Best Fantasy Football Trades Week 10: Puka Nacua, C.J. Stroud, Rashee Rice
There's nothing more fun in fantasy football than making trades. However, it can often be hard to know which players to target, and which of your own you can get good value for. That's where FantasySP's tools come in: We can use the FantasySP Fantasy Assistant to find players that have the most Expected Trade Interest (ETI), and then cross-reference them with the Trade Value Chart to see how much those players are worth. Here are the top players by ETI, let’s take a look at three players from the top of this list that I think are either overvalued or undervalued by the current market:
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Best Fantasy Football Trades To Make Week 10
Buy Low on Puka Nacua
Weirdly, the top two players in ETI this week are kickers, Jake Moody and Nick Folk. But just behind them at number three with a 20% ETI is one of this season’s breakout fantasy stars, Puka Nacua. After a record-breaking start to his NFL career, things have gone from bad to worse for the fifth-rounder out of BYU. First, Cooper Kupp returned and immediately began seeing his usual absurd number of targets. However, Nacua proved he could thrive alongside Kupp, still averaging 10 targets a game and a solid 13+ Half-PPR points per game … but then Matthew Stafford got hurt. With Stafford missing most of the last two games, Nacua still saw seven targets in each contest but caught just six total passes for 75 yards and zero touchdowns.
So why am I recommending buying Nacua? It’s certainly not because the Rams signed Carson Wentz, although I do think Wentz is an upgrade on what Brett Rypien showed when stepping in for Stafford. Instead, it’s because indications are that Stafford could be back as soon as Week 11 when the Rams next take the field following their bye this week. Even if Stafford isn’t back as soon as possible, he will be back eventually, and Nacua will go right back to lighting up defenses alongside Kupp. Especially if you are on track to make the playoffs, Nacua can likely be had for a bargain from any manager starting down at least one week (with the bye) where they can’t trust their breakout star. I wouldn’t push quite as hard for Nacua if you need to win out, but he should still be a difference-maker down the stretch when Stafford returns.
Sell High on Rashee Rice
Earlier this season, I was excited that Rice was going to be a breakout player. He was, and still is, by far the most efficient receiver on the Chiefs on any sort of per-route or per-snap basis. All that remained was for him to be given a bigger role, and he would officially be a must-start option. However, that simply hasn’t happened, and I’m much less optimistic now that it ever will, at least this season.
Where he was once steadily trending up in snap share and route participation, Rice seems to have settled in as just another one of the seemingly interchangeable group of guys that Patrick Mahomes looks to on the rare occasions that Travis Kelce isn’t open. Last week, he had just a 57% route participation rate on a 68% snap share; even worse, he saw just two targets. Luckily, one of those targets turned into a touchdown, and he now has at least seven Half-PPR points in each of the last five games. Use that fact, and his 18% ETI, to move Rice now, ideally in a package for a more proven player. Thanks to the theoretical upside that playing in Kansas City bestows upon him, you can likely get more in return for Rice than he actually is: a part-time WR who is producing at levels that can be found on most waiver wires.
Sell High On C.J. Stroud
I guess this is a special all-rookie version of my weekly trade article. C.J. Stroud was the big story of Week 9, breaking records with a 470-yard five-touchdown performance against the Buccaneers. Unsurprisingly, that has resulted in the second-overall pick ranking fairly high with a 16% ETI. However, and I hate to say this, I think this is a chance to sell high on the former Ohio State Buckeye.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Stroud is a budding superstar. But, as of now, his game and situation are not the most fantasy-friendly. Prior to his Week 9 explosion, Stroud was just the QB17, both overall and in points per game. And while, yes, we can’t just ignore his dominant performance, it’s not like you lose it by trading him now. Even counting that big game, Stroud has just two finishes inside the top 10 fantasy quarterbacks out of eight outings … and the other one was exactly a QB10 finish. While he has been remarkably consistent, especially for a rookie, he hasn’t shown the reliable week-winning ceiling you want from your quarterback slot in 1-QB fantasy leagues (I do realize it’s absurd to say a guy who just scored 42 fantasy points lacks ceiling, but we really can't read too much into a single game).
It’s also worth noting that, despite some good matchups coming up, Stroud finishes the fantasy season with four straight below-average matchups for the QB position. With that in mind, and given that his value is almost certainly at a season-high following his first truly great game of the season, now is the time to trade away the Texans’ new franchise QB.
