’t sit second in that category are:

• Tua Tagovailoa’s latest concussion (Dolphins lowest)
• Jordan Love’s multi-game knee injury (Packers second)

So the Ravens would need to shift pretty significantly to make room for everyone. Or underuse the guy they just acquired. Or lose Isaiah Likely’s number.

In short, it’ll be tough for Andrews to improve his volume the rest of the way – and perhaps even difficult to maintain his role of the past four games.

David Montgomery, RB, Detroit Lions

If you’ve been reading our new weekly “Best Moves” series, then you might have seen that I called for selling Montgomery two weeks ago.

Since then, he has set his season low for touches … twice.

The 9 carries and 3 receptions at Minnesota in Week 7 were excusable because he missed the final two series with a minor knee injury – so minor that he didn’t even show up on the Week 8 injury report.

But Montgomery logged just 9 carries and 1 catch in an absurdly lopsided win over the Titans (52-14). Didn’t playing from ahead used to make it a “Montgomery game”?

Previous Concern Might Have Worsened

To be fair, that was a weird offensive game overall for Detroit. But I mentioned back in Week 7 that Montgomery’s rushing load has continued the downward trend that started over the second half of last year.

At that point, his 45.5% carry share ranked 26th among RBs. Now he’s down to 43.2% (29th).

Montgomery’s well set up to keep scoring with above-average efficiency. Only five RBs have scored more PPR points per game vs. expectation so far than Montgomery, and one of them is Jahmyr Gibbs.

But Montgomery’s role remains quite a bit more run-heavy than Gibbs’ – more so than their target counts (Gibbs 23, Montgomery 15) show.

Gibbs’ 44.3% route share ranks 21st among RBs. Montgomery’s 23.5% checks in 53rd … just behind Ezekiel Elliott.

That all makes Montgomery more TD-reliant and less game-script resistant.

Too Late to Sell?

But is it too late to sell Montgomery coming off his two worst workloads? Probably not.

Fortunately, another TD last week probably masked just how rough an outing he had. And when potential trade partners in your league check Montgomery’s game log, they’ll find just one single-digit fantasy score in PPR

Overall, he still ranks 14th among RBs in total PPR points and 15th in points per game. (Montgomery’s more worth hanging on to in other formats.)

Recent Sells

Let’s look back at our Trade Target recommendations from the past two weeks and how we’d treat those players now …

• Bigsby has had very specific sell windows this year – specifically right after his huge outings in weeks 5 and 7. He was fine – 18-78 rushing, 2-8 receiving – last week. But Travis Etienne’s also reportedly on track to return this week. So you can still try, but it probably won’t work out great right now.
• Murray just had one of his best outings of the year in a seemingly negative scoring matchup for QBs. Miami stands as the toughest QB defense by our adjusted fantasy points allowed. But that’s primarily because the whole team sucked while Tua Tagovailoa was out. Opponents have passed at the sixth-lowest rate vs. expectation, and Miami has faced the second-fewest pass attempts per game for the year. The Dolphins’ D ranks just 23rd in pass DVOA. In short: Murray just posted big numbers in a positive matchup. So that doesn’t really change our case from last week. This week’s opponent – Chicago – ranks sixth in pass DVOA.
• Dude, you told me to sell Cook last week, and then he went OFF. What gives? Well, here’s what I wrote: “Cook gets three straight positive RB-scoring matchups, starting this week against Seattle. That means you can take your time fishing for a worthwhile deal rather than settling for this week’s best offer.” The stated goal was to move him ahead of a Week 11 clash with the Chiefs, followed by a Week 12 bye. So if you did already move Cook, then it should have been for a good return. And if you didn’t, well, he should only bring back more value now. (But you can also still wait.)
• Two games with the Jets, two times outproduced by Garrett Wilson. After those 3-30 and 4-54 lines for Adams, you’re probably best off waiting for a good one before you try to sell.
• Hunt’s case looks exactly the same: His workload remains strong. His team remains good. And he remains sellable because he’s a limited talent (3.7 yards per carry this season) and Isiah Pacheco’s potential return looms.
• If you didn’t sell Reed before now, you can’t do so this week. He’s coming off a season-low 3 targets, and QB Jordan Love is dealing with a new injury.

Fantasy Holds

You might want to hang on to these guys for now to see what happens.

Zay Flowers, WR, Baltimore Ravens

If you’re panicking this week over the Ravens acquiring WR Diontae Johnson in trade – stop.

Let’s start with this from Josina Anderson:

It’s fair if you don’t want to believe Bateman will remain ahead of Johnson. But Flowers should be a pretty safe bet.

We obviously like Johnson the player. But the Ravens swapped only a fifth-round pick for a sixth-rounder to get him. That doesn’t necessarily reveal the way they value him … but it also doesn’t tell us they believe he’s better than Bateman.

And the price speaks even worse for Johnson if Carolina was unable to do any better with any other team in the league.

Without getting any further into that, let’s refocus on Flowers. He ranks 29th among WRs in PPR points per game and 29th in expected – both despite playing for one of the league’s most run-heavy teams.

If the Johnson trade signals a plan to throw more, Flowers might even get a boost. For now, let’s just hold the second-year wideout and see what happens.

Javonte Williams, RB, Denver Broncos

Here’s the bad: Williams followed his season-best RB6 PPR finish in Week 7 with a RB35 effort in Week 8. It was his second single-digit fantasy score in three weeks and fourth of the season.

Now the good: Williams got a season-high 17 carries against the Panthers. And he remained ahead of Jaleel McLaughlin in routes, targets (5), and receptions (4).

He had a bad week. It happens. It’s especially frustrating when it comes in what should be an excellent matchup. But it’s probably no more meaningful.

Williams’ lack of TDs before Week 7 likely keeps him from being a worthwhile “sell” candidate – especially with bad matchups against Baltimore and K.C. the next two weeks. And his volatile situation makes him a shaky “buy.”

So the move for right now is most likely no move.

Recent Holds

Let's see where Holds from the past two weeks stand.

• Mahomes delivered his best fantasy score so far this season in the first game after the DeAndre Hopkins trade. It placed him just 15th among QBs for the week. That’s exactly why we weren’t chasing after him last week. Of course there’s higher week-to-week upside than that for Mahomes, but I don’t see a difference-making ceiling here.
• Perhaps McConkey should have been a “buy” last week. If you don’t already have him, though, beware of overrating Week 8 production that was out of line with the rest of his numbers – on usage that wasn’t. The rookie caught all 6 targets and used a 60-yard catch-and-run to significantly boost his stat line. That’s not a criticism. I’m just saying that if you’re thinking about chasing him in trade, this probably isn’t a good week to do so.

How Should You Attack These Trade Targets?

The Trade Navigator will help you find what you want ... and the league mates who need what you got. And then it'll help you build that season-changing trade package.

Check out this short video to learn more ...

Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.