Two weeks into the 2024 fantasy football season, and the injuries are already piling up! Several big-name players are on Injured Reserve (IR) and are scheduled to miss at least four games, including Puka Nacua, Christian McCaffrey, and Marquise (Hollywood) Brown, to name a few.
Injuries are never something we can predict or prevent but must overcome during the course of the year in order to have a successful fantasy season. But what can we do when the injury bug strikes our roster or another manager in our league? Here are a handful of trade advice strategies that have helped me:
The Sell-High Trade Advice
It always amazes me how quickly a player’s value can change in fantasy football. Immediately before Week 1, it was a question of whether Christian McCaffrey managers should send a 2nd or 3rd-round pick to acquire his backup (now starter) Jordan Mason just to get through the week as well as have a safety blanket for the rest of the season.
Then news came out on Saturday that Christian McCaffrey was placed on IR after already missing the first week of the season. This sounded alarm bells as fantasy managers entered DEFCON 1 levels. With the announcement that he will be out an additional four games at minimum, the focus now shifts to what price should we consider when trading Mason away?
Personally, I sold Jordan Mason on September 10th for a 2025 2nd-round pick and a 5th- for 4th-round swap. If only I had waited a few more days, I likely could have doubled that return or even decided to keep Mason and use him in my starting lineup. Now the price to move Mason could include a 1st-round pick!
Take a look at several of the below trades from our Dynasty GM Trade Browser for deals involving Jordan Mason.
It may seem counterproductive to trade a player with very little value that can now become an instant starter in your lineup. However, these are the types of moves savvy dynasty managers should always be looking to take advantage of in order to set their team up for long-term success. You need to be extremely active in your leagues and send out these offers when the situation arises!
The Buy-Low Trade Advice
As the header suggests, this approach is the exact opposite of the aforementioned sell-high trade advice. Typically, the best implementation of buying low on a player comes from either injury or under performance. A prime example for the first case is Puka Nacua.
If we open up our Dynasty Nerds Consensus Ranks for point-per-reception (PPR) leagues, we see that Nacua is currently ranked as wide receiver 11 and overall ranked player 18. But most importantly we see a red (-6) number in the difference column. This means that his value has dropped six spots in these overall rankings.
Nacua will be on IR for the next 3 games at minimum, and it was announced early on Sunday morning that he could miss 5-7 weeks. As other players start to score fantasy points early in the season, I expect him to drop even further down these rankings. However, (when healthy) he has shown to be a top dynasty WR that I would still be looking to acquire for my teams.
You might be thinking, How can I possibly buy low on the 18th-overall ranked player in PPR leagues? Well, don’t take my word for it; look at the three most recent trades below utilizing our Trade Browser. Trades like the below would have been laughed at if offered for Puka Nacua heading into the season. All it took for his value to take a dip was a season-opening stint on the IR list.
As mentioned above, dynasty managers need to be looking for value changes like this. Now is the time to swoop in and acquire a high-end asset for a lower price than was possible only a few short weeks ago.
The Build-Depth and Stay-Afloat Trade Advice
This third and final piece of trade advice is not going to show the splashiest acquisitions, but will give an idea of players to help bolster your squad depth to have a deep-season playoff run instead of fizzling out early. Having depth in fantasy football is often an undervalued aspect of championship-winning teams.
We all expect our high-end players to perform and carry our teams all season long. But what happens when you have injuries and bye weeks to navigate throughout the grind that is a 17-week fantasy season? Planning ahead and acquiring usable players for cheap are a great way to ensure you are competing until the very end.
The three deals pictured above are all great prices to pay for assets that are far more valuable to a team than the price paid to acquire them. Other players like Aaron Jones scored 18.9 PPR fantasy points in Week 1. Antonio Gibson established himself as the clear backup to Rhamondre Stevenson and, if there was an injury to Stevenson, could be a league winner.
Lastly, Evan Engram was the TE4 in ppg last season. Even in non-tight end premium leagues, Engram should be a low-end weekly starter and TE1. All three of the aforementioned players are guys to target as depth on a contending fantasy team.
Pete’s Points
There are many different ways to build successful fantasy football teams. Whether that be drafting the new stud rookie during your rookie draft or finding that waiver wire gem (Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua, I’m looking at you), the quickest (and arguably most important way) is by trading. Knowing when to identify values for buy-low or sell-high in the ever-changing dynasty fantasy landscape is imperative.
Hopefully this trade advice article has helps you become more aggressive amid the early season panic and overreactions that are filling the heads of fantasy managers. Always be sending out trade offers to build a juggernaut dynasty!
