It’s finally the draft season for dynasty fantasy football, and we got a few veteran bargains you might want to consider trading for before you pull the trigger on those young studs in your rookie drafts. In this article, we are going to break down why the player should have a bounce back or breakout season, Next, we will include a reasonable offer that might get a deal done for those players. A lot of these moves are for win-now teams. The picks are based on a typical 12-team single QB league that is half or full PPR.
Trade Target: Allen Robinson
The Offer: Early second round pick
Matthew Stafford is a talent elevator that has helped boost up players like Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones while allowing players like Cooper Kupp and Calvin Johnson have historic seasons. This will be a massive change for Allen Robinson who has dealt with subpar QB play for most of his career. It helps that he will be playing for the best coaching staff of his career under Sean McVay who’s also a talent elevator in his own right. Even as the number two in this offense, Robinson offers solid long term upside. Case and point, Robert Woods was able to produce top 20 numbers before going down last season.
Trade Target: Logan Thomas
The Offer: Early third round pick
Coming off a serious injury, Logan Thomas has become an afterthought in fantasy circles. However, we shouldn’t forget that Thomas has been solid for fantasy each of the past two seasons. After a strong TE4 performance in 2020, Thomas got off to a hot start as the TE8 in PPR PPG in 2021. Insert new QB Carson Wentz, who in the five seasons in Philadelphia targeted his tight ends at an elite level. The Eagles over that stretch finished first in TE points three times in were inside the top four every year.
Trade Target: Marquez Valdes-Scantling
The Offer: Early third round pick
A lot of camp excitement is surrounding Juju Smith-Schuster as the potential number one in this offense. but Marquez Valdes Scantling (MVS) has been hot his heels. Currently, starting in two WR sets, MVS has a big opportunity in front of him heading into 2022. In his first preseason action with Patrick Mahomes, MVS was the only player to see more than one target in the game. MVS has flashed when given more opportunities in the past. Over the past two seasons when playing over 80% of the snaps, MVS has averaged 10.6 PPR PPG.
Trade Target: Hayden Hurst
The Offer: Mid third round pick
A lot of people forget that Hayden Hurst was a former first-round pick for the Ravens back in 2018. Later traded to the Falcons in his lone season as their starter, Hurst put up a respectable 56-571-6 receiving line. Now, he gets an opportunity to step into a solid situation with the Bengals. In the 10 games where the Bengals threw the ball at least 34 times in a game (the league average is 34), 2021 starter C.J. Uzomah averaged 10.4 PPR PPG.
Trade Target: Parris Campbell
The Offer: Early third round pick
Parris Campbell hasn’t been the model of health since being drafted in the second round a few years ago. Campbell has shown that he can draw targets in the games where he has been able to start and finish. In those six games, he’s averages 5.8 targets and eclipsed 50 yards and/or 5 receptions in half of those games. Now with Matt Ryan in town, Ryan has a long history of producing multiple fantasy relevant WRs. From 2011-2020, Ryan’s WR2 average fantasy finish was WR33 while averaging 12.6 PPR PPG.
Trade Target: Mo Alie-Cox
The Offer: Early Fourth round pick
Matt Ryan has been lethal with TEs over the past decade dating back to his days with late-career Tony Gonzalez. When Ryan has had a featured TE they have performed well for fantasy. Between Gonzalez, Jacob Tamme, and Austin Hooper they averaged 11.8 PPR PPG which would have been good for TE8 in 2021. Mo Alie-Cox himself has flashed in limited playing time. In the two games without starter jack Doyle last season, he played 66% of snaps and had a 5-111 performance. In the five games in his career with 66% of snaps, he averaged 9.3 PPR PPG which would have been TE17 last season.
Trade Target: Isaiah McKenzie
The Offer: Mid third round pick
Isaiah McKenzie has gotten a lot of buzz and looks to have the early lead in taking over for Cole Beasley in the slot. Some of this has to do with the fact that McKenzie was rested with the starters in Week 1 of the preseason and was in with the first team on the first drive in the second preseason game. We shouldn’t assume the competition is over yet vs. veteran Jamison Crowder, but the fact we are in August and he’s in the lead does say something. If he does earn the starting job, he has flashed greatness securing 11-125-1 in his lone game without Beasley in 2021.
