Trading is the quickest way to take your team from sitting on the bubble of a playoff berth to a championship contender, or vice-versa if you make the wrong deal, which is why it is so important to make sure you are targeting (and selling) the right players at the right time.
And yes - every player has a price. It doesn't matter whether they are the best player in fantasy football or a dwindling kicker - every player has a price that they should be traded away for or should have something given up to get. If you don't know what the value of your players is, head over to our Trade Charts!
For people in leagues that are more active in trading, this is for you - these are our top 5 trade targets based on the "buy-low, sell-high" approach with players highlighted likely to see an increase in value in the near future due to easy matchups, surrounding injuries, improving/changing scenarios, etc:
1. Jahmyr Gibbs - RB, Detroit Lions
There was a mass panic within the fantasy football community when the Lions opened the 2023 regular season against the Chiefs and 12th overall pick Jahmyr Gibbs played a secondary role (7 carries, 2 catches, 27% snap share) to David Montgomery (21 carries, 79% snap share) and saw the veteran find the endzone.
I wrote an article a few days back on the Gibbs situation, but I'll reiterate the narrative here. There was far more good than bad in the debut for Gibbs. He was electric, hyper-efficient (6.0 YPC), posted a serviceable 8 points in PPR scoring, and was a mere stumble away from a walk-in touchdown that would've seen a completely different narrative for the rookie's debut.
It'll likely be a few weeks before Gibbs is truly involved to the extent that we were expecting (and HC Dan Campbell had noted before the opener that Detroit would be "smart" to limit Gibbs' workload early), but that type of production in such a limited role and within a negative game script (for Gibbs) is promising for Gibbs' season-long prospects.
I'm targeting the rookie very hard in all leagues that I don't have him. He's likely a season-long top-15 RB at the price of a low-end RB2/FLEX after Week 1.
2. Drake London - WR, Atlanta Falcons
It couldn't have been much of an uglier Week 1 for Drake London, drawing just 1 target and failing to bring it in. Part of his lack of utilization can be attributed to the extremely run-heavy game plan in Week 1 with the Falcons attempting just 18 total passes (to 26 runs).
Going forward, Atlanta doesn't appear to be likely to find themselves in many games where they led for the majority of the game and didn't need to throw (like they did against Carolina), which means that 90% route participation will be translating into targets when the game script is flipped in favor of the passing game, especially when he registered an incredible 28.2% target share last year (3rd in the NFL).
It likely won't translate to the top-20 production that we were hoping for out of London entering the season, but at the very least London should be a serviceable WR3/FLEX option going forward - something that will likely be easy to acquire with owners panicking after a donut in Week 1.
3. Jaylen Waddle - WR, Miami Dolphins
This Miami offense looks very fast and very good. And that came with Jaylen Waddle not seeing a massive workload (5 targets, 4 catches) in Week 1 while Tyreek Hill went for an absurd 11-215-2 (on 15 targets).
11.8 points typically is outside the threshold of a 'buy low', especially for someone like Waddle, but with how good the Dolphins' passing attack looked and how limited Waddle was involved, now may likely be the last chance to acquire what will likely be a season-long top-10 WR at a reasonable price. Tyreek Hill had his game in Week 1 (and will likely have a few more throughout the season) but Waddle will certainly have his fair share of games as a very high-scoring WR.
He was the WR8 in 2022 while Tua was healthy, averaging over 19 PPG in those games, and that appears very well within the cards this season. I'm buying him at a mid-WR2 price tag after an average Week 1.
4. Tee Higgins - WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Week 1 was horrific for the entire Bengals' offense as they only managed 142 total yards and 82 via the air in Joe Burrow's worst game of his career. It wasn't any better for Higgins individually, failing to record a single catch even despite EIGHT targets.
Higgins was exceptional in 2022 when on the field (10+ points in every game he fully played, 2nd-most consistent fantasy WR, WR4 in games he fully played) and the Bengals' offense will turn it around after a rough Week 1 - we saw a similar story (not necessarily to this extent) last year with Joe Burrow's 4 opening day INTs in 2022.
You're not going to get Higgins for quite as much of a discount due to his 0-point performance as another 0-point producer like Drake London, but I'd be willing to bet you can acquire Higgins in most cases for the price tag of a mid-WR2 - a price I would be salivating over given the likely top-10 value he provides the rest of the way.
5. AJ Dillon - RB, Green Bay Packers
Especially if you are an Aaron Jones owner - this is for you.
Dillon was one of my favorite "handcuff" options heading into the season, realistically offering top-10 value in the situation of an Aaron Jones injury, but also offering likely FLEX value on his own. The injury hasn't happened (in its entirety, with Aaron Jones suffering what appears to be a minor hamstring injury in Week 1), but the upside is certainly there should Jones miss any time.
But I'm not targeting Dillon simply to be an injury-based option. The Packers' offense and Jordan Love looked very good in the opener against Chicago and, while I wouldn't anticipate them to continue to produce at that level over the entire season, it's a promising sign. In that offensive explosion, Dillon's stat line wasn't overly exciting with 13 carries for 19 yards and 2 catches (3 targets) for 17 yards, but he was heavily involved, leading the backfield in carries, touches, receptions, and snap share (48%). Dillon also got 3 attempts inside the 5-yard line but was unable to convert and ultimately saw Aaron Jones get a 1-yard TD after back-to-back goal-line attempts by Dillon.
With the goal-line work going to Dillon, Jones currently dealing with a hamstring injury, a likely increasing workload as the season progresses (as we have seen each year with Dillon), and coming off a down Week 1 (which will limit his trade price), Dillon should be a relatively affordable RB3 to acquire and should be a high-priority target, especially for those that lost J.K. Dobbins last week.