This article is part of our On Target series.
Towards the second half of the season, this column is going to be more about WR/CB matchups and who to activate in your seasonal and DFS lineups. However, after only three weeks, I am uncomfortable drawing strict conclusions about which cornerbacks are good or bad (though I will drop a few notes when useful until I feel confident about our data set). Mostly, I want to provide useful information to all of you so that it is easier for you to win your league. That's why you pay for a RotoWire subscription and I want to deliver real, actionable advice.
Buy High
Do what you need to do to get Golladay on your roster. If there is an owner who took him in the 12th round but also happens to have Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, you should be offering just about any running back you have to get Golladay. For example, an offer of Dalvin Cook or Matt Breida should be enough to get the trade done and I think the team getting Golladay in that offer is committing robbery. Golladay is eighth in the NFL in Air Yards and has a 34 percent share of the Lions' Air Yards. This is a team that is more committed to passing than almost any other and it is certainly not bad to buy high on a player that you expect to finish amongst the top at his position. For example, trading for James Conner right now would
Towards the second half of the season, this column is going to be more about WR/CB matchups and who to activate in your seasonal and DFS lineups. However, after only three weeks, I am uncomfortable drawing strict conclusions about which cornerbacks are good or bad (though I will drop a few notes when useful until I feel confident about our data set). Mostly, I want to provide useful information to all of you so that it is easier for you to win your league. That's why you pay for a RotoWire subscription and I want to deliver real, actionable advice.
Buy High
Do what you need to do to get Golladay on your roster. If there is an owner who took him in the 12th round but also happens to have Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, you should be offering just about any running back you have to get Golladay. For example, an offer of Dalvin Cook or Matt Breida should be enough to get the trade done and I think the team getting Golladay in that offer is committing robbery. Golladay is eighth in the NFL in Air Yards and has a 34 percent share of the Lions' Air Yards. This is a team that is more committed to passing than almost any other and it is certainly not bad to buy high on a player that you expect to finish amongst the top at his position. For example, trading for James Conner right now would not be viewed as foolish by anyone, and he and Golladay are experiencing similar post-draft spikes in production and perceived value.
This will be the last chance for anyone to make a reasonably winning trade offer for Landry. Had he stayed with the Dolphins in his comfortable 11-target-per-game role, he would probably have gone in the second round. If Josh Gordon had been shipped off in the preseason, Landry would have gone in the third. Now, Gordon is gone, Tyrod Taylor is benched and Landry has the ninth-highest share of his team's Air Yards in the NFL. This is a backend WR1 in PPR leagues, and even in non-PPR now that Baker Mayfield has taken over the helm of the offense. I view him and Golladay pretty close to another and would make similar offers, though the price for Landry will be a little higher.
Buy Low
Robinson has no touchdowns on the year and only 16 receptions despite having a 10-catch game in the Bears' second contest. Mitchell Trubisky does not look like he is going to be the Midwestern version of Jared Goff, even though Matt Nagy does seem like he is about as good of a coach as Sean McVay. When the Bears offense is on script in the first quarter, Trubisky looks great. After the script, things get weird. However, Robinson is tied for fourth with Robert Woods in share of his team's Air Yards and has more targets than A.J. Green, Demaryius Thomas or Tyreek Hill. The ceiling is gone from this offense – it is just not going to happen the way we projected – but Robinson has a 140-target season just sitting there waiting for him and he's not being valued that way. I think you could get him in a swap where you give up a low-end RB like Nyheim Hines and a WR3 type (think Geronimo Allison), and that's an easy trade for me to make.
I am not particularly a Funchess guy, but there is no denying how prime his opportunity is right now. Maybe the fact that people are not really into him as a player creates this buying opportunity. Funchess has a similar Weighted Opportunity Rating to Brandin Cooks and Quincy Enunwa, plays with one of the NFL's five best quarterbacks and he has an elite offensive coordinator. Add all of that up and you have a back-end WR2 who is not being treated as such by the market. I'm not overly enthusiastic about this recommendation but do think it makes mathematical sense.
Buy Fair
There is probably n way to send a good trade offer for Tyreek Hill right now. If there was, he would have been on my Buy High list, but I think that the Hill owner would likely ask for a top-six RB in return, and that is not a price I'm willing to pay. It also seems like Kareem Hunt is not really going to be involved as a receiver this season and as such, I am not comfortable trading for him either. Watkins, however, is being used like a player who is making the sixth-most money at his position. He is being put in motion, given end-arounds and has been the recipient of specially designed red-zone plays. A moderate estimate for Watkins rest of the way is something like 800 yards and six touchdowns, and he's the No. 2 WR on the league's best offense; this is a situation that screams BUY.
