The waiver wire isn't the only place to change the course of your team. The right trade can make or break your season. The key is to buy low on cold players and sell overachieving players whose values have skyrocketed.
While this is a well-known method, some owners still tend to overreact to a small sample size, so it's important to take advantage of those opportunities.
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Fantasy Football Buy Low Candidates
C.J. Anderson (RB, DEN)
Anderson ran for 92 yards and a touchdown in Week 1, but has been on the decline over the last two weeks. He managed just 37 yards on 14 carries for his least efficient performance since Week 5 of last season. The Broncos threw the ball 35 times, but they should revert back to the ground game as they take on the Buccaneers, Falcons and Chargers over the next few weeks. Anderson saw 20 touches in each of his first two games, and entered Week 3 as one of the top fantasy backs. Running back is such a volatile position, and Anderson has played in 33 of his team’s 35 games since the start of the 2014 season. He is still a low-end RB1, and if fantasy owners have soured on him as a result of his downward trajectory, don’t hesitate to take advantage.
Randall Cobb (WR, GB)
Even with Jordy Nelson back, Cobb has struggled to regain his form over the first three weeks, with just 132 on 18 receptions to date. The 26-year-old has just one 100-yard game since the start of the 2015 season, and hasn’t reached the end zone since Week 11 of last year. Cobb hit rock bottom in Week 3, when he hauled in just one of his three targets for 33 yards.
If Aaron Rodgers can get back to normal — if Sunday’s first half is any indication, he is well on his way — then Cobb should once again flourish in Green Bay’s offense. If you can afford to stash him during his bye week, Cobb should pick up the pace and produce for the rest of the season. His value is currently as low as it will likely ever be, so it’s worth taking a flier on a guy with Cobb’s history.
Jordan Reed (TE, WAS)
Reed was widely drafted as the second tight end off the board in 2016. However, Kirk Cousins’ top target has caught just 16 passes for 190 yards, failing to reach the end zone through Washington’s first three games. Even though Rob Gronkowski has yet to record a catch, Reed has struggled to remain in the top 10 tight ends so far.
The 26-year-old caught a whopping 11 touchdowns across 14 games last year, with four multi-score performances. His eight targets per game so far this year are consistent with his numbers from last year, so the red zone touches will pile up. Fantasy owners will want to try to acquire him before he potentially explodes against a weak Browns defense.
Fantasy Football Sell High Candidates
Trevor Siemian (QB, DEN)
Siemian was a seventh-round pick in 2015, and sat behind Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler for the entirety of his rookie season. With both off the roster, Siemian was thrust into Denver’s starting QB role, having not thrown a pass in the National Football League. So far, the 24-year-old has improved his passer rating with each game, managing 312 yards on 23-for-35 passing and four touchdowns in Week 3 in Cincinnati.
Following his breakout performance, Siemian’s ownership more than tripled, jumping up to 22%. He could certainly continue to succeed in his first year of game action, and the Broncos don’t have a particularly difficult schedule going forward, but a young, inexperienced quarterback is bound to endure some rough patches. Siemian is an incredibly replaceable fantasy quarterback, and if he can net some kind of upgrade at one of the flex positions, it would be worth it to move him.
Tevin Coleman (RB, ATL)
In Week 3, Coleman finished in the top two — alongside teammate Devonta Freeman — among running backs in all formats. The Falcons’ backfield duo tore apart the Saints, combining for 296 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. Coleman alone picked up 42 yards and three scores on the ground, and 47 more yards through the air. The three touchdowns were more than he had in his entire career heading into Monday night’s game. Still, Coleman hasn’t broken 50 yards rushing in a game this season, and has only done so twice in his 15-game tenure in the NFL. Freeman has produced more touches, yards and yards per carry than Coleman over the last two games, and the narrative that that will change is crazy. Coleman could be used as more of the goal-line back, but a back whose value is highly dependent on finding the end zone is not particularly appealing. Sell high before Coleman comes back down to earth.
Marvin Jones (WR, DET)
Jones spent the first chapter of his career in A.J. Green’s shadows in Cincinnati. The 6’2” wideout had just one career regular season game in which he surpassed the 100-yard mark coming into this year, and already has two such games just three weeks into the 2016 season. He has managed 408 yards receiving — 83 more than anybody else in football — including 205 to go along with two touchdowns in Week 3.
Jones is certainly going to maintain a large role in Detroit’s offense, and as a result, he should remain a valuable fantasy wide receiver. However, a 200-yard, two-touchdown performance is far from sustainable. Don’t sell high just for the sake of selling high, but it’s worth shipping him off if it means getting a monster return.