Fantasy Football Trade Advice Week 8: Should You Trade Rhamondre Stevenon, Tank Bigsby, D'Andre Swift?

Ted breaks down what to do with three of fantasy football's hottest trade pieces.

There's nothing more fun than making a fantasy football trade. 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 with the Trade Value Chart to see how much those players are worth. Here are this week’s leaders in ETI:

This is a bit of a surprising list. We’ve got plenty of players with fluctuating values around the league — new Kansas City Chief DeAndre Hopkins, for one — but the top of this list is mostly players who haven’t exactly had any big changes recently. With that said, the market wants what it wants, so it's definitely worth breaking down these players' values. Let’s get started!

Sync your league with the Fantasy Assistant to get rankings, waiver help, trade suggestions, optimal lineups, and more. Not sure Who You Should Start? We can help. Utilize our fantasy football trade analyzer to make sure you’re getting the best value.

Best Fantasy Football Trades To Make Week 8

Buy Low On Rhamondre Stevenson

The hottest player on the trade market this week is the Patriots’ lead RB, who has had an interesting start to the season. In Weeks 1 and 2, Rhamondre had an absolutely elite role, with a 77% snap share, 61% rush share, 71% route participation rate, and 16% target share. Even on one of the league’s worst offenses, that role saw him post back-to-back top-10 RB finishes. 

Unfortunately, things have only gone downhill since then for the veteran RB. He missed Week 6 with a foot injury and was “benched” (for one drive) in Week 5. However, even outside of those issues, his usage has been way down since those first two weeks. In total over the last five weeks he is down to a 50% snap share, 52% attempt share, 35% route share, and 9% target share — and the numbers don't get any better if we look only at weeks without injury/benching concerns.

With that said, I think now may be a good time to trade for Stevenson, coming off his third dud game in his last four outings. Drake Maye has undeniably brought a spark to this New England offense, and that rising tide should lift all boats. In the worst case, Stevenson’s usage stays mediocre and he is a flex play. But there’s also a chance he gets fully healthy, stops fumbling, and climbs back up closer to his elite usage from the first two weeks. We’re playing the range of outcomes here, and I think this has a good chance to be Stevenson’s low-value point for the season. 

Sell High On D'Andre Swift

I have to take a huge L here, as I suggested selling Swift low after Week 3. After three straight off weeks to start the season, Swfit proceeded to score at least 19 Half-PPR points in each of the next three games. If you traded Swift on my advice before Week 4, I can only apologize.

With that said, I’m not sold by the former Eagle’s miraculous turnaround. His usage improved in the most recent three games compared to the first three, but not by too much: a 6% jump in both snap share and rush attempt share, a 9% rise in route participation rate, and a 7% rise in target share. To be fair, those aren’t negligible numbers — that 7% target share especially is massive for his fantasy value. 

However, I’m not convinced that Swift’s huge increase in production wasn’t more due to the Bears’ super soft matchups (at home against each of the Rams and Panthers, then in London against the flailing Jaguars) than anything else. All three of those teams are positive matchups for RBs, with Carolina and Jacksonville being the second and third-best schedule-adjusted opponents in the league.

Meanwhile, Swift still ranks well below average in most RB efficiency metrics. His -0.62 yards vs. expected is the sixth-worst in the league according to Next Gen Stats, while Sumer Sports has him 49th out of 67 RBs in yards created. Both sites also give him a success rate of around 30% — again, well below average. At the same time, Roschon Johnson (who ranks better, although not by much, in efficiency metrics) is a threat to take Swift’s goal-line touches. In tougher matchups, I expect Swift’s inefficiency to come back to bite him, so now is the time to trade him coming off three straight huge games.

Sell High On Tank Bigsby

Tank has none of the same efficiency problems as Swift. He leads the league in yards created (per Sumer Sports) and is second to only Derrick Henry in yards over expected per attempt (per Next Gen Stats). However, I believe his recent production is just as unsustainable as Swift’s.

Bigby’s two massive games in Week 5 and Week 7 came against two of the league’s worst teams, the Colts and the Patriots. He essentially needs positive game scripts to thrive, as he has a grand total of one reception for the entire season. The Jaguars tried to get him involved in the receiving game with an easy screen pass on Sunday … and he dropped it.  Even with Travis Etienne sidelined, Jacksonville has turned to journeyman D’Ernest Johnson over Bigsby in passing situations — Tank has just a 10% route participation rate for the season. 

This is especially an issue for Bigbsy because the Jaguars are looking like one of the league’s worst teams; they are going to be in passing situations more often than most. We also have to consider that Etienne will return from his hamstring injury, and, as much as we fantasy managers might prefer it, the Jaguars are not just going to completely shelve him in the rushing game. Bigsby looks destined for a part-time, rushing-only role on one of the league’s worst teams. Even with elite efficiency, that will make him a boom-or-bust flex play at best. If you can find someone willing to give you more than that for him, pull that trigger. 

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