Fantasy Football Trade Value: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hunter Henry among buy-low, sell-high candidates for Week 7

Justin Vreeland

Fantasy Football Trade Value: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hunter Henry among buy-low, sell-high candidates for Week 7 image

We are quickly closing in on the halfway mark of the fantasy football season. This week, we have a couple breakout performances in our stock up portion from a few guys who hadn’t done much this year but might have good trade value/waiver wire appeal ahead of Week 7. We also have some big names in our stock down section as they continue to struggle, presenting possible buy-low opportunities (or your last chance to sell high, depending how you look at it).

Let's get into it! Feel free to shoot me feedback on Twitter @JustinVreeland, and remember to check out Fantasy Alarm for more great analysis like this all season long!

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Fantasy Football Trade Candidates: Stock up

Robby Anderson, WR NYJ: Anderson finished with five receptions for 125 yards and a touchdown on eight targets in the Jets' 24-22 win over the Cowboys. Overall, the stat line looks impressive, but it’s important to keep in mind that the majority of it came on a 92-yard touchdown. Without that play, Anderson would have had a four-catch, 33-yard afternoon, and that’s far from impressive. Anderson is known for his big-play ability, so we shouldn’t completely dismiss that lengthy touchdown, but it’s not something you can expect on a weekly basis. I do like the eight targets, though, which were a new season high for Anderson. Same Darnold clearly gave the Jets a shot of life, Anderson is worth adding, but he should be left on your bench in this week’s matchup with the Patriots. He will likely see coverage from Stephon Gilmore, and that usually never ends well for any receiver. Jamison Crowder is the guy that you want to own from the Jets for this week, but Anderson presents an interesting long-term investment, especially with a favorable schedule starting in Week 8 (Jags, Dolphins, Giants, Redskins, Raiders).

WEEK 7: Waiver pickups | FAAB planner | Snap counts

Benny Snell Jr., RB PIT: Snell set new career highs in both attempts and rushing yards with 17 carries for 75 yards on Sunday night. He also hauled in one pass for an additional 14 yards. He was far more effective on the ground than James Conner was, who finished with 16 carries for 41 yards before exiting with a quad injury. Conner is still far superior in the receiving game, but with his injury and lack of effectiveness on carries this year, a door has opened up for Snell to get some work on the ground. He was fantastic at Kentucky last season, rushing for 1,449 yards and 16 touchdowns, leading to his fourth-round selection in the past NFL Draft. Don’t get me wrong, Conner is still the guy in Pittsburgh, and he has a bye week to heal up a bit, but Snell impressed and is worth a spot on your bench.

Hunter Henry, TE LAC: Henry made his return from the injured list Sunday night, and what a return it was. He finished with eight receptions for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns on nine targets. He has now played in two games this season and totaled 160 yards on 14 targets. Henry has shown promise, and it’s not that surprising to see him have a big night. Though, to be fair, he did pad his stats in garbage time this past week. Either way, the main problem with Henry will always be the injury woes, though, as his career has started off looking a lot like Jordan Reed  (a talented TE who can’t stay on the field). When he is healthy, he is someone that you want to have in your lineup on a weekly basis, but if he has another strong game or two, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to sell high on him before another injury takes place (hopefully it doesn’t happen, but it seems likely with him at this point). I would not recommend trying to trade for Henry, as his price will be too high after this one.

WEEK 7 DFS LINEUPS:
Y! cash | Y! GPP | DK cash | DK GPPFD cash | FD GPP

Carolina D/ST: We have another D/ST sighting this week, as the Panthers have been fantastic. They are currently second in fantasy points, only trailing New England, and they have scored at least 13 points in four straight games. In their win over the Bucs this week, they had a season high 21 points thanks to seven sacks, five interceptions, and two fumble recoveries. They have a bye this week, which might make them available in your league, and they would be worth putting in a claim on as they have a decent schedule coming out of the bye week, facing the 49ers, Titans, and Packers before taking on the Falcons in Carolina (not a bad matchup either, as Atlanta struggles on the road). They currently lead the NFL in sacks with 27 and are second in interceptions with nine. They have only one defensive touchdown to this point, making their standing as the second-highest scoring D/ST that much more impressive.

