Week 2 has come and gone and fantasy owners are in a frenzy over who to add, drop and put on the trade block. Some players' trade value will never be higher, while others are ideal buy-low candidates meaning you should try to capitalize on the fear generated by a slow Week 2 outing for players who have positive outlooks for the season.
That's why this column, "Trade Calls" will come at you each and every week. It's pretty simple: I do the heavy lifting, you get some information and start making offers. So ahead of Week 3, here are some players to think about trying to acquire on the low, and moving after a big Week 2 performance.
Buy-low candidates
Allen Robinson, WR, Jaguars If you don't own A-Rob, now is the time to float some offers to his owner, who is probably in panic mode following a three-catch, 54-yard performance in Week 2 preceded by a 72-yard outing in Week 1.
For a bit of context, Robinson was locked down by Chargers cornerback Jason Verrett in Week 2. Verrett covered Robinson on 26 pass plays and held him to just two catches for 44 yards on four targets, with his first reception coming with seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
With the emergence of several wideouts who were drafted much later than Robinson (Larry Fitzgerald, Stefon Diggs), it's fair to assume that his owner may consider benching the Jaguars star receiver until he starts producing. It's time to take advantage of this situation if it has arisen in your league.
Despite his early season struggles, Robinson remains in the conversation among the best wideouts in the NFL and in fantasy. His 20 targets through two games leads all Jacksonville receivers, and has him tied for fifth among all NFL receivers through two games. He's been on the field for 91 percent of his team's snaps and owns a 22 percent share of Jacksonville's total targets. The opportunities are certainly there and will continue to be.
With an incredibly favorable schedule coming up, now is the time to buy Robinson. The Jaguars have two upcoming home games against Baltimore and Indianapolis before a Week 5 bye. Then Robinson will face Chicago, Oakland and Tennessee in consecutive weeks.
Not every A-Rob owner will be willing to give him up just yet, so it's probably wise to test the trade waters before you go around offending your pals, but it's worth a shot.
Jeremy Maclin, WR, Chiefs Trade for a Kansas City wide receiver? Yeah, I'm advocating this. Maclin, who put up over 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns last season will likely never have a week-winning performance for your fantasy squad, but his consistency and solid floor (10.4 fppg in 2015) are worth making a move for now coming off somewhat of a 'slow' game.
With two games in the books, Maclin ranks third in the NFL among receivers with 22 targets. That's more than Odell Beckham, A.J. Green and DeAndre Hopkins. And despite the fact that in Week 1 Maclin was blanketed by Verrett (same guy who shut Robinson down in Week 2) limiting him to three catches for 36 yards on five targets, Maclin managed to find the end zone and post 12 fantasy points.
Maclin saw 15 targets in Week 2 against Houston but only managed to catch five passes. If you drill down a bit further, 11 of Maclin's 15 targets went for 10-plus air yards, four of which he caught. It's a good sign that Alex Smith is targeting his No. 1 option downfield which is something we're not used to seeing Smith do often. But with Kansas City trailing in the fourth quarter, Smith connected with Maclin on receptions of 16, 17, 10 and 13 yards in the final frame.
Maclin's upcoming schedule includes a date with a declining Darrelle Revis in Week 3, followed by games against Pittsburgh, Oakland, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay in the coming weeks. And later in the season Maclin will enjoy some more soft passing defenses against Atlanta in a crucial Week 13 followed by another game against Oakland in Week 14. Now is the best time to target Maclin on the cheap.
Sell-high candidates
Ryan Mathews, RB, Eagles Through two weeks, Ryan Mathews has logged 112 total yards and three rushing touchdowns and stands as the RB12 in standard scoring with 29.2 fantasy points. That's why now is the perfect time to ship him away.
Mathews had a high-volume outing in Week 1 logging 22 rush attempts but averaged just 3.5 yards per carry for 77 yards and a touchdown against a mediocre Browns defense.
