NFL Trade Deadline Fantasy Football Fallout

The 2018 NFL Trade Deadline saw a few fantasy football relevant players switch teams. How do these trades impact fantasy owners going forward?

The NFL Trade Deadline isn’t one of the more exciting trade deadlines. Very rarely do high-profile players get moved or the players that are traded don’t make a significant impact. However, after last year and this year’s deadline moves, that may be changing.

Fantasy football owners will feel the impact of this year’s trade deadline whether they have the traded players or not. With five or six weeks left of the fantasy football season, depending on your league setup, these trades could impact your league’s outcome.

There were two big trades that impacted defenses. The Washington Redskins added secondary help by trading for safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. He joins a defense that is allowing the fourth-lowest yards per game and fifth in points per game.

The second trade was the Los Angeles Rams adding another pass rusher. They traded for Jacksonville Jaguars’ Dante Fowler. He joins Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, Michael Brockers, Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters and Mark Barron on an elite defense for a Super Bowl-contending Rams team.

As for the offensive stars, we saw Amari Cooper get traded to the Dallas Cowboys last week. This week, Golden Tate, Demaryius Thomas and Ty Montgomery were traded this week. This changes the fantasy value of many players for the rest of the season.

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Golden Tate Learns to Fly

Tate was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for just a third-round pick. This adds another weapon for Carson Wentz. However, the move also dilutes the number of targets available to Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Jordan Matthews, Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. Though, I think Jeffery and Ertz are safe from reduced production.

The downside of this move is that Tate owners will have to deal with a second bye week as the Eagles are on bye in Week 9. So, hopefully, you have a decent bench option this week. The same thing happened with Jay Ajayi last season.

In Detroit, Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay will see a boost in targets. Theo Riddick may see more production as well as tight end Michael Roberts. Tate was targeted 69 times already this season and averaged 131 targets over the previous four seasons. With how much Matthew Stafford throws the ball, that is a lot of targets up for grabs.

Demaryius Thomas Gets Bigger In Texas

Thomas joins elite wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to form a dangerous duo in Houston. The loss of Will Fuller made the move to acquire a wide receiver the top priority for the front office. Deshaun Watson will have either Hopkins downfield or Thomas coming across in the slant.

Keke Coutee will have a bit of a reduced role going forward but he should still see some targets as the No. 3 in Houston.

As far as the Denver Broncos go, Emmanuel Sanders and Courtland Sutton are the top-two receiving options for Case Keenum. Tim Patrick caught his second pass of the season, a 24-yard touchdown, last week.

Tight end Jeff Heuerman and running back Devontae Booker should see more time on passing downs if you play in deeper leagues.

Ty Montgomery Goes to the Dark Side

The Montgomery trade won’t move a lot of needles but this is something to monitor if you own a Baltimore Ravens running back.

Alex Collins is getting the majority of rush attempts with Javorius Allen getting some receptions out of the backfield.

Gus Edwards saw 10 carries in Week 6 and Kenneth Dixon may be eligible to come off the IR in Week 11 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Adding Montgomery to this backfield doesn’t do anyone any favors.

For Green Bay, this clears the way to keep Aaron Jones as the main back and Jamaal Williams as the change-of-pace option. Jones is still available in about half of ESPN leagues. In a year where finding a running back is hard, owners should add Jones.

While these trades may not seem like blockbuster trades, they will have some fantasy football impact. Tate moves to the easy NFC East. Thomas will have a better quarterback throwing him the ball. The Rams defense gets better somehow.

Hopefully, you can take advantage of these moves and add a player who will get more playing time as a result.