Trade Targets for Week 5 (Fantasy Football)

Well, this week was rough! I know everyone who plays this wildly violent game is susceptible to injury, but it hurts extra when it happens to the league’s superstars. I’m pouring one out for my favorite player, Malik Nabers, this week. I’m devastated to see him done for the year. And just when Jaxson Dart takes over and breathes new life into the Giants’ offense. I’m sure Malik will return to dominance in 2026, but I just don’t want to wait that long to see him again!

We lost another stud on MNF, as Tyreek Hill‘s season is over following a dislocated knee (owww!). And now we’ve got to wait and see if Lamar Jackson’s hamstring injury will sideline him for a period of time. And Bucky Irving is getting a mystery MRI?? It’s just not fair.

And don’t get me started on the 80-point bonanza overtime tie between the Cowboys and Packers that none of us saw coming. Man, Javonte Williams and George Pickens are making me look like a real clown right now. At least Brian Thomas caught more than half his targets this week. Progress?

Alas, we persevere. Here are some trade for / trade away targets for Week 5.

Players to Trade For

Ladd McConkey

I get that this one is a bit scary right now. I don’t think anyone doubts Ladd’s talent, after watching him explode onto the scene as a Rookie (82/1149/7 TDs on 112 targets). The big question this year is whether there is enough passing volume to support Ladd, Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston, maybe a TE, and a RB. And so far, Ladd has seemed like the odd man out of the bunch. His YPT is down four yards, and his YPC is down 3+ yards as well. But he’s second in the league in routes run, so at least he’s out there plenty. Through the first three weeks, he also ranked top-10 in number of first read targets and average target separation, proving that he’s still getting open and catching Herbert’s eye. They’re just having a bit of trouble connecting right now.

Despite the lackluster output thus far, Ladd is still averaging almost seven targets per game. I’m using a bit of the same Brian Thomas Jr. argument here, but I’m just a believer in his talent and think that it will eventually click again. Defenses have spent much of their energy trying to take McConkey out of the passing game, but in doing so, they have allowed QJ to absolutely torch them. We can laugh all we want about the horrendous drops of his first two seasons, but the current WR4 overall, Quentin “keep my name out yo mouth” Johnston, is getting the last laugh right now. But at some point, defenses will have to adjust to Johnston over the top, which should hopefully free up Ladd to slice and dice underneath.

One of the main concerns coming into the league was that McConkey would be a slot-only player and would only make it on the field in three-wide sets. And in a “Har-Dawg and G-Ro” offense, we expected more ground & pound and less air-raid. But Ladd has logged 92%+ of the snaps in the last two games, so I really think it’s just a matter of time. And I would bet that Justin Herbert wants to get him going this week against Washington. Buy the panic before his price returns to preseason levels.

In the end, I love this empirically sound fantasy advice…

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Fantasy advice:

If you have Ladd McConkey or Brian Thomas Jr, trade to the owner of the other one.

Simply play hot potato each week, until
one of them is good again

— Liam Murphy (@ChessLiam) September 28, 2025

Woody Marks

It may be a week too late to grab Marks (dang it, I ALMOST included him in last week’s article!), but I believe it’s worth testing the waters to see if anyone believes they are selling high on a breakout performance against my dreadful Tennessee Titans. What I saw was the first signs of a spark on the Texans’ offense, and this team can’t afford to ignore that much longer, as they sit at 1-3 and already two games back in the AFC South race.

Woody’s snap share has increased every week this season, peaking at 56% this week. His touches have also increased each week (3, 4, 8, 22), and he showed playmaking ability in the running (17/69/1 TD) and receiving games (4/50/1 TD) this week. The Texans desperately need something in the run game better than this version of Nick Chubb, who is sadly just a plodder at this stage in his injury-plagued career. It would make sense for the Texans to start seeing what they have in their rookies, since the team has looked completely off until this week. With Marks scoring two TDs and fellow rookie Jayden Higgins getting his first taste of the end zone, I think we’re going to see more of these rookies in the coming weeks in Houston.

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Woody Marks. RB1.pic.twitter.com/H6kMK8kG8N

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) September 29, 2025

Trey Benson

The good news (for those trading FOR) is that Benson was held out of the end zone this week, which suppressed his point total. On an island game, it was notable that he was off the field during the 2-minute drill as well, ceding work to Emari Demercado in those situations. But Benson out-targeted Demercado five to two, so we don’t necessarily need to worry about his target share.