In Week 2, Mathews' usage dropped severely: He logged just nine rush attempts against the Bears with his share of snaps dropping from 48 percent to 29 percent. Yes, he scored twice on Monday night, so most fantasy owners probably haven't batted an eye about his value. But if you pay attention to snap counts, that kind of dropoff is a major red flag. Mathews also netted -8 yards on his final four attempts of the game with runs of -4, 1, -1 and -4 yards.
The Eagles used Darren Sproles as their primary back against the Bears in Week 2 and rotated Kenjon Barner and Wendell Smallwood in as well. Sproles' has out-snapped Mathews this year with shares of 49 percent and 57 percent in Weeks 1 and 2 respectively.
It's a good sign that Mathews seems like the go-to option in red zone situations with 10 attempts in the red area with 18 yards and three touchdowns. But the significant drop in playing time and total attempts makes you wonder if there's something going on behind the scenes.
Mathews doesn't have the best history when it comes to durability and coach Doug Pederson said that his usage early on was a result of an ankle injury that his running back was dealing with from Week 1. Pederson said "Any time we can get Darren the ball early in a football game, it's something we'll try to do." He also said that Sproles could see "10 carries" per game going forward which would obviously eat into Mathews' opportunities.
Coming off of three touchdowns in two weeks, float Mathews out to some owners in need of a running back. Something tells me more than a few of your league mates are looking for some depth at the position after a slew of injuries hit in Week 2.
Editor's note: This was published before news broke that Coleman suffered a hand injury in Wednesday's practice.
Corey Coleman, WR, Browns Rookie wideout Corey Coleman led Cleveland's offensive assault on the Ravens in Week 2, scoring two touchdowns on each of his first two receptions in the first quarter and added a 47-yard catch in the second half. But with Cleveland's top two quarterbacks going down with injuries in the first two weeks of the season (surprise) the team is preparing to start rookie Cody Kessler in Week 3, a late third-round draft selection out of USC. Kessler should be the starter for the Browns until Josh McCown can recover from a shoulder injury.
It would make sense for the Browns to ease Kessler in and build his confidence with some short-yardage, high-percentage passes in his first few games. Some of his weaknesses as a prospect included a lack of arm strength and mediocre accuracy on deeper passes. This became apparent during his play in the preseason when he completed none of his five pass attempts of 10-plus air yards (two went out of bounds and two were picked). He also missed a wide-open receiver in the middle of the field on a fourth-and-long pass in the Browns' fourth preseason game against the Bears.
That doesn't bode well for Coleman's outlook for the foreseeable future as he's lined up wide for the Browns on 94 percent of his snaps and has averaged 24.71 yards per catch on his seven receptions through two games.
Add in the fact that Josh Gordon is slated to return to Cleveland's lineup in Week 5, and Coleman's volume upside could get dinged even further.
Now is the time to take advantage of Coleman's big Week 2 and move him for some players who are in more stable offensive situations.
Latavius Murray, RB, RaidersLatavius Murray has without a doubt been the most productive fantasy running back in Oakland for the first two weeks with a touchdown in each game and 29 total touches. But the fact that there are four other backs on the team who have logged touches in addition to Murray is a red flag for his outlook going forward.
Last year, Murray was third in the NFL in rushing attempts (266) and fantasy owners drafted him this season as a bell-cow with another potentially limitless workload. There were even some preseason tropes hinting that Murray's workload was going to see an uptick from 2015.
Through two games, Murray has been on the field more than any other Raiders back, but the fact that Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington combined for 13 carries compared to the eight that Murray received in Week 2 is alarming. Coach Jack Del Rio confirmed that the committee approach is something he's not going to shy away from after the game saying "All of our running backs are pretty good ... We're running the ball well and they're all going to play."
As long as Murray is scoring touchdowns, fantasy owners can't really complain. But with a limited ceiling going forward, it's hard to imagine Murray producing the RB1 value that he was drafted for. And if you take a look at his upcoming schedule, it's favorable for the most part ... until Week 9. Down the stretch of the fantasy regular season, Murray will face Denver, Houston and Carolina in Week 9 through Week 12 with a bye in Week 10. That's virtually four unusable weeks for the Raiders' back late in the season when you'll be vying for a playoff spot. Move him now before others catch on.
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