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In a perfect world, you would have traded away Khalil Herbert two weeks ago as recommended and acquired James Conner before Week 9. I won't tell you to make those moves now because the window to get anything of value for Herbert is completely shut now that David Montgomery is back to a full workload and the Bears are on bye. Trying to acquire Conner at his absolute peak value is the worst way to manage the trade market. We always aim to buy before a player jumps up in value. Knowing the future would help but in the absence of a fully functioning crystal ball, I will do my best to forecast future value increases and decreases.
To that end, this article will advise fantasy GMs on players that should be actively sought or traded away in advance of Week 10. Keep in mind, these players are not being identified as absolute "must buy" or "must sell" recommendations.
If you would like advice on a specific trade scenario, feel free to reach me @Roto_Chef on Twitter.
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Players to Trade for in Fantasy Football
Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers
It's not too late to obtain Aiyuk at a discount because there are still a lot of doubters out there. Aiyuk has been a huge draft bust to say the least. He's scored fewer points on the year than guys like Quez Watkins, Bryan Edwards, and Cedrick Wilson. Coach Kyle Shanahan has questioned his work ethic and made him barely involved in the offense even with George Kittle sidelined.
49ers beat: Aiyuk 'still learning how to be a pro' https://t.co/Uo8PlnsTBN
— NBC Sports EDGE Football (@NBCSEdgeFB) September 13, 2021
That has all changed now.
Aiyuk had his best game of the year by far in Week 9, gaining 89 yards on six receptions. He's seen 15 targets over the past two weeks and was on the field for 88% and 93% of the team's offensive snaps in those contests. Most importantly, the coaching staff has apparently seen what it was hoping for out of Aiyuk in practice.
#49ers OC Mike McDaniel speaking about WR Brandon Aiyuk says he is finally understanding what it means to be a pro. McDaniel said Aiyuk is looking like the guy they envisioned he would be when they drafted him last year.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) November 4, 2021
I'm not sure what exactly constitutes be a "pro" according to Shanahan but whatever it is, apparently Aiyuk has found it and is being rewarded. Week 10 presents a tough matchup with the Rams and Jimmy Garoppolo is banged up, so a down week by Aiyuk shouldn't be cause for panic. They get the Jags in Week 11 and have a favorable schedule for receivers the rest of the way, especially Week 16 vs Tennessee and Week 17 vs Houston.
Kenyan Drake, Las Vegas Raiders
He's quietly put together three straight games as a top-12 PPR running back but nobody seems to have noticed. The Raiders have plenty of other headlines occupying their franchise right now. Josh Jacobs is back to full health and saw 17 touches in Week 9 while Drake saw 10 touches yet Drake wound up as RB11 and Jacobs was RB16 in fantasy. That's because Drake is getting the more valuable touches, at least in non-standard leagues -- receptions.
Despite a slow start to the season, Drake ranks 14th in target total among running backs and ninth in receiving yards. That includes five red-zone targets to go along with 10 red-zone carries. While Jacobs dominates in RZ carries (15), he only has three more RZ touches than Drake on the year. Each has scoring upside in a strong offense and Drake has the higher floor based on pass-game usage. There won't be many boom weeks without a touchdown involved but Drake can deliver low-end RB2 value the rest of the way and can be had for a lower asking price than someone like Kareem Hunt or Michael Carter who will provide mostly the same production.
Players to Trade Away in Fantasy Football
Stefon Diggs, Buffalo Bills
This isn't a reaction to last week's loss to Jacksonville. Diggs was actually fine for fantasy in that game, catching six passes for 85 yards. I've simply seen enough to know that what we see with Diggs is what we're getting, and it's not a WR1.
Both Diggs and Josh Allen were bound to see some regression from last year. Nobody wanted to hear that before the season but it's becoming obvious that this won't be a dominant offense every week. The Bills were looking like a Super Bowl contender after a 5-2 start but who were they beating to earn those wins? Miami (twice), Washington, Houston, and Kansas City. That big primetime win over the Chiefs made them look legit but we now see that KC is 5-4 and not the same team we've seen the last couple of years. Buffalo is playing the bully role, beating up on mediocre-to-bad teams but tucking its tail against stronger opponents.
Allen is playing at a high level despite some small steps down. His completion rate has dropped from 69.2% to 65.5%, touchdown rate from 6.5% to 5.3%, and yards per game from 284 to 279.5 in 2021. With that, Diggs has also dropped from 7.9 receptions per game to 6.0, from 95.9 yards per game to 73.5, and 11 targets per game to 9.1 in 2021. That target drop is most notable because the addition of Emmanuel Sanders and emergence of Dawson Knox have affected Diggs and will continue to do so, especially now that Knox is returning from injury.
Again, Diggs has been solid but not what was hoped for during draft season. He currently ranks as the WR20 in PPR, tied with D.J. Moore. He's still the same receiver who led the league in receptions and yards last season but he's not going to reach those heights. He's still widely viewed as a top-tier receiver by most, despite the numbers suggesting otherwise, so it's advisable to swap him for an RB1 or an actual top-10 receiver like Marquise Brown or D.K. Metcalf, who's getting his starting QB back.
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