Fantasy: 7 sell-high candidates in dynasty

The success of your dynasty team is directly linked to how early you can accurately assess talent.

Identifying an aging player who still has plenty left in the tank can be just as valuable as acquiring a young star before their breakout. The same can be said for knowing when to cut ties with a prospect who won't reach their originally anticipated apex or a veteran star who is nearing a production cliff.

Before free agency and the draft shake up the fantasy landscape, let’s look at seven players who you should be looking to trade before it's too late.

Dynasty articles

• Buy-low targets
• Sell-high candidates

Gus Edwards

John Harbaugh recently came out and said Edwards will enter the season as the Ravens' No. 1 running back. However, he also said the team will bring in competition for that role. As we saw with Edwards' emergence in 2018, Baltimore's backfield can surprise us at any moment.

Edwards' rise to fantasy relevance coincided with Lamar Jackson taking over at quarterback. From Week 11 on, the decisive north-south bruiser posted the 11th-most fantasy points at running back in standard leagues, topping 100 yards on three occasions during that stretch. However, that number dropped to 18th in PPR formats as he received just one target over that span.

His carries also declined in each of his last three outings, including the Ravens' playoff loss. Teammate Kenneth Dixon, who boasts a more complete skill set, was the one eating into Edwards' workload - out-touching him in Week 17 and the wild-card round.

Running backs who aren't involved as pass-catchers have a hard cap on their fantasy ceilings and come with a much lower floor due to their one-dimensional production. With such a small sample size for Edwards' success, this is the time to cash in before he's exposed as a limited talent whose best college season was a 713-yard effort as a senior.

Leonard Fournette

If you're a believer in Fournette then you may want to unfollow me now, because this offseason will be filled with content questioning how fantasy owners can trust him moving forward.

It's difficult to lose faith in a 24-year-old who compiled over 1,300 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns as a rookie in 2017, but Fournette's missed more than a third of his games over his first two NFL seasons. The lower-body-injuries that plagued him in college persist, casting doubt on his reliability as a fantasy asset given the early-round price tag associated with him.

As Andy Holloway pointed out on theScore Fantasy Football Podcast, the Jaguars must have similar concerns if they were willing to trade a fifth-round pick for veteran Carlos Hyde midway through the season. Hyde is expected to be released and T.J. Yeldon is heading to free agency, which means Jacksonville will definitely be in the market for help at running back, perhaps someone who can take some weight off Fournette's shoulders.

Whether he breaks down again or the team elects to lighten his volume in an effort to keep him healthy, there's enough cause for concern here to move him for a player you have more confidence in; especially if you're like me and prefer to build your dynasty rosters around receivers - a position that typically offers greater longevity.

Kirk Cousins

You might have predicted Cousins would make an appearance on this list after Dalvin Cook was featured in our buy-low article.

Your best chance with Cousins is to hope that at least one of the owners in your league didn’t realize his harsh splits between the first and second halves of the season.

After being the QB6 over the first eight games, Cousins fell to QB14 in November and December, averaging five fewer fantasy points per outing as the Vikings made their intentions known with a midseason transition to a run-first offense.

Minnesota has since added Gary Kubiak - a zone-blocking specialist with a proven track record of generating yards on the ground - to its offensive coaching staff, further signaling a desire to lean on Cook and the rushing attack.

Cousins tossed 10 fewer attempts per game during the second half of the year, as the Vikings' lack of a third option in the passing game behind Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs was evident. Even with the elite duo delivering strong stat lines, Cousins may not have the volume to propel him to a high fantasy finish in the new version of this offense.

Adam Thielen

It pains me to have Thielen amongst the sell-high options, but he fits the criteria for many of the same reasons Cousins does.

During Thielen’s eight straight 100-yard games to start the season, the record-setting receiver averaged 12 targets per outing. That number sunk to seven targets per contest down the stretch when the run game took center stage. Diggs actually received more looks once the offense shifted gears, though both players felt the effects.

As much as it would hurt to let a talent like Thielen go after an outstanding season, the writing is on the wall after the Vikings' offensive shift.

Thielen is also a late bloomer, turning 29 this year, which isn't a problem in re-draft leagues but it needs to be taken into account for his dynasty value.

Evan Engram

Engram has benefited from the time Odell Beckham Jr. has missed in the last two years and now is the moment to capitalize on that.

Despite the reports of the Giants being open to trading Beckham, it would be stunning to see a team move a 26-year-old superstar after signing him to a five-year, $95-million extension. It’s clear a Beckham trade is Engram’s best chance to keep his numbers up.

With Beckham done for the season, Engram posted 75 yards or more in four consecutive December games. For context, he didn’t reach that mark once in the seven contests that he and Beckham shared the field earlier in the year.

And during his rookie campaign, Engram finished as the TE4 with Beckham only taking the field for a quarter of the season.

With running back Saquon Barkley seeing 121 targets in the passing game in his first year and Sterling Shepard still in the mix at receiver, the roster is filled with capable pass-catchers, threatening Engram's outlook.

Robert Woods

Woods has reinvented himself with the Rams, producing at a borderline elite clip over two seasons in Sean McVay's offense, including a top-10 fantasy finish in 2018.

Unless you expect him to usurp superstars like DeAndre Hopkins and Julio Jones, there's little room for Woods to rise, meaning we may have already witnessed his best season-long performance. If that's the case, this is your opportunity to capture the biggest return for the overachieving wideout.

After the year he just had, Woods will draw more attention from defenses and face tougher cornerback battles with a healthy Cooper Kupp retaking slot duties. Stars like Brandin Cooks and Todd Gurley will be vying for touches, in addition to up-and-coming talents like tight end Gerald Everett.

That's not to say Woods isn't a worthy fantasy starter, but expectations need to be realistic for a player who projects as more of a low-end WR2 than the WR1 he's been performing like since arriving in Los Angeles.

Ben Roethlisberger

Surrounded by one of the league's best collections of offensive weapons, Roethlisberger finished with the second-most fantasy points behind only Patrick Mahomes.

It was an impressive feat for a 36-year-old passer who flirted with retirement last offseason.

But age isn’t on Big Ben’s side and with it now appearing like an Antonio Brown trade is imminent, Roethlisberger is about to face a future without one of the best receivers to ever play the game.

No matter how good JuJu Smith-Schuster is, the loss of a Hall of Fame talent like Brown will have major repercussions on the Steelers' offense and leave Roethlisberger outside the QB1 range in fantasy for the remainder of his career.

Dynasty articles

• Buy-low targets
• Sell-high candidates