Trader's Alley: Week 12 Players to Buy Low, Sell High, Hold

Nov 25, 2020

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Well friends, all good things must come to an end. With trade deadlines hitting across pretty much all fantasy platforms, this will be the final edition of Trader’s Alley this season. It has been a pleasure trying to read the tea leaves and suggest players you should trade for/away. Hopefully some of those deals have put you in a position to make the playoffs, as that’s always the goal of playing fantasy football. And to have fun of course, but isn’t winning significantly more fun than losing? If you’re still able to trade, good luck. If not, well, thanks for clicking into this article anyway. Anyway, on to the recommendations for our final Trader’s Alley.

Trade for … Christian McCaffrey, RB, Panthers

McCaffrey was a hold last week, but now I think you might as well go out swinging and try to acquire the likely first overall selection from your league. McCaffrey is still week-to-week with his shoulder injury, and since the Panthers have the rare Week 13 bye, it’s entirely possible the team holds him out in Week 12 to give him extra time to rest. That should be part of your negotiation strategy.

Find a team on the cusp of the playoffs, and offer them players they can use over the next two weeks in exchange for McCaffrey. Not only will McCaffrey pay dividends for you if he returns to his featured role in Week 14 and beyond (don’t forget he put up 37.1 PPR points in Week 9, his first back from his high ankle sprain), but CMC has a terrific playoff schedule. First CMC gets the Broncos, then a cake matchup against the Packers, followed by a date with the middle-of-the-pack Football Team. If you can land McCaffrey before the deadline and still make the postseason, he could be just the edge you need to lift the trophy.

The market: McCaffrey and Mark Andrews were swapped for Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs. McCaffrey alone was traded for Stefon Diggs, Austin Ekeler, and Miles Sanders. And McCaffrey was added as a piece in several multi-player trades, some involving up to four players.

Trade away … Antonio Gibson, RB, Football Team

Few players received as much breathless offseason hype as Gibson, and in the end, it has been deserved. Gibson currently sits as the RB11 in PPR scoring, thanks in large part to his eight rushing touchdowns. Four of those have come in the last three games, which is why Gibson lands on this list. Sure, he does have a good nose for the end zone on goal-line carries, but he’s being heavily passed over in the passing game, as J.D. McKissic has out-targeted Gibson 33 to 9 in that same span. Gibson has crossed 55 rushing yards just twice this season, and while both of those games have come in his last four, that’s not the most encouraging outlook for a back who doesn’t catch many passes if the touchdowns dry up.

Gibson’s upcoming slate features three straight road matchups against the Cowboys (who just slowed down Dalvin Cook for most of a game), the Steelers and the 49ers. That’s a run of tough front sevens that could shutdown Gibson, and shutdown your hopes of advancing deep into the playoffs. Those in standard-scoring leagues should feel better about holding onto Gibson, but he’ll need some good touchdown luck to overperform in those upcoming games.

The market: Gibson was traded straight up for Philip Rivers and CeeDee Lamb in different leagues. In another league, Gibson returned Will Fuller and Chris Carson by himself. Similarly, one manager got Brandin Cooks and Nyheim Hines in return for Gibson. Gibson and teammate Terry McLaurin were exchanged for Travis Kelce. Gibson and Chase Claypool were swapped for Calvin Ridley and Mark Andrews.