Week 7 of the fantasy football season continued to bring us more ups and downs and head-scratching moments. Savvy fantasy managers will be able to take advantage of these ebbs and flows to improve their teams. Here are a handful of players entering Week 8 of the fantasy football season that presents an optimal opportunity to buy low or sell high on.
Who Are Some Fantasy Football Week 8 Trade Targets To Buy Low?
Since expectations vary across fantasy managers, there could be a window for you to acquire some of these players at a value. All of these candidates are in a position to exceed expectations for the rest of this season.
Dalton Schultz, TE, Dallas Cowboys
I was all in on Dalton Schultz coming into the year. It wasn’t even bold, either. He was third in receptions and finished as the TE3 last year. But injuries to Dak Prescott and Schultz (MCL) all but made him irrelevant for most games when active. His best game of the season came in the opening matchup vs. Tampa Bay, where Schultz caught seven of nine targets for 62 yards.
With Prescott back and Schultz looking more like himself in Week 7, he hauled in all five targets for 49 yards and could have had a far better day if not for being rotated out at times for three-wide sets or for Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot.
With that said, Schultz still led the TE room in snaps (68%) and had more routes (17) than Hendershot and Ferguson combined (11). Dallas also has one of the easiest remaining schedules for TEs, and Schultz could quickly return to top-six status. He’s my top fantasy football buy-low at tight end for Week 8.
Drake London, WR, Atlanta Falcons
Alright, Arty, we get it. The rin has been thoroughly established. Running in the fourth quarter when down 35-17 is just banging your head into a wall. It’s time for the Falcons to admit they need to stop running and use their skyscrapers in Kyle Pitts and, more importantly, Drake London. Otherwise, what was the point of spending the No. 8 pick on him?
It’s not that London did anything good in Week 7. In fact, it was horrendous. He caught his lone target for nine yards and has been held to sub-60 yards for five straight weeks. It’s not defenses holding London, though. It’s his scheme failing him. Since Week 4, Marcus Mariota has averaged 17.75 attempts and 134.75 yards a game. That’s it, and it must change.
MORE: Week 8 WR Fantasy Football Rankings
When it does, London is the only receiver set to benefit. He’s the undisputed No. 1 with an 84% snap share and a 95% route participation.
Atlanta has one of the easiest remaining schedules for WRs, which should be the focus of the offense. If/when Atlanta flips the script, you want London on your roster. After this embarrassing loss, I’d consider buying low now on the former collegiate standout.
Travis Etienne Jr., RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
I hope you bought Travis Etienne Jr. because, as Fat Joe once said, “yesterday’s price is not today’s price.” Maybe you have a manager in your league who doesn’t realize what they have, or his performance was lost on their bench, but there should be no questions when it comes to Etienne. He is legit.
After 114 total yards in Week 5 and 108 yards in Week 6, Etienne was busy again against the Giants, rushing 14 times for 114 yards with a touchdown and added five yards on his lone catch (five targets).
That makes it four straight weeks Etienne has out-snapped James Robinson. But in Week 7, he obliterated him 57 to 12 and led 24 to four in routes. Add the fact that Etienne has added the rushing volume to his already high ceiling due to targets makes him a weekly must-start.
I’m not entirely sure why such a drastic shift happened as it did, perhaps injury or design, but Etienne is a must-start where Robinson is verging on droppable in leagues with shallower benches.
Who Are Some Fantasy Football Week 8 Candidates To Sell High?
Actual value vs. perceived value is also something fantasy managers need to have the pulse on. It cannot only tell you when to buy low but also when to sell high before the floor crashes out. Here are three players that could be worth selling before their value drops.
Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
These are the type of games Tyler Boyd has a chance of having every weekend. It’s as high-octane of an offense as it gets when firing on all cylinders. Boyd has not only the best game of the season but one of the best of his career.
Playing on 75% of the snaps with an 89% route participation, Boyd hauled in eight of his nine targets for 155 yards and a touchdown. Of those yards, 105 of them came in the first quarter alone. Yet, it helped no one, as Boyd was only started in less than 12% of leagues.
Factoring into his big day was the mid-game injury of Ja’Marr Chase, which appeared to be a re-aggravation of his hip injury, and Tee Higgins playing through an ankle injury. Not to mention Atlanta came into the game down a cornerback and lost two more in the process.
Boyd is the clear No. 3 wide receiver for the Bengals, and days like this are few and far between. If someone is buying, sell. Let them chase the points and use Boyd’s big day as a sell-high opportunity ahead of Week 8.
Aaron Jones, RB, Green Bay Packers
Aaron Jones has to be one of the most disappointing players of the year. After being promised a massive target share following the Davante Adams trade, Jones entered Week 7 20th in per-game scoring (13.4 PPR), 12th in targets (23), and 16th in yards (123).
Luckily, it got better on Sunday. What saved his outing was the long-awaited passing work, catching nine of 10 targets for 53 yards with two touchdowns. That’s what we’ve been waiting on all year. It sure wasn’t his eight for 23 on the ground, that’s for sure.
MORE: Week 8 RB Fantasy Football Rankings
Unfortunately, that might not last long, as the Packers head to Buffalo to take on the Bills, who are coming out of their bye week. Green Bay failed to convert a single third down in Week 7, and if that lingers one bit, fantasy production will suffer.
AJ Dillion is a cut candidate in shallow leagues, and I’d use this performance to sell high on Jones, as I want as little to do with the Packers’ offense as possible. Something I did not feel I would have said a few months ago.
Jerry Jeudy, WR, Denver Broncos
Before you even consider it, no, Brett Rypien is not the answer in Denver. I get Russell Wilson has been bad, but it goes deeper than that, and it’s a topic for a different article. But somehow, with Wilson out, Jeudy had his best game since Week 1, catching seven of his 11 targets for 96 yards.
It was only the fourth time Jeudy had double-digit targets or cracked 80 receiving yards, and he tied his career-high for receptions. Since Week 2, Jeudy is the WR60 and averaging just 7.7 PPR fantasy points per game, so his 16.6 PPR “outburst” is very out of character.
This is still Courtland Sutton’s team, and that won’t change. What has changed is now we are seeing the TE being incorporated, as Greg Dulcich is apparently what we wanted Albert Okwuegbunam to be.
Denver has a hard enough time supporting one option, let alone three. Jeudy is the odd man out unless we see a massive shift in this offense. And based on what we’ve seen through seven weeks, I don’t see it coming anytime soon. If you’ve been holding Jeudy and couldn’t justify outright dropping him, sell high on his volume and move on from this situation ahead of Week 8.