Seven weeks down. Do you know if your fantasy football team is a contender or a pretender yet?

We are almost at the halfway point of the NFL season. This is when fantasy owners must decide whether their teams have a good chance of qualifying for the fantasy postseason or if they should start from scratch like the hapless Cleveland Browns. Overturning your fantasy roster via the buy-low/sell-high trade philosophy works whether you are making a playoff push or rebuilding for the future.

Without further ado, here are the buy-low and sell-high candidates for Week 8 of the 2017 NFL season.

Fantasy Football Buy-Low Candidates

Marcus Mariota (QB, TEN)

Mariota has done as many favors for fantasy football owners this season as Kobe Bryant did for hip-hop fans when he made a rap song with Tyra Banks. Mariota has four touchdown tosses in a half-dozen games (and the same amount of interceptions) and has been limited to just eight rushing yards over his last two contests due to a balky hamstring that has slowed him to the speed of an offensive lineman. Besides his own injury, some of his most talented weapons (DeMarco Murray, Delanie Walker, Corey Davis) have all been battling their own injuries. Mariota and his Titans are heading into their bye at the perfect time, though, and their bodies should benefit from the week off. Look for a spryer Mariota to be more willing to take chances downfield when he returns Week 9. With how many quarterbacks are falling by the waste side due to injuries or ineffectiveness, acquiring Mariota on the cheap could be a necessary upgrade for fantasy owners who are stuck with the likes of Drew Stanton, Brett Hundley or Cody Kessler at QB.

Sterling Shepard (WR, NYG)

Shepard is about to return to a Giants team that needs him as badly as Bill O’Reilly needs a muzzle and a clue. Eli Manning’s receiving corps is currently rookie tight end Evan Engram and a potpourri of nobodies. With Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall out for the season, Shepard will be either option No. 1 or a close option No. 2 behind the talented Engram. The Giants will be trailing in many if not most of their games from here on out, so once Shepard steps onto the field he will see more passes thrown his way than he ever has before in his young career. Have him thrown in as a small piece of a blockbuster or trade a kicker or defense for him to a fantasy owner in your league short at those positions due to bye weeks.

Philadelphia Eagles defense

Philadelphia might have the best record in the NFL at 6-1, but the Eagles defense is not ranked in the top five in any of the major statistical categories. Other than being tied for 9^th in fumble recoveries, 12^th in sacks and 12^th in scoring defense, the Eagles defense has been average fantasy-wise. Yet the Philly D looks like a must play three of the next four weeks in games where they will host San Francisco, Denver and Chicago, a trio of teams with offenses that are not lighting up scoreboards. Making a minor trade for the Eagles defense this week could turn out to be a major move on your way to the fantasy postseason.

Fantasy Football Sell-High Candidates

Jordan Howard (RB, CHI)

Howard and his Bears have turned their season around, winning their last two games and re-affirming themselves as an underrated threat in the injury-riddled NFC North. Howard has held off rookie playmaker Tarik Cohen to remain Chicago’s top tailback after an early-season slump that had fantasy owners wondering if they had wasted a high draft pick on a one-year wonder. Howard’s workload has been heavy (averaging 23 carries per game over the past five contests) as Chicago keeps conservative with rookie quarterback Mitchell Trubisky running the offense, but there has to be concern that his body will break down with all the touches he is getting and/or that Cohen will eventually cut into his fantasy worth. Defenses will also start stacking the line against Howard until Trubisky can keep them honest, and Howard will face five top-8 run defenses over the second half of the season. Selling high on a player who is doing so well is hard, but sometimes leads to fantasy titles.

O.J. Howard (TE, TB)

What?  Trade Howard now after he had a breakout game with six receptions for 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns? Of course! This is the perfect time since tight end teammate Cameron Brate is still the more polished pass catcher of the two and is not going anywhere, and because QB Jameis Winston is not going to be throwing the ball 44 times every week. Howard will be a fantasy standout in the coming years and is someone to latch onto in dynasty leagues, but if you are in a year-to-year league and already have a decent tight end on your roster, trade Howard now for help at other positions while people are salivating at what he racked up this past weekend. 

Chris Hogan (WR, NE)

Finally, a player not named Howard! I went to the same school Hogan did (Monmouth University, football hotbed), so if I was biased I’d say hold on to him and build your dynasty league team around him for the next five years. I am a realist, though, and I see that when Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola are healthy and Brandin Cooks is thriving with Tom Brady that Hogan’s fantasy effectiveness is curbed. Hogan’s numbers are great (28 receptions for 378 yards and five TD) and he could very well make me look like an idiot if/when Gronk or Amendola get injured again and he gets more targets and touchdowns, but right now I would search for a fantasy owner in need of a wideout as a trade partner and send Hogan to him/her before Hogan has two more TD-less games that lower his value. Apologies to Hogan and my alma mater!

More Week 8 Lineup Prep