It’s another edition of the Tuesday Trader. When I’m researching buy-low / sell-high
guys, I’m looking for recent statistical anomalies that misleadingly lower or elevate
player values. With RBs, it sometimes
has to do with backups posting good or great numbers while the starters are
sidelined.
Jonathan Stewart and Latavius Murray and their counterparts come to
mind. I’d rather buy (very) low on
Stewart and Murray than invest heavily in Cameron Artis-Payne, Fozzy Whittaker,
DeAndre Washington, Jalen Richard, or Jamize Olawale. Desperate sellers holding onto Stewart or
Murray might be looking for points right now at the expense of holding higher
upside for later. Whatever their fantasy
flaws and the risk that they’ll never again earn 15+ touches in a game this
season, Stewart and Murray can be had on the cheap in many leagues, and I’d
rather pay cheap for two injured (and eventually returning) starters than trade
a WR3/4 for a split-time backup like Richard.
At wideout, I wrote last week about the fallacy of investing in
Dontrelle Inman (packed receiver corps) and Steve Smith Sr. (Injury risk). This week, Cameron Meredith joins the
sell-high club. While I liked him as a
deep flyer this past weekend, you can probably package him and a WR3 for Stefon
Diggs (bye this coming week). I don’t
like to waste time with likely one-hit wonders.
Let someone else enjoy Meredith’s upcoming 40-yard performance. As the season progresses, I’m looking for
reliable production.
On the buy side, Julius Thomas is a largely forgotten TE1 who, if you
can withstand the constant injury risk, is a terrific guy to snag
post-bye. Similarly, those who can’t
afford to keep waiting for Tyler Eifert might hand to you for a top 25-30 RB
like Ryan Mathews (an even greater injury risk than Eifert) or Darren
Sproles. Eifert was last year’s sixth
highest scoring TE despite missing three games; that’s someone I want for the
stretch run.
Whatever you do, put production in perspective. If it’s a trend, you’ll know it. If it’s a surprise, be wary.