Q: Fantasy Football: I need an opinion of a Trade I made, I may have gotten the Big ‘Ol Fleecing.

I traded: Rudi Johnson, Calvin Johnson, K. Smith, Matt Leinart
for
Frank Gore & Torry Holt

A: Well, I will just assume we are talking a PPR league here, standard scoring otherwise, and a re-draft league.

The fact that Matt Leinart is part of this deal makes no sense for your trade partner, since he is on IR for the rest of the season. But, it makes sense for you to trade him if your partner was willing to accept him as a trade chip, for reasons I won’t know. It frees up an extra roster spot for you to pick up someone who is actually playing from the waiver wire. I mean, you could have done so in weeks past, but no matter. So the trade for me is essentially Rudi Johnson, Kolby Smith & Calvin Johnson… for Frank Gore & Torry Holt. I will assume that you have a decent RB3 on the bench in this scenario who can step into the starting lineup (?), since you traded 2 RB’s for 1.   

Anyway, I think you secured quality for quantity. First off with the RB swap, you netted Gore for Rudi and Kolby. Again, I am assuming a PPR league, since no scoring system was posted. In that case, Rudi is basically useless in the passing game, as evidenced by his 2 catches in the last 4 weeks. K. Smith is adequate in that respect, but Gore is a downright monster! The kid has just about 30 receptions in his last 4 games, and has become a force as Dilfer’s check-down… very similar to S-Jax at the end of last season with the Rams. In addition, with respect to Rudi, Kenny Watson has become more of a playmaker for the Bengals recently, and is actually their best RB, in my opinion. Gore was a top-3 pick in league’s for a reason, right? The guy led the NFC in rushing yards last season, and is capable of huge games every single week. As you can see, I weight a player’s recent performance fairly heavily, and I use the previous month as a good barometer. Over that span, Rudi and K. Smith COMBINED are averaging around 22.5 points per week. Gore, by himself, is averaging just under 21 points per week over that same timeframe. Now assuming you have a RB2 with even a slight pulse, I would take Frank Gore over the other 2 RB’s you received. Now if you got the better end of the WR swap, you will be in business. Let’s see…

You traded Lions rookie Calvin Johnson, and got Torry Holt in return. An All-Pro for a rookie, albeit a phenom. Calvin has been banged up over the 2nd half of the seaon, and it has clearly shown in his play. Holt on the other hand has been battling through his early season knee injury, and looking like the perennial Pro-Bowler that he is, recently. Over the last month, Holt is averaging 17.5 points per week, with Calvin scoring just over 10 points per match. So again, you come out on the long end in WR’s as well.

In closing, I am ecstatic to say that you FLEECED that dude, my man! There may not be many better feelings in life. You should tell your buddy to cross that fleece off the X-Mas wish list he gave his parents, as you owe him one! You might want to tell him to run any future trade proposals he might have by us. Or, maybe you wouldn’t want that! haha Happy Fleecing!

Filed under: _Fantasy Fleeces