By Zach Attack @FFChalupaBatman

In dynasty leagues, typically the best way to improve your team immediately is by trading because the waiver wire usually does not have players that can make a significant impact on your starting roster. The key to any trade is understanding player value. You can trade for players when you feel that value is low which is “buying low,” but you expect to rebound so you don’t have to give up as much then reap the rewards if the player does bounce back and plays better. You could also “buy high,” which is when you trade for a high-performing player so you have to give up a lot to make the trade happen. However, you think that player can continue to play better and expect the value to continue to rise so now you have a stud player on your roster that still has more value in the future. We are going to highlight three running backs whose value has dipped and you should trade for now before their value bounces back when they play well this season: Joe Mixon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and Chris Carson.

Joe Mixon

Joe Mixon’s current dynasty ADP, from DLF.com, is 24.17, which is the end of the 2^nd round. Mixon’s lowest point of value was in March 2021 at pick 36 (end of 3^rd round), and his value has been slowly rising since then. However, his peak value was a year ago in July 2021 when he was pick 7.17 (mid-1^st round). Mixon’s value will continue to increase as more hype comes from training camp about him getting more snaps and targets, and if he finishes as an RB1 this season then his value will jump back up towards the end of the 1^st round for 2022. Joe Mixon has burned a lot of fantasy football players because of his injuries, which may make it easier to “buy low” when trading for him. Here are the reasons why you should trade for Joe Mixon right now:

• He will be 25 years old at the end of July, even though he is going into his fifth season. He is in the prime of his career
• He signed his second contract last season and is under contract through 2024. We know teams can get out of contracts whenever they want, but there is some comfort he is now only in the 2^nd year of his new contract.
• Giovani Bernard is no longer on the roster, and Joe Mixon is expected to see an increase in workload this season because he will stay on the field for passing downs too.
• In 6 games in 2020, averaged his most rush attempts/game in his career (19.8) and his most receptions/game in his career (3.5) for an average total of 23.3 touches/game.
  • In 2020, Dalvin Cook averaged 25.4 touches/game, Derrick Henry averaged 24.8, and Alvin Kamara averaged 18 to put Joe Mixon in perspective.
• Before 2020, Mixon had only missed 4 out of 48 games (8.3%). We do not know how serious Mixon’s injury was in 2020, but when Burrow got hurt it was a lost season for the Bengals so it made sense not to risk Mixon for the rest of the season.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s current dynasty ADP, from DLF.com, is 25.83, which is the start of the 3^rd round. CEH’s lowest point of value was in March 2021 at pick 27.33 (early 3^rd round), and his value hasn’t changed much since he has only moved up 1.5 picks from his low point. CEH’s peak value was in October 2020 at pick 4.25 (early/mid 1^st round). He skyrocketed in August 2020 after Damien Williams opted out due to COVID, which made CEH the starting RB of the high-powered Chiefs offense.  CEH had his highest points scored game Week 6 (10/19/20) against Buffalo with 20.9 PPR points. Then Le’Veon Bell joined the Chiefs and started playing in Week 7 and CEH’s dropped significantly. As a rookie, CEH had a good season, but so many people had such high expectations when he became the starter.  That disappointment is what dropped his value by 2 rounds.  Now is the time to trade for CEH because he will have a better season this year then his value will jump back up, and then you will need to give up more to acquire him. Here are the reasons why you should trade for Clyde Edwards-Helaire right now:

• He is only 22 years old going into his second season.
• Before Le’Veon Bell joined the team (Weeks 1-6), CEH averaged 21.3 touches/game, and then from Weeks 7-17 (7 games played), he averaged 12.7 touches/game. That is a significant decrease in workload and Bell is no longer on the team for 2021.
• Damien Williams is not on the Chiefs anymore too, and it appears that CEH does not have competition from the other RBs on the roster for touches this season.
• CEH only scored 5 total TDs in 13 games, 0.38 TD/game, and scored every 43.4 touches. For perspective, Nick Chubb had 216 touches in 12 games and scored 12 total TDs, 1 TD/game, and scored a TD every 18 touches. It is not likely that CEH will be that efficient at scoring in 2021, but there should be positive regression for his TDs.
• The Chiefs made moves in the offseason to improve their offensive line, which can only help CEH improve his efficiency.
• According to FantasyData.com, CEH was 27^th in rushing attempts from within the 5 yard-line with 9 attempts and only scored 1 TD. J.K. Dobbins also had 9 attempts but was able to score 8 rushing TDs. CEH will improve converting goal-line touches into TDs.

Chris Carson

Chris Carson’s current dynasty ADP, from DLF.com, is 60.67, which is the start of the 5^th round. Caron’s lowest point of value was March 2020 (84.33) and March 2021 (84.17) because fantasy managers were concerned that Carson would not re-sign with the Seattle Seahawks. Even though Carson’s value has jumped two rounds since he will be with Seattle and he does not have any expected significant competition for touches in the backfield. He is the oldest running back in this article, but he has been a consistent high-end RB2 and it will take fewer assets to acquire him compared to the other two RBs. Here are the reasons why you should trade for Chris Carson right now:

• He is still only 27 years old and still looks strong going into his fifth season.
• Carson is a model of consistency performing well:
  • 2020 ”“ finished 14^th in PPR PPG (15.7)
  • 2019 ”“ finished 13^th in PPR PPG (15.5)
  • 2018 ”“ finished 15^th PPR PPG (14.4)
• He finished 8^th in fantasy points over expectation/game, according to RotoViz.
• Carson saw a dip in production from the prior two seasons and still was able to score RB2 level points. He is expected to bounce back in 2021 and he is being drafted at a value in the 5^th round.

The post Dynasty: Three RBs to trade for appeared first on Pro Football Mania.

Dynasty champions and empires can be made by savvy pick-ups and trades of sleeping giants that others do not see. 2018: Phillip Lindsay; 2019: Austin Ekeler; 2020: James Robinson/Myles Gaskin ”“ just to name a few over the past few years. Here are some running backs who, for one reason or another, are low-risk high-reward players that can wake up your roster and make your dreams of fantasy glory a reality.

Kenny Gainwell

I don’t know what is in the water in Memphis, but it just keeps producing intriguing athletes for the NFL. This year, one of my favorite under-the-radar rookies is Kenneth Gainwell. Now Kenneth opted out of the 2020 season due to covid concerns, which is understandable. But, based on his 2019 stats, he was one of the best pass catchers in college football and the sole reason 2020 stand-out rookie Antonio Gibson wasn’t able to get on the field. Over 2,000 scrimmage yards in 2019 with 51 receptions is an exceptional mark for a running back in college. His landing spot will be something I am definitely monitoring because he could have a Nyheim Hines-like role in the NFL. We saw in 2020 how good that can be in PPR formats (running back 15), even if a workhorse is there.

Mike Boone

The new man in Denver will be joining Melvin Gordon and Royce Freeman. Mike Boone is no stranger to being buried on a depth chart, sitting behind both Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison in Minnesota the past few years. Boone has had the opportunity to be the lead back at times due to injuries to Cook and Mattison, in which he has flashed in those occasions. If he can become the second man in Denver, that is a role that has had its fantasy relevance. With Melvin Gordon’s injury history, Boone could be one injury away from being an RB3/Flex to a low-end RB1 to high-end RB2 behind that offensive line.`

Phillip Lindsay

One of the biggest out-of-nowhere stories up until last year was Phillip Lindsay. We know the story ”“ UDFA out of Colorado to sign with Broncos and start his career with back-to-back 1,000 yard rushing seasons. This offseason though, he asked for his release after getting an original round tender from Denver and ended up landing on the Houston Texans. Now, I will not get into their QB situation here because we will see how that plays out. What we do know is David Johnson restructured his contract to not be cut, and the Texans brought in the corpse of Mark Ingram to presumably be a locker room presence. With that, we can expect DJ and Lindsay to share the workload. Since David Johnson is not the same player he once was, it’s not out of the question Lindsay works his way to the lead running back role. In 2020, we saw Houston’s top running back average 15 PPR fantasy points per game.

Kenyan Drake

One of the biggest surprises this offseason was Kenyan Drake signing with the Oakland Raiders. Also, the contract he got is not back-up money. 14.5 million dollar contract over 2 years with 11 million guaranteed. This is saying that at WORST Drake will be splitting work 50/50 with Josh Jacobs. Over Jacobs’ first few seasons, he has not been used as the primary pass-catching running back. Even though we as a fantasy community think Jacobs is a competent pass catcher, Gruden and the Raiders do not want him in that role. With the loss of numerous key offensive linemen as well, I believe Carr will need to get the ball out quicker more often. This is where Drake comes in. We didn’t see Drake highlighted in the passing game in Arizona, but that has more to do with Kyler being a mobile quarterback. When Drake was in Miami, he averaged 45 receptions per year, whereas Jacobs’ career high is 33 receptions. Drake has the passing game floor to be an RB2 on your roster, but he is one Josh Jacobs’ injury away from flirting with Top 12 production.

Now there is no way to tell if these sleepers will wake up, but these are some cheaper guys who can make your roster a nightmare to your opponents with a few things breaking right.

“You Miss 100% OF THE 

SHOTS YOU DON’T

TAKE.  -Wayne Gretsky”

-Michael Scott

Find me on Twitter @KidFlashFF

The post Dynasty: Sleeper PPR RBs to Trade For appeared first on Pro Football Mania.