Trades aren’t always the easiest thing to pull off in fantasy football, but there are players who could make good trade bait.
The key is putting forth a great player that may be too tempting to dismiss.
Here are a few players to consider trading in the next few weeks in your fantasy football league.
Tom Brady, New England Patriots
With so much depth at the quarterback position, there’s plenty of reason to shop some of the higher scoring fantasy football quarterbacks in hopes of finding a strong performer at running back or wide receiver.
Brady is the second-highest fantasy football scoring quarterback this season, and so far has a 9-to-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The Patriots offense has been pretty much unstoppable.
So why would we shop Brady?
The pace he’s on is not sustainable. He has nine touchdowns already to go along with 1,112 yards. If he continued on that pace, he would throw 48 touchdown passes, and throw for 5,931 yards passing.
Brady’s best year of 2007 featured 50 touchdown passes, but that was an all-time year, and we’re not expecting Brady to reach those heights again. He’ll most likely level off toward the mid-30s for touchdown passes, and go for near 5,000 yards passing.
That’s a good season, but there’s more value with a top-tier running back or wide receiver. Many fantasy football owners would love to have Brady on their team, and would likely be willing to trade away a solid starter. Put him on the block and see what you get.
Marshawn Lynch, Seattle Seahawks
This move is based on the reason why we weren’t as high on Lynch in the offseason.
The amount of work that he’s been through in the last few years would be hard on anyone. As a running back, that puts him in danger of breaking down.
In his career, he’s logged 280 or more carries in a season, five times. This year, he’s already injured and it’s only week 4.
He’s 29 years old, and for running backs, that’s near the end for a productive life.
Is his season a complete wash? No, but we don’t believe he can be the bell-cow that so many fantasy football owners have depended on in years past. Despite his stats of only 128 yards rushing in three games, he still has plenty of goodwill built up from years of productivity that many fantasy football owners would desire.
You may not get an equal player based on average draft position, but the injury bug may be something Lynch owners will battle for the rest of the season. Depending on the player, Lynch could be a solid trade.
Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
We’re not sure how much his trade value would be at this point, but it’s worth a shot.
Fitzgerald has found the fountain of youth this season, collecting the second-most points among wide receivers through three games. He has two straight games with more than 100 yards receiving, and has five touchdowns in the past two weeks.
We know that his resurgence can’t last at this level. But there’s always “that person” in your fantasy football league who may overreact to Fitzgerald’s impressive debut to the 2015 season.
He’s not going to generate a trade for a player like Julio Jones, but if he can get you a second-tier wide receiver or running back, it would be worth the deal, based on the assumption that Fitzgerald’s numbers will begin to diminish.
