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Fantasy football trade targets: Week 10

There are a few top 20 players with great potential to target in trades for Week 10. Take a look at who you need to go after.

By Alex Welch
Thomas B. Shea

We're closing in on the start of the fantasy football playoffs. The waiver wire looks thin this week, so now is the time to make a few trades if your team needs help.

Some of the players featured in the column in recent weeks include T.Y. Hilton, Sammy Watkins and Eric Decker. Buying low on players with upside can take you deep in the playoffs. Let's look at the value trades for Week 10, along with a few names you should try to get rid of.

Buy

LeSean McCoy: Over his last four starts, McCoy is averaging 107.5 rush yards and 22.5 carries per game. The lack of touchdowns help to keep his value lower than it should be. He's going to start finding the end zone eventually.

Center Jason Kelce is back on the offensive line. Philadelphia's front five finally looks healthy, which should continue to lead to improvement in the Eagles run game.

McCoy has two good matchups with Houston and Carolina coming up. Fantasy owners might be concerned about Mark Sanchez starting and Chris Polk vulturing touchdowns. Now is the time to take advantage of the situation. McCoy is still a top running back to own.

Kelvin Benjamin: The Panthers offense looked awful in Week 9. Cam Newton only competed 10 passes. Two of those went to Benjamin. That's the kind of performance that can scare off fantasy owners immediately.

But there were positives to take away from Thursday night's loss.

  1. Benjamin was targeted 10 times. Jerricho Cotchery finished second with five targets.
  2. Benjamin dropped a touchdown pass, and Newton overthrew him later on while he was open in the end zone.
The rookie wide receiver faces cakewalk matchups with the Eagles and Falcons over his next two games. He also gets the Buccaneers and Browns in Weeks 15 and 16. The drops will probably continue to frustrate fantasy owners, but he's the No. 1 target and a great red zone weapon in Carolina.

Mike Wallace: With just five receptions in the last two games, Wallace's stock is dropping. However, Ryan Tannehill is playing some of the best football we've ever seen from him.

Wallace averages 8.4 targets per game. He's still the top weapon in the Dolphins passing game, and if he can Tannehill can find a better rhythm than what they've displayed in the past two weeks. Wallace is still on pace for 10 touchdowns this year.

Other players I like

Ronnie Hillman: Owners are anxious about Montee Ball's return, driving down Hillman's price.
Russell Wilson: Poor play in recent games, but he's a top 10 QB with huge upside due to his rushing yards.
Greg Olsen: Suddenly disappeared from Carolina's gameplan. They need him to be more involved. The targets will go up.

 

Sell

Jerick McKinnon: Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer will be the death of McKinnon's fantasy value. Minnesota continued split the backfield workload among McKinnon and Matt Asiata in Week 9, and by split I mean it relied on the rookie to get them near the goal line and then brought in Asiata to score. Another frustrating afternoon for everyone.

Asiata will continue to serve as the goal-line back, limiting McKinnon's value. There's also a possibility Adrian Peterson returns to the team in 2014. With all that in mind, I would look to move McKinnon now. The Peterson news is simply speculation, but Asiata's presence is real.

Golden Tate: He's been averaging double-digit targets every game while Calvin Johnson has been sidelined, but is unlikely to continue starting in Week 10. Johnson is practicing and looks on track to start on Sunday, leaving Tate to return to his No. 2 role in the Lions offense.

In the first three games of the season when Johnson played at full strength, Tate was targeted an average of seven times per game. That type of volume still opens the door for consistent production, but Tate is unlikely to continue posting 100-yard games. I still like him as a WR2 going forward, but if you can deal him for an upper-tier player, pull the trigger.

Julian Edelman: Here are Edelman's weekly PPR finishes since the Patriots offense started clicking again after their loss to the Chiefs: 58, 34, 50, 84, 12. If your league awards points for return touchdowns, Week 9 looked even better for Edelman. Aside from that game, he's been mediocre at best.

Considering the Patriots offensive gameplan changes every week, we can't expect consistency from any receiver aside from Rob Gronkowksi. Edelman is an obvious sell-high after his monster performance against the Broncos.