WEEK 7 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end | D/ST | Kicker

Fantasy Football Trade Candidates: Stock down

Jared Goff, QB LAR: What an ugly performance from Goff in Week 6. He finished with 1.12 fantasy points, completing 13 passes for just 78 yards and a lost fumble. Yes, the 49ers defense is good, but this is a guy that is supposed to be a top-tier quarterback, and he usually plays well at home, so this was very ugly. I have never been a big Goff fan, but he’s playing even worse than even I would have expected. How can a guy with all the weapons that he has be this bad? He hasn’t scored 25 fantasy points in a single game yet and only has one game over 20 (and it took 68 pass attempts to do it). He is second in the NFL in pass attempts but 17th in fantasy points (among QBs). He has no rushing ability, he leads the league in fumbles lost with four, and he has a 1:1 touchdown to INT ratio of 7:7. Gross. This all from a guy that has Cooper Kupp, Brandin Cooks, Robert Woods, and Todd Gurley at his disposal. Here is the good news, though: His next two games are against the Falcons and Bengals, both of which are horrendous on defense. Now's the time to try to get him on the cheap.

WEEK 7 PPR RANKINGS: Running backWide receiver | Tight end

JuJu Smith-Schuster, WR PIT: Another week, another terrible performance for JuJu. He finished with just one catch for seven yards on four targets. It was his second game of the year with fewer than five fantasy points, and he still hasn’t topped 20 in a single game yet this year. Not exactly ideal for a guy that was a first- or second-round pick this year. The Steelers offense is a mess through the air, so it’s not all JuJu’s fault, but a guy of his level has to do better than this, regardless of who is at quarterback. Normally he would be an ideal buy-low candidate, but I am not entirely sure that you can trust him to start doing any better. That being said, I would be willing to take a chance on him if the price is right. He is too talented for this, and the Steelers offense is going to have to start getting the ball to the receivers at some point, as teams are going to start keying in on passes to the running backs. If you currently own JuJu, you are probably stuck with him, as you probably won’t get any enticing offers.

Melvin Gordon, RB LAC: Gordon played like trash for the second straight game since ending his holdout, finishing with eight carries for 18 yards and hauling in three passes for 30 yards. That brings his rushing total up to a whopping 49 yards on 20 carries. The Chargers were averaging 22.5 points per game in the four games without Gordon and have averaged 15 points in the two games since he returned. Things will improve going forward, but there is no reason to expect that he will return to elite fantasy production. Hopefully you traded him when the news broke of his return because you’re stuck with him at this point if you didn’t. His value has dropped so much that it wouldn’t even make sense to trade him.

MORE WEEK 7 DFS: Stacks | Values | Lineup Builder

Zach Ertz, TE PHI: Ertz had his worst performance of the season in Week 6, hauling in four of nine targets for 54 yards and losing a fumble. It was his first time finishing with fewer than 10 fantasy points as he only provided 7.4 points this week. While this was his worst week of the year, it’s been a year-long struggle for Ertz, as he hasn’t topped 75 yards or 17.5 fantasy points in any game this season. Keep in mind that Ertz averaged 17.5 fantasy points per game last season and he topped 100 yards receiving on five different occasions. He is still fifth in fantasy points at the tight end position, so it’s not a complete disaster, but he is far from making good on his draft-day price tag. This is someone I would look into buying-low on, depending on what your situation at tight end is. He is reliable and someone that you can feel good about in your lineup on a weekly basis.

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Fantasy Football Stock Watch

Adam Humphries, WR TEN: While writing my deep gem wide receiver report in the preseason, I said this of Humphries: “If something were to happen to Marcus Mariota and he were to miss action, Humphries is easily the type of guy that Ryan Tannehill would lean on.” Nothing happened to Mariota, outside of really poor play, but he did get benched with about five minutes left in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against Denver. In came Tannehill. In just a little more than a quarter worth of action, Tannehill hit Humphries four times for a total of 34 yards. The Titans have yet to name their starting quarterback for Week 7, but Humphries is worth adding in PPR leagues if available with the hope that Tannehill is the guy that the Titans roll with. He probably won’t produce massive numbers, but he will be a weekly asset with Tannehill under center.

Justin Vreeland