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A majority of this article will be about the future, more specifically the next 3-4 weeks. But first I want to take a look back. There were five players I suggested drafting back in August that I also suggested holding earlier this month. Brandon Marshall is still a hold, because we have to believe that Bears team is going to figure things out soon. Jordan Cameron is still a hold because of concussion issues and the possibilities of what he could be when healthy. Percy Harvin is still a hold because his usage should go up over the next three weeks in New York. The other two? You need to think long and hard.
Arian Foster has been on the best running backs in the league this season despite the fact he missed some time due to injury. If there is someone in your league willing to pay up for Foster, now is not a bad time to sell. He has a Week 10 bye, which is one of the worst bye weeks for most teams. He has an average schedule the rest of the way with a subpar playoff schedule. He also has a pretty significant risk for re-injury and once the Texans are out of the playoff race they won't have any reason to push him.
Rob Gronkowski is finally 100% and looks to be the player you were hoping for when you drafted him. When he's healthy he's near unstoppable and can carry your team to a title. I'm less inclined to trade him because of that, but there is absolutely an injury concern. He also has a pretty terrible playoff schedule with difficult match ups in Week 14 and 15. With Foster I would trade him for a fair RB1 price. With Gronkowski I'm looking for someone to blow me away.
With the past out of the way, let's look to the future. There are four categories below, and each is for a different type of owner. Get Me In is for the owner sitting around .500 that needs a playoff push. Show Me The Money is for the owner that is sitting in first and wants to strengthen their team for the playoffs. Long Term Window is for dynasty players that are out of the race but looking for 2015 pieces. And of course, our Sell category is players you should be looking to move in redraft.
Get Me In
Colin Kaepernick- Coming off his bye has by far his easiest stretch of schedule over the next few weeks.
LeSean McCoy- His owner is likely frustrated and the offensive line is about to get healthy.
Eddie Lacy- Plus matchups from Week 11-14. Hopefully his owner has bye week concerns this week and you have the depth to weather it.
Julio Jones/Roddy White- Things are bad in Atlanta, but the passing game should get red hot against their upcoming schedule. White will be much cheaper of course.
Vernon Davis- Davis needed that bye week as much as anyone. He should be healthy and refocused for a great stretch against quality match ups.
Show Me The Money
Cam Newton- Only Tony Romo and the next guy on this list have easier playoff schedules. Newton should be a monster late.
Eli Manning- A much cheaper option with an even juicier schedule. Manning could be had by simply trading a little depth.
LeVeon Bell- Bell's numbers have slumped a little bit lately but he'll be a force as it gets colder. Pay up for this top ten back.
Kelvin Benjamin- Like Newton, the playoff schedule is a beautiful thing. May be hard to pry him from his owner's hands, but he's worth a WR1 price.
Doug Baldwin- Would have been better to trade for Baldwin two weeks ago, but who knew Harvin was getting dealt besides Russell Wilson?
Jordan Cameron- Cameron should be dirt cheap right now, but he's a lottery ticket if he gets healthy and has Gordon taking all the attention.
Delanie Walker- Walker is always hot and cold but there are few better when he's hot. Playoff schedule lends itself to a late hot streak.
Long Term Window
Derek Carr- Carr is the overlooked member of this rookie quarterback class but I've seen a lot of things I like. It's hard to see a good situation developing in Oakland, but if it does Carr has a chance to be a QB1.
Carlos Hyde- Hyde is the most talented back in San Francisco right now. Of course, he isn't yet getting the touches to represent that, but he will soon enough.
Mike Evans- Evans has fallen behind the top rookie wide receivers but there's little doubt he has a bright future. Vincent Jackson isn't long for this team precisely because the Buccaneers believe Evans is their future WR1.
Michael Floyd- Bruce Arians has eliminated the WR1 position in Arizona and instructed Carson Palmer to worry about match ups and not who he's throwing to. That's hurt Floyd a little the past couple of weeks but he'll bounce back.
Tyler Eifert- Now that there are rumors circulating that Eifert may be done for the year, he's the perfect buy low candidate. Should be a stud in 2015.
SELL
Carson Palmer- Nobody's schedule takes a bigger turn for the worse in the second half than Palmers. You may not get much for him, but see if you can build depth somewhere else.
Ben Roethlisberger- Sell high! Roethlisberger is coming off of a career day and invariably someone in your league sees it as a sign of things to come. It's not.
Justin Forsett- Forsett is still a fine RB3 or flex play but with Lorenzo Taliaferro getting more involved and stealing the red zone work it's likely to get worse and not better.
Lamar Miller- Miller has feasted on some good match ups and greatly inflated his value in the process. Now is the time to capitalize, because his schedule is about to get more difficult.
Jeremy Maclin- Teams are hesitant to give too much attention to Maclin due to the Eagles propensity to spread the ball around. They have little choice now and that will hurt his production.
Antonio Brown- Brown is an absolute stud, so you aren't selling for anything but top dollar, but I do think it's highly unlikely his second half matches his first.
Antonio Gates- They is very little correlation between age and production in the first half of the season, but that changes around this time of year. Gates is as old and beat up as anyone and it's difficult to see him producing for the entire second half.
Heath Miller- Sell high! Miller is a bye week replacement at best. See if there's a tight end desperate team that will give you low end TE1 value for him and make the deal.
Have trade questions? Ask me on Twitter @heathcummingssr
