Three Dynasty Fantasy Football Trades To Make Right Now: Chuba Hubbard, Michael Penix, Jauan Jennings

With Week 15 and the start of the fantasy football playoffs, the vast majority of Redraft fantasy football leagues will no longer be allowing trading. You may think that would mean the end of this weekly trade article, but never fear! For this week, at least, I will be pivoting to focusing on trades to make in Dynasty fantasy football. Plenty of Dynasty leagues have no trade deadline at all, and even for those that don’t, some of these picks will still be relevant in a few weeks when the season is over. Let’s get right into it!

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Best Dynasty Fantasy Football Trades To Make Week 15

Contenders: Buy Chuba Hubbard

Everything is suddenly setting up for Chuba Hubbard to finish the season as a legitimate RB1. Miles Sanders is on IR, Jonathon Brooks is now done for the year, and even Raheem Blackshear is banged up. With Mike Boone as his biggest competition, Chuba should see an absolutely elite workload for the fantasy playoffs. 

We’ve actually already seen Hubbard serve as a workhorse in recent weeks. In Week 10 (before Brooks was back and with Sanders being phased out) and Week 12 (Brooks’ first week back), he played 89% of the Panthers’ offensive snaps, saw a 92% RB rush share, and racked up a 17% target share on a 63% route participation rate. That’s absurd usage, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something similar over the last three weeks of the season. 

And those three weeks could come with shockingly positive game scripts for the 3-10 Panthers. For one, Bryce Young has been playing infinitely better since returning from the bench. Since Young returned in Week 8, the Panthers’ offense ranks 19th in EPA per play. That’s still below average, but it’s a massive improvement from how they started the season. They also have three solid matchups, facing the flailing Cowboys, the up-and-down Cardinals, and the defensively-challenged Buccaneers.

Of course, anyone paying attention knows all of these things. Hubbard won’t necessarily come cheap, and it may feel like buying high to trade for him now (his value in trade databases is quite literally at an all-time high). But I think, especially if Hubbard is currently on a team that is not competing in the playoffs, he may still be cheaper than his true value. Coming into this season, Hubbard was seen as a replaceable RB, and it’s very hard to shake that label. But he ranks 11th among qualified RBs in PFF Rush Grade and fifth in NextGenStats’ Rush Yards vs. expected per attempt — maybe he’s just good? Hubbard also earned an extension from the Panthers this season, while Brooks, the biggest threat to his role in future years, may never be the same player after suffering back-to-back ACL tears in the same knee. 

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a chance that the Panthers will bring in another running back next year, and Hubbard’s value tanks. But at the very least, he should see excellent volume over the next three weeks, and it’s hard to overstate how much that is worth. I would absolutely look into adding him if he is available in any Dynasty league where you are in the playoffs.

Rebuilders: Buy Michael Penix Jr.

I am actually a little late to this one, as Kirk Cousins’ recent struggles have led to a sudden surge in people remembering that the Falcons just spent a top-10 pick on a quarterback. Even still, Penix is undervalued in most Dynasty leagues. The whole key to this thesis is that it is essentially impossible for his value to go down. Unless he is one of the worst first-round quarterbacks in recent history, Penix is going to get a chance to start at some point. When that happens, his value is going to go up, at least briefly. If you trade for him now, wait until he is announced as a starter (whether that’s next week or next year), and move him immediately, you will almost certainly make a profit.

Of course, moves like that are sometimes easier theorized than made. Dynasty markets are never as liquid as we want them to be, and it’s very easy to buy the hype on your own players and not sell at the perfect moment. With that in mind, I also want to make an argument for the chances that Penix is a good player. I don’t claim to be anything close to a college football expert, but there are some encouraging signs in Penix’s profile as a prospect. Among the 2024 Draft Class, he ranked third in PFF Passing Grade in 2023, behind only Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels. He also posted a pristine 7.6% pressure-to-sack rate, which is an underrated metric that has proven to be translatable from college to the pros. 

If you want a more vibes-based analysis, I can also point out that all three of Penix’s college targets who were also drafted this year — Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillan — haven’t exactly shone in the NFL just yet. Admittedly, I picked the wrong week for this argument, as both Odunze and McMillan had two-TD games in Week 14. But what if Penix was the straw that stirred the drink in that elite Washington offense? 

Perhaps more important than all of this, the Falcons picked him eighth overall. This is a good sign for two reasons. For one, the fact that an NFL team with infinitely more resources, information, and energy spent than you or I could ever dream of thought Penix was worth selecting that high is an undeniably good sign (even if that team was the Falcons). Second, Atlanta’s decision-makers are now committed to making it work with Penix — their jobs may depend on it. For rebuilding Dynasty managers, trading for Penix now is a low-risk move that has the chance to result in huge profit if he turns out to be a legit NFL starter. 

Everyone: Buy Jauan Jennings

Obviously, this move is better for contenders, as Jennings is 27 years old and currently in a better situation than he might be next year. However, I think Jennings is undervalued across the board in Dynasty, as fantasy players are underestimating his long-term potential. Fourth-year breakouts from seventh-round picks may be essentially unheard of, but have we considered the possibility that Jennings is simply a very good NFL receiver?

For the 2024 season, Jennings ranks seventh among qualified receivers in PFF Receiving Grade, second in ESPN’s Receiver Scores, ninth in Fantasy Points Data’s Route Win Rate, and fourth in yards per route run. That’s the eye test, tracking metrics, and raw stats, all painting a picture of a top-10 receiver in the league. Jennings is also racking up points, ranking seventh in fantasy points per route and 15th in Half-PPR points per game. At the very least, he will be a playable option for the fantasy playoffs.

Meanwhile, are we so sure that Jennings’ future outlook is so bad? He will be under contract in San Francisco for the foreseeable future. The same can’t be said for Deebo Samuel (who doesn’t seem like his old self anyway), while Brandon Aiyuk will be recovering from an ACL injury and Ricky Pearsall unfortunately looks like a straight-up bust. George Kittle is 31, and who knows what is up with Christian McCaffrey. Depending on how all these situations shake out, there’s a real chance that Jennings remains a top-three option on this Kyle Shanahan offense into 2025 and beyond. This may be the biased 49ers fan in me talking, but I buy Jennings’ breakout, and I would be willing to pay to hop on board.

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.