By Levi Ellis
One of the most undervalued aspects of playing dynasty fantasy football is knowing when to sell a player. There are many reasons why to consider selling a player and those range from capitalizing on their peak value, the anticipated performance drop off, reduced opportunity, situation change, etc. It’s easy to come up with a list of guys to sell each season, in fact, we all have players each year that we believe it’s time to move on from but today we are going to drill down to just wide receivers below the age of 25. Here are three wide receivers and the reason why you should be selling these guys right now.
The first player we are going to talk about is Curtis Samuel. Fresh off of a breakout season Samuel, just 24 years old, makes this list primarily because of his free agent landing spot. Samuel signed with the Washington Football team reuniting with his former coaching staff from Carolina. This is where the concerns begin for me. Samuel never eclipsed more than 54 catches with this coaching staff and quite frankly the offense lacks imagination. You need to also consider the quarterback situation and while I am a believer that Ryan Fitzpatrick is an underappreciated player, he is 37 years old and Washington didn’t do anything to address the future of this position in what was considered by many as a deep quarterback draft class. This is also the optimal time to trade Samuel since he is just 24 years old and coming off of a breakout season with 77 catches, 851 yards, 3 touchdowns, 41 carries, 200 rushing yards and another 2 rushing touchdowns. Understand that Samuel is a fantastic talent and the only reason he makes this list is for the reasons above. If Washington makes a move for a player like Aaron Rodgers, Samuel would immediately become a buy but for now he is a player that you can and should sell high.
The next player on my list is Juju Smith-Schuster. Although Juju is a great player and just 24 years old he is destined to be nothing more than a number two wide receiver and likely to not ever be the focal point of an offense. He recently resigned in Pittsburgh on a one year deal and even though his situation remained the same this is one of the things that concerns me the most. Juju appears to be committed to Pittsburgh and while loyalty is a great quality this isn’t exactly the best situation for him long term if he was to sign an extension. First Big Ben isn’t a spring chicken and the future of the quarterback position is a big concern. Secondly, Pittsburgh has a plethora of other options in the passing game. Diontae Johnson is destined for stardom and Chase Claypool is as exciting as they come when you think of young wide receivers. While I think Juju is still a very good player and he quite possibly could sign into a better situation next year, many people in the fantasy community tend to over value him based on his larger than life personality. This is ultimately the deciding factor for me as you are likely able to move Juju for a large package of picks/players which is the ideal sell high scenario I look for.
The third and final player on my list is Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. Brown, just 23 years old, is another player who is young and exciting but he makes this list for multiple reasons. First his situation is less than ideal. Baltimore is a run first team that is attempting to make commitments to the passing game, however those commitments are exactly why I have concerns about Brown long term in this offense. Baltimore signed Sammy Watkins in free agency and while that doesn’t mean much at this state of Watkins career they also drafted Rashod Bateman in the first round and Tylan Wallce in the fourth. Both guys are uber talented in my opinion and will have every opportunity to command targets as early as this season. There are also still rumors they are trying to trade for Julio Jones and I tend to believe those rumors based on how aggressive Baltimore has been this offseason at acquiring wide receiver talent. Considering these additions and my belief that Devin Duvernay, last years third round pick and also a very talented player, it leads me to believe that Brown will receive even less targets than he has in the past when he operated as the number one wide receiver. I mentioned all of these wide receivers and still haven’t even mentioned the best pass catcher on the team in tight end Mark Andrews. We also need to factor in Brown’s size at just 5’9” 170 lbs. There is no doubt that Brown is a fantastic talent but there are many questions regarding his situation, role in the offense and size. For all of these reasons I urge you to sell Brown while he still has some value left.
All three of the above players are young, talented and tend to be highly desirable players in fantasy football circles but all three also come with extreme risk. Sell high on these guys now to capitalize on their value before it’s too late.
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