Perhaps the most important part of dynasty fantasy football is trading. After all, once your startup draft is complete, trades are the only way to acquire veteran players.
Detroit Lions players RB Jahmyr Gibbs, TE Sam LaPorta, and WR Josh Reynolds each present a different challenge in the dynasty format. How should fantasy managers treat these players going forward?
Should You Trade Jahmyr Gibbs in Dynasty?
At 199 pounds, RB Jahmyr Gibbs certainly doesn’t profile as a feature back. Still, I just can’t help but wonder if that 209-pound threshold for lead running backs is going to become a thing of the past.
Jahmyr Gibbs is ELECTRIC with the ball in his hands ⚡️
Is he a top-5 dynasty RB moving forward? pic.twitter.com/SttQ9M7ZDH
— PFN Fantasy (@PFNFantasy) January 18, 2024
We’ve seen smaller and smaller wide receivers have immense success in recent years. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the same thing at running back.
Now, does that mean we want Gibbs touching the ball 350 times a season? Absolutely not. But as a rookie, it’s fair to say Gibbs proved he doesn’t need a ton of volume to produce.
Gibbs finished his debut NFL season averaging 16.1 fantasy points per game — good for an overall RB8 season. That’s impressive enough on its own, but it’s even more impressive when you consider the fact that he was essentially a pure backup to RB David Montgomery for the first month of the season.
After missing two games due to an injury, Gibbs returned in Week 7. From that point forward, he averaged 18.5 points per game and was the overall RB4 over that span. Gibbs put up RB1 numbers on a 51.2% opportunity share, which ranked 34th in the league.
Montgomery will likely be back in 2024, but it would be surprising if he hung around beyond then. The Lions will undoubtedly bring in someone else to pair with Gibbs, but we did get a chance to see what the rookie RB looks like without a backfield-mate.
In his three games with at least a 70% snap share, Gibbs scored 27.6, 29.9, and 11.3 fantasy points. In the words of Larry David, “Pretty, pretty…pretty good.”
I am all in on Gibbs long-term. He’s got 4.36-speed, elite pass-catching chops, as evidenced by his 14.1% target share as a rookie, and he’s only 22 years old. In one of the best offenses in football, Gibbs is the type of running back that can be the cornerstone of a great dynasty team.
Final Verdict: Buy
Should You Trade Sam LaPorta in Dynasty?
The Lions didn’t just draft one absurdly talented rookie in 2023; they drafted two. The tight end position is considered the most difficult one to transition from college to the pros. It typically takes even the best of them a couple of years before they come into their own.
TE Sam LaPorta averaged 14.1 fantasy points per game as a rookie — only the greatest fantasy season by a rookie tight end in NFL history. The scary part is that LaPorta is nowhere near as good as he’s going to be when he fully acclimates to the NFL.
MORE: FREE Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer
LaPorta caught 86 passes for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns. At 6’3″, 245 pounds, LaPorta is going to remain a top end-zone target for QB Jared Goff for years to come. Touchdowns are everything in fantasy football, and LaPorta should score a whole lot of them.
The TE saw an impressive 21.1% target share. He was targeted on an impressive 24% of his routes run, fifth amongst tight ends.
With the Lions lacking a true WR2 behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, that secondary option in the passing game is set to be LaPorta. As the end nears for Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, the baton of the next great fantasy tight end is set to be passed to LaPorta.
Final Verdict: Buy
Should You Trade Josh Reynolds in Dynasty?
WR Josh Reynolds was a fourth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. He went from the Los Angeles Rams to the Lions to the Tennessee Titans and then back to the Lions.
Reynolds is best described as a journeyman. He’s never been a team’s top receiver, but he’s always played better than he gets credit for from the fantasy community. With that said, at no point in his career was Josh Reynolds ever a season-long fantasy asset. He’s had a few multi-week stints of utility, but eventually, he ends up fading into the background.
He is a fine guy to keep on the back of your bench in dynasty. He’s proven capable of producing 20+ fantasy point games. They are few and far between, but there are plenty of players who don’t even possess that upside in a theoretical sense.
Reynolds is set to be a free agent in March, and the Lions may bring him back. But at 29 years old, Reynolds is who he is. He’s not going to suddenly emerge into a team’s WR1 or WR2. He belongs on fantasy rosters, but only as a desperation plug-and-play injury replacement — you can use him when he gets hot. If you have him, great — if not, there’s no reason to go out and acquire him.
Final Verdict: Hold