Trade Target: Zay Jones
The Offer: Mid fourth round pick
A former second-round pick, Zay Jones signed a three-year 24-million-dollar deal this offseason after a strong finish to the 2021 season. In the final five weeks of last year, Jones averaged 8.4 targets and 11.8 PPR PPG. Jones looks like he has continued to build off that surprising finish from last season flashing in his first preseason action with the Jaguars. Jones led the team in receiving with 47 receiving yards while seeing four of Trevor Lawrence’s 12 targets in the game.
Trade Target: Austin Hooper
The Offer: Mid third round pick
Early camp reports state that Austin Hooper has developed strong chemistry with Ryan Tannehill. Hooper lands in an ideal spot with a Titans team that has featured the position for multiple seasons. Since the beginning of the Tannehill era in Tennessee, the Titans as a team on average have finished inside the top 12 in TE PPR PPG while scoring 14 PPR PPG over that time frame.
Trade Target: Khalil Herbert
The Offer: Late second round pick
Already there is talk of a split coming in Chicago as Khalil Herbert has emerged as a capable 1B to starter David Montgomery. This wouldn’t be a foreign approach for new Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy who coached in Green Bay that utilized A.J. Dillon behind Aaron Jones in 2021. More importantly, Montgomery is a free agent after the 2022 season which could vault Herbert into to the top of the depth chart as soon as 2023.
Trade Target: Irv Smith
The Offer: Late second round pick
The Irv Smith hype has died down after a thumb injury has taken him out of camp for the past few weeks. However, Smith should be ready for Week 1 and is entering a solid opportunity. Last season Tyler Conklin averaged 8.1 PPR PPG while seeing 87 targets. If we apply Smith’s career efficiency stats to 87 targets he would average 10 PPR PPG. That would have been good for TE14 in 2021.
Trade Target: Ameer Abdullah
The Offer: Waiver wire/fourth round pick
Early reports say that Ameer Abdullah has the early lead for the James White role in the new Josh McDaniels offense in Las Vegas. Abdullah’s absence from the most recent preseason game suggest that he was rested with the starters while Kenyon Drake and Zamir White played with the backups. White’s role in the past has been enhanced due to the lack of weapons in New England, but for a guy you could get for basically nothing, it’s worth a stash on your bench.
Trade Target: Jeff Wilson
The Offer: Early fourth round pick
A lot of hype is circling around Trey Sermon after his strong performance in the preseason. Our biggest takeaway was that Jeff Wilson was rested with notable starters like Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, George Kittle and Elijah Mitchell. Wilson has the trust of the coaching staff in pass protection and has flashed a three down skillset in the past. Knowing that Mitchell’s slight frame might not hold up to a 17 game season, Wilson could make spot starts for the 49ers and your fantasy team in 2022.
Trade Target: Shi Smith
The Offer: Check your waivers
Shi Smith is far from a given, but the second-year man earned his way onto the field after being drafted in the 6th round of the 2021 NFL draft. Smith even flashed in his limited action with a 3-86 performance in Week 16 vs. Tampa Bay. In his first preseason action of 2022, Smith looked sharp catching two passes for 34 yards from potential starter Baker Mayfield.
Trade Target: KhaDarel Hodge
The Offer: Check your waivers
Most likely on your waiver wires, KhaDarel Hodge could be someone to stash on your bench in 2022. Currently, sitting on top of the Falcons depth chart, Hodge played exclusively with starter Marcus Mariota and caught one of his two passes in the game. Hodge has flashed some ability in the past. In the three games where he played over 70% of snaps, he’s averaged over six targets per game while going over 70 yards in two of those three contests.
Source: Razzball, PFF, Pro Football Reference, FFToday, and NFL.com
