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The Weekly Bender: NFL Trade Deadline Fantasy Fallout

Wed Nov 6 5:22pm ET
By HOWARD BENDER
Fantasy Writer

While the excitement and fantasy impact of the NFL trade deadline is nowhere near what it is for sports like baseball, basketball and hockey, we have still seen some interesting action over the past few years. It’s always different because you’re dealing with a salary cap, but the amount of player movement we’ve recently witnessed has definitely kept excitement levels nice and high. From a reality standpoint, teams are looking to improve on both the offensive and defensive sides, not every move has a major impact on the fantasy game, but there are still some key moves you should keep tabs on as we move into the latter part of the fantasy football regular season.

For starters, let me throw a quick dig at the Dallas Cowboys, because anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to needle my SiriusXM partner Jim Bowden. If you want to know how much of an impact the acquisition of Jonathan Mingo will make on the Cowboys and fantasy football, fill up a glass of water about three-quarters of the way full. Now dip half of your index finger into the water and hold it there for about 15 seconds. Now take your finger out. How much of an impression on the water did your finger make? Exactly.

But while Mingo to the Cowboys did absolutely nothing, Mike Williams to the Pittsburgh Steelers certainly will. In the two games with Russell Wilson under center, the Steelers have averaged 271 passing yards per game and have three touchdowns through the air. George Pickens has been doing his best, but as the only real legitimate receiving threat, the coverage has been a bit stifling. So much so that the Steelers have looked to Calvin Austin and Van Jefferson as primary threats and neither of them are really up to task. Yes, Austin got into the end zone on a receiving touchdown last week, but imagine what could be with a real big-time receiver. Yes, Williams has a lengthy injury history and yes, it may take a little time to nail down the Steelers playbook and jell with Wilson, but the veteran is likely to do more in a short time than any of the other Steelers wideouts not named Pickens have done through the first nine weeks.

If you’re looking for a move that will fly under the radar, look no further than the New Orleans Saints trading cornerback Marshon Lattimore to the Washington Commanders. Yes, that does bolster Washington’s leaky secondary, but for fantasy and DFS purposes, it’s just a slight shift into a different direction for us. While Lattimore will be tasked with covering the opposition’s top receiver, we can now turn our attention to the opposition’s WR2. Lattimore is not the cover guy he used to be so when he’s facing high-end wideouts like A.J. Brown, CeeDee Lamb and Drake London, the secondary receiving target will be sitting in plenty of one-on-one coverage against Benjamin St-Juste, arguably one of the worst cover guys in the game. That means Mike Williams next week, DeVonta Smith the week after and then a parade of others in whom you will want to be invested. Just think about what we can expect from Darnell Mooney in our fantasy championship!

You also need to look at how some of the moves may impact your fantasy teams in a negative way. The Ravens acquisition of cornerback Tre’Davious White is going to tighten up a lot of coverage for teams playing the Ravens. Suddenly a team that ranks 23^rd in DVOA against the pass and is allowing the most passing yards per game won’t be such a pushover for opposing quarterbacks.

You also have the Lions adding edge-rusher Za’Darius Smith, a negative for skill-position players facing the Lions. But maybe it’s a boost for those who want to use the Lions defense. Detroit has one sack over its last two games, but should immediately see improvement on that pass rush with Smith replacing Aiden Hitchinson.

We’ve seen plenty of trading going on this NFL season with fantasy implications all over the place. DeAndre Hopkins scored his first two touchdowns as a member of the Chiefs last week, Davante Adams scored his first as a Jet and guys like Amari Cooper and Diontae Johnson are going to have positive impacts in both fantasy and reality. Are you making the proper adjustments on your end? When is your fantasy trade deadline? Now that rosters in the NFL are settled, we’re going to have to start finalizing ours as we look to dominate the upcoming fantasy playoffs.

Bender out.

The Weekly Bender: NFL Trade Deadline Fantasy Fallout

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