Yard Sale: Week 4

The COVID-19 pandemic and lack of a preseason have easily made this one of the most infuriating seasons to play fantasy football. Even if your draft did not go as planned, you can still make a playoff push with some crafty trades and keeping an eye out for sleepers. With a few weeks out of the way, this is where players should start shaking off the rust and begin to play normally. 

Here are the players to buy low on and sell high for Week 5.

*Disclaimer: All fantasy point stats are in Half-PPR

Get’em

Jonathan Taylor (RB – Indianapolis Colts)

After Marlon Mack ruptured his achilles, the fantasy world jumped on the idea of Taylor becoming an RB1. He proved so in his first game with a statline of 26/101/1. The last two games have not been so forgiving: 13 rushes for 59 yards  and 17 rushes for 68 yards, which have resulted in 12.70 and 8.40 fantasy points. Producing meager back to back statlines can cause some owners to worry if his supposed breakout game was a fluke. Remember, due to COVID-19, players were not given a preseason to get ready for this season. After a few games, Taylor has gotten his feet wet and will have some juicy matchups coming his way. In five of his next seven games he has pretty favorable matchups with the Bengals, Lions, Titans (twice), and Packers. These teams are ranked 11th, 3rd, 10th, and 4th respectively in fantasy points given up to RBs. If you can convince an owner to give you Jonathan Taylor, a deal must be made. Taylor is a buy now before he steam rolls the upcoming competition.

Keenan Allen (WR – Los Angeles Chargers)

Quietly, Keenan Allen has become the second most targeted WR in the NFL this year, only trailing Amari Cooper (51) with 49 targets. With Justin Herbert taking over the quarterback position, Keenan Allen has seen an uptick in targets. Over the last three games he has been targeted 10, 19, and 12 times. Although, through four games Keenan Allen has only racked up 5.70, 13.10, 25.70, and 10.20 fantasy points. With a few shaky performances Allen can be seen as a go get’em player. As this season goes on, the QB-WR duo should be able to create a stronger connection leading to more high target games from Keenan. His next few weeks come against some teams who may be already watching college tape looking at the 2021 NFL draft. He faces the Saints, which should be a high scoring affair, the high school team Jets, the Dolphins (they have given up the 8th most fantasy points to WRs), the Jaguars, and the Las Vegas Raiders. Watch for Keenan Allen booming into the bye week as a sneaky WR1. Be careful though, this can easily turn into a sell if Tyrod Taylor resumes QB duties.

Josh Jacobs (RB – Las Vegas Raiders)

After playing his mind out against the Carolina Panthers, Josh Jacobs has slowly disappeared from the top fantasy running backs. In the last three games, Jacobs has scored 12.00, 7.80, and 8.80 fantasy points. This is a nightmare for any fantasy owner that drafted Jacobs as their first round pick. Though it must be kept in mind that he faced the Saints, Patriots, and Bills. As of right now, they are respectively ranked 19th, 25th, and 22nd in terms of fantasy points allowed to running backs. It should be reminded that Jacobs is still leading the league in rush attempts and that the Raiders are dealing with offensive line injuries. After week seven, Jacobs should have the benefit of a healthier O-line and rush heavy game scripts with future matchups of the Browns, Chargers, Broncos, and Jets.

Sell’em

Melvin Gordon (RB – Denver Broncos)

Gordon has been playing like a top-tier RB with Phillip Lindsay out the past few weeks. Over the past four games he has recorded fantasy points of 14.10, 15.40, 5.80 (against a very tough Bucs defense), and 24.80. This has made him the eighth ranked RB in fantasy through four weeks. Due to the numerous injuries RBs have faced this season, there is bound to be a team that is in need of a fairly consistent back. This sounds nice, but with Lindsay returning, the backfield should turn back into more of a split backfield. At the beginning of week one, when both running backs were healthy, the snaps were essentially split 50/50 between Lindsay and Gordon. Because of this, Gordon’s number should take a significant hit to make him more of RB2/3, rather than a RB1. If you can sell high now and get in return a true RB1 that has been struggling early, you will be much happier than watching Gordon’s value drop down.

Odell Beckham Jr. (WR – Cleveland Browns)

Ever since being traded to the Browns, Odell has seemed to have become non-existent in the offense. When looking at last week’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, some owners will believe that Odell can still be played as a consistent WR1. It should also be reminded that Dallas is giving up the second most fantasy points to WRs. When looking at Odell’s last 20 outings, he has only gotten above 15 fantasy points 30% of the time. On top of this, he has only gotten above 100 yards twice in this time span. If you don’t trust the past, you can hear it from Beckham yourself after his Week 2 win over the Bengals: “For me, one of my biggest growths has come in acceptance in a sense and for me it’s probably not going to be that kind of season [with huge numbers],” Beckham said post game, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. With Baker’s inconsistent play combined with Beckham’s lack of putting up big points, selling him now would deem great value.