It’s almost last call on trades in standard Yahoo! leagues — time to stock up for the fantasy playoffs or add a dude or two playing on Thanksgiving to spice up Turkey Day football. The default Yahoo deadline is Nov. 10, so we have just one business week left to make deals after the conclusion of Week 9.
A few good-faith trading caveats apply: We have to give up quality to get quality. We’re probably trading with managers in the thick of the playoff race and not random 2-5 teams willing to dump first-rounders for multiple guys we don’t need anymore. Don’t be the jerk trying to rip everybody off or sending three-for-ones all over town.
There are a handful of guys I’m going to be checking in on over the coming days with an eye toward Week 14.
Let’s start with Philip Rivers, who currently comes in at QB7 in one 14-team Yahoo league I’m in and QB10 in another full-point PPR with slightly different passing settings. I’ll target him after Sundays’ visit to Seattle, where he’ll hopefully put up a relatively average line against a solid defense.
It’s a testament to just how crazy the NFL’s passing offenses have been this season that the Chargers’ gunslinger barely ranks inside the top 10 in some leagues while averaging 287 passing yards per game with a 17:3 TD:INT ratio through seven games. His current 117.8 QBR would be a career high.
Rivers’ schedule during the first two rounds of the fantasy playoffs couldn’t be much better: at home against the Bengals Week 14, at Kansas City Week 15. The Chargers host Baltimore in Week 16, but we can worry about the title game once we set ourselves up to get there.
The Bengals are tied for fifth in the league in passing touchdowns allowed, having given up 2.2 per game to this point. They’ve also been gashed by the run at times, so a big Melvin Gordon game could hurt Rivers owners in certain game-flow scenarios, but Cincinnati’s solid offense offers the potential for a high-scoring game in L.A.
The same can obviously be said for Week 15’s matchup in Kansas City. The Chiefs are middle-of-the-pack in passing TDs allowed per game at 1.6, but they’ve have allowed the fifth-most passing yards per game and are tied for 10th-worst in yards per attempt. It’s easy to see a shootout coming here, too.
In the aforementioned 14-teamer, I almost sent a Tm Brady+RB offer to the Rivers owner, who has been riding the resurgent Andrew Luck for most of the season. But at 3-4 right now, I need some Brady vs. Green Bay points this week. I’ll check on Rivers on Monday or Tuesday, when Luck will be fresh off his bye week.
Who else should we take a look at with the clock ticking on trading season?
Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay could be a league-winner down the stretch. The former undrafted free agent is averaging a superb 5.7 yards per carry on the year and has seen his usage pick up over the past couple of weeks as fellow Denver rookie Royce Freeman deals with a high-ankle sprain. Lindsay put up 95 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries with three catches for 17 yards against the Chiefs last week. From Week 13 to 16, the Broncos face perhaps the best stretch of sorry defenses of any fantasy offense, with the Bengals, 49ers, Browns and Raiders on the slate.
O.J. Howard doesn’t appear on top-five TE stat lines year-to-date, largely because a knee sprain cost him a game and a half. But the second-year tight end has put up three touchdowns and averaged 70 yards per game in his six full contests. The 6-foot-6 former first-round pick is a beast down the seam and in the red zone, playing in a high-powered offense opposite a very bad defense. In his young career, Howard is averaging a touchdown almost every other game.
The Giants are a mess and could be looking at a QB change at some point in the near future, but Sterling Shepard has continued his consistent, if less-than-star-level, production this season. Over the past four weeks, the third-year receiver is top 20 in wide receiver targets, having brought down 16 catches for 313 yards. His 13 red zone targets this season ranks 10th in the NFL, including four inside the 10 that were good for two scores. The Giants have a bye this week then go up against three forgiving defenses in San Francisco, Tampa and Philly. Shepard shouldn’t be hard to pry loose in a trade — maybe as a throw-in when you give up a name brand one-for-two? — and he could offer some sneaky scores down the stretch.
Follow Danny @_dannycross_.
