As we near the midpoint of the fantasy football regular season and get closer to the Week 8 Bye-pocalypse, it’s time to start planning your future weeks a little more carefully. You need to make sure that you will have a competitive roster each of the next few weeks, especially if you are currently in the middle of the pack (or worse) for your league.
When looking at Week 7 Trade Targets, it’s important to make sure that they not only fill a need on your roster, but also that their schedule will mesh with the rest of your players and not leave you scrambling to play someone off the waiver wire in any given week.
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That doesn’t mean that players who will have a bye in Week 8 are off the table, but rather you need to know that you can survive that week with them on your bench. It’s also a great time to sabotage your trade partner by giving them players who will compound their own bye-week issues.
Week 7 Trade Targets
Zay Flowers, Baltimore Ravens WR
Flowers is on a bye of his own this week, which makes him a perfect trade target if you can do without him in Week 7. He also has some current narratives surrounding him which may make managers eager to unload him.
Lamar Jackson has missed the past two weeks, and Flowers has struggled in his absence. While Jackson should return in Week 8, that’s not guaranteed, and might make managers nervous.
Flowers has shown his upside this season already, though. While his monster game in Week 1, when he had 143 yards and a touchdown, is likely to be his best of the season, he still has a pretty decent floor when Lamar is under center.
He has a great 29% team target share on the season. He’s also 10th in receiving yards in the league so far this season, despite Lamar’s missed games.
Flowers is a true #1 on his team and has proven the offseason naysayers wrong. Getting his bye week out of the way now will only help you in the long term. His price will only go up next week, so get him while you can.
Check out all of our Week 7 Rankings: Flex Rankings | QB Rankings | RB Rankings | WR Rankings | TE Rankings
Deebo Samuel Sr., Washington Commanders WR
Even when Terry McLaurin comes back, I think Deebo is the receiver to own in Washington. While it should be noted that Deebo is dealing with his own issues and just missed his second straight practice on Thursday, I’m not overly concerned, as Deebo has a history of getting banged up but still playing through injury. Even if he misses this week, he’s going to be very valuable down the stretch.
In the three games played this season with both Samuel and McLaurin on the field, Samuel got more targets in two of them. He simply fits the offense of Kliff Kinsbury better.
The team also uses him out of the backfield, where he’s averaging about 1.5 rushes per game. This isn’t nearly as much as he used to get in San Francisco, but he does already have one 18-yard and one 19-yard run on the season, the latter of which he scored on, proving he can still do big things as a runner.
He doesn’t have his bye until Week 12, so you will have time to plan around him. Expect him to be expensive based on how well he’s performed so far, but the injury and your opponent’s need to prioritize playable assets in the next two weeks should provide a slight discount.
Travis Etienne Jr., Jacksonville Jaguars RB
Etienne is one of the few players with a Week 8 bye that I would trade for this week. He’s had two slow showings in a row, which should cool his price a bit from his red-hot start. This was more based on getting slightly fewer opportunities in those games rather than playing poorly, as he still passed the eye test and is showing more of the burst he had prior to last season.
I don’t think the team is moving toward more of a committee either. Etienne is the clear lead back. For reference, in 15 games last season, he had 150 rushing attempts and 39 receptions. Through six games this season he’s already gotten 89 rush attempts and 13 receptions. That would project out to 223 rushes and 33 receptions across 15 games.
So, he’s getting significantly more rushing opportunities but slightly fewer receptions. The passing numbers don’t tell the full truth, though, as he’s gotten the most targets of the season in the past two games, so that total projection should be increasing. It’s probable that he’s just getting more comfortable in Liam Coen’s system.
While the Week 8 bye will be a bummer, the Jags have a good back half of the season afterwards. They get to play the Raiders, Jets, and Titans twice. Like Flowers, he should be a trade target in Week 7 while the price is lower due to recency bias.
Alvin Kamara, New Orleans Saints RB
Kamara is one of the more popular names when it comes to NFL trade speculation. If he does get traded, his asking price for Fantasy will skyrocket, as managers always over-inflate for mid-season trades.
Buying him now is a smart choice because of the opportunity he presents. If he does move teams, odds are he will be going to a much better offense. If he doesn’t get traded, the Saints have an amazing back-half schedule where they get to play the Dolphins, Jets, Titans, and Panthers twice. The Titans matchup is even in Week 17 when most Fantasy leagues have their championships.
His season so far has been a bit of a yo-yo. His rushing attempts have gone down in recent weeks, but his targets have been increasing. The Saints have been throwing like crazy, so this does make sense. Moving forward, as the schedule gets a bit easier, I would think that they’ll balance that out a bit more and start increasing his work on the ground.
Kendre Miller has been getting more opportunities in the run game, but he hasn’t shown much more than Kamara to worry me just yet (Miller is at 4 yards per attempt vs. Kamara’s 3.8). Miller is also much less of a threat in the passing game, so if the Saints do keep up the passing volume, that will definitely swing in Kamara’s favor.
His price should be reasonable, and you can be fairly confident in his floor. I’d be taking a shot at Kamara now for the potential of a second-half winner.
Make sure to check out all of our Week 7 Fantasy Football Rankings and Analysis!
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