This situation reminds me of Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell, where the lead back is more than capable of staying on the field in passing situations, but because the team feels confident in both guys, they spell the main guy more often than we would prefer. I think overall, Benson still has a lot of upside. Game script certainly affected the workload here, as Seattle got out to an early lead, and Arizona only ran the ball a total of 17 times (five for Kyler Murray), compared to 41 pass attempts. The Seattle defense was getting a lot of pressure and was daring Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. to beat them. If that duo can use this game to turn around a disappointing start to the season, things should open up for Benson moving forward. I would use Benson’s snap share (only 55%) and relative inefficiency to convince his current Manager to move off of him.

Set a reminder on your phone to go float a low-ball offer to the Trey Benson manager

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They felt like they hit the lottery a few short days ago and instead got 10.4 PPR points

(whispers) but Benson quietly dominated touches out of the backfield, getting 68.4% of RB opportunities pic.twitter.com/t5M7DGxvaA

— Eric Romoff (@FantasyNav) September 26, 2025

Players to Trade Away

Bucky Irving

This is another big name (a theme of this series) where I think you are totally fine keeping him and playing him each week. But coming off a big game (with a 72-yard catch-and-run TD), I would consider shopping him around to see what the market looks like. For instance, I am liking what I’m seeing out of Omarion Hampton quite a bit better than Bucky. I’d rather have Josh Jacobs, who I mentioned last week, as well.

What concerns me about Bucky is his efficiency in the run game. He has averaged 2.6, 4.2, 2.6, and 4.2 YPC (a wild trend!) in the first four weeks. His fantasy production is largely coming from the passing game. We knew that was a big part of his skillset coming into the season, but what happens when this receiving corps gets back to full health? Egbuka has been a revelation, and Chris Godwin is back in action and will continue to play more and more snaps moving forward. Mike Evans will be back from his hamstring injury before too long, and Jalen McMillan is expected back around Week 8 or 10 as well. In the second half of the season, the target share should look quite a bit different. Maybe having those WRs all healthy opens up running lanes for Bucky, and he becomes more efficient on the ground. But I’m listening to offers for him currently.

Saquon Barkley

Dare I say it? Saquon has looked relatively inefficient in his own right as well this season. TDs have buoyed what would otherwise be a very lackluster beginning to the season. This is super common among RBs with a workload like what he handled last season (436 total carries, 46 receptions). In fact, since 2010, only 16 RBs have touched the ball more than 400 times in a season. Here are the results, including their next year’s production:

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Year	Name	Team	Touches	PPR Rank	Next Year’s Games	Next Year’s Touches	Next Year’s PPR Rank
2023	Christian McCaffrey	49ers	417	1	4	65	68
2021	Joe Mixon	Bengals	419	4	15	317	10
2020	Derrick Henry	Titans	418	3	9	257	23
2019	Derrick Henry	Titans	409	5	17	418	3
2019	Christian McCaffrey	Panthers	403	1	3	76	54
2018	Ezekiel Elliott	Cowboys	433	5	16	355	3
2017	Le’Veon Bell	Steelers	431	2	0 (holdout)	0	N/A
2016	Le’Veon Bell	Steelers	405	3	16	431	2
2014	DeMarco Murray	Cowboys	497	2	15	237	15
2013	Marshawn Lynch	Seahawks	403	5	19	385	4
2012	Arian Foster	Texans	460	3	8	143	46
2012	Adrian Peterson	Vikings	411	1	14	308	10
2012	Ray Rice	Ravens	410	4	15	272	22
2011	Ray Rice	Ravens	414	1	20	410	4
2010	Rashard Mendenhall	Steelers	412	11	15	246	22
2010	Ray Rice	Ravens	411	5	18	414	1

This is a real mixed bag, to say the least. The obvious first concern is durability, as shown by games played the following year. Excluding Le’Veon Bell’s holdout season, the average games played following a year with 400+ touches has been 13.6. Saquon has missed 2-3 games three times in his career, and he missed most of the 2020 season, so it wouldn’t be unexpected for him to miss a few games this year.

For me, what’s even more concerning is his paltry 3.08 YPC this season! He averaged 5.81 YPC last year behind Philadelphia’s mauling offensive line. But teams have been bottling him up this year (including just 3.33 YPC against the putrid Dallas