Evaluating Fantasy Football Trade Ideas: Tyreek Hill for Garrett Wilson? Travis Etienne for Josh Jacobs?

We’re already a decent way through the NFL regular season, and the fantasy football season is even further along.

After a month of play, most of us know what kind of teams we have - our strengths, weaknesses and everything in between. With that in mind, fantasy trades start to really heat up now.

Today, I decided to dive into the FantasySP Trade Analyzer and offer up some opinions on some of the trending decisions within it.

Explore the best in-season fantasy football tool to manage your team and get league rankings with the Fantasy Assistant. Use our  trade analyzer and trade value charts to break down trade scenarios with Fair Trade ratings. Need a fantasy expert on call for waivers specific to your league? Our AI Fantasy Expert can break down any player for you inside the Fantasy Assistant.

Trade Garrett Wilson for Tyreek Hill?

We’ll start with a trade involving two players taken in the first two rounds of most fantasy drafts.

Wilson has 191 yards and a touchdown on 20 catches and 34 targets. He’s failed to top 60 yards in any game and failed to live up to his preseason hype.

Hill has 217 yards and a touchdown on 17 grabs and 30 targets. His production has fallen off big time since Tua Tagovailoa suffered a concussion.

Right now, Hill still has the better player rating, so the trade analyzer favors his side of the trade. I agree with that.

That being said, Wilson is the better fantasy option until Tagovailoa returns. Hill has been almost nonexistent without Tagovailoa, and he’s still got two more games before his QB is back. Throw in the team’s bye week and that’s three more weeks of Hill being an average fantasy wideout at best.

If your fantasy team cannot handle three more poor weeks, I’d be OK trading Hill for Wilson. There’s no guarantee that Tagovailoa returns when he’s eligible, and with his concussion history, I wouldn’t exactly feel confident in him making it through the rest of the season.

While Wilson hasn’t performed super well yet, I do think he’ll get things going at some point. Can he match what Hill does when he has Tagovailoa throwing to him? Maybe not, but factoring in two more down weeks for Hill, there’s definitely a chance Wilson could outscore him for the remainder of the season.

If Wilson and Aaron Rodgers can develop a better connection as the season rolls along, I don’t think the gap between Wilson and Hill will be as big as it was coming into the season. So while I too prefer Hill in this trade proposal, I also wouldn’t mind making the trade.

Trade Josh Jacobs for Travis Etienne?

This trade proposal is between a couple backs who were drafted near the end of the second round/early part of round three.

Jacobs has 329 rushing yards, but no touchdowns, on 71 attempts so far this season. He has 52 receiving yards on seven catches. Jacobs has had one down week, and three average fantasy showings.

Etienne has just 214 yards and two touchdowns on 47 attempts, while adding 48 receiving yards on 12 grabs. He too has one poor fantasy outing and three pretty average ones - his touchdowns make up the big difference in yards between these two backs. 

The trade analyzer barely favors Jacobs right now. I too like Jacobs for the rest of the season in this really tight trade.

Etienne has the slightly more favorable schedule going forward, but also has more competition for touches/snaps with Tank Bigsby behind him. Jacobs is backed up by Emanuel Wilson, who hasn’t done much this season, and rookie MarShawn Lloyd, who can’t seem to get healthy.

I also like the Packers’ offense more as a whole, which takes away some chances from Jacobs, but also gives him more scoring chances. He’d easily be the preferred RB option between these backs if he had a couple touchdowns on his statline. 

Again, it’s a very close trade, but I do prefer Jacobs a touch more than Etienne.

Trade Davante Adams for Brandon Aiyuk?

These two were looked to as upper-echelon fantasy wideouts to begin the season. Adams has started slow and his future is murky because of a trade request he made. Aiyuk signed a new deal late in the preseason, and hasn’t found his groove yet. That makes this a fun and interesting trade proposal to discuss.

In three games, Adams has 209 yards and one touchdown on 18 catches and 27 targets. He’s produced one good fantasy showing in three tries.

Aiyuk has appeared in all four games, accumulating 167 yards, but no scores, on 13 catches and 25 targets. He’s yet to top 50 yards in a game, and has five targets in three of the four weeks. You also have to remember that Christian McCaffrey hasn’t played yet and that Deebo Samuel Sr. and George Kittle each missed week 3, making his seasons totals all that much more unimpressive. 

Both players have seen their player ratings fall significantly since the start of the season. This is kind of a buy-low trade for both guys.

The analyzer favors Adams, who has a player rating a little more than two points higher. I actually prefer Aiyuk at this point.

There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding Adams and his trade rumors. He could land in a better spot if he’s traded (like with Rodgers and the Jets, or the Cowboys, Bills or Ravens), but he could also land in a similar situation to the one he’s in now (Steelers or Saints). 

Because of that uncertainty, that takes away a good deal of fantasy value from Adams. Instead of hoping for him to land in a better situation, you could just deal for Aiyuk.

Aiyuk is too talented to perform this way for much longer. He has at least 748 yards in all four of his previous NFL seasons, including back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns. Aiyuk is on pace to finish way below those marks.

There’s a ton of playmakers in San Fran, but at some point, I expect Aiyuk to take off and not look back. He’s got some more favorable games ahead, so I’m in favor of targeting Aiyuk.

If I had to have one of these underperforming wideouts, I’d prefer the safer situation that Aiyuk is in. That could change when Adams’ landing spot is known, but if you are looking to make a deal now, that’s where I’d stand.

Trade CeeDee Lamb for Bijan Robinson?

Let’s end with another doozy of a trade between two of the top picks this season.

I’m just going to assume one team is loaded at running back and struggling at wide receiver, while the other has an ample amount of receivers but struck out on running backs. That’s one of the few situations needed for a trade like this to go down.

Lamb has 316 receiving yards and two scores on 20 catches and 32 targets. That’s fine production, but also not up to his standards from previous seasons. Lamb has a favorable scheduled ahead.

Across five weeks (since he’s already played Thursday), Robinson has 285 rushing yards and a touchdown on 67 attempts, along with 151 receiving yards on 18 catches and 19 targets. He’s really been quite average compared to what fantasy owners expected coming into the season.  Robinson has a pretty favorable schedule ahead.

Lamb started the season as one of the top fantasy options, with Robinson not far behind him. Both players have seen their trade values fall after their unimpressive starts, but their big names and potential keep them as top trade targets. Lamb still has a higher player rating, so the analyzer favors him slightly. 

This trade makes a lot of sense for teams if the situation I described in the second paragraph of this section applies. You swap two of the top fantasy talents in the game who have started their seasons slowly. There’s not a ton of risk involved as long as you aren’t decimating your depth at WR or RB.

Happy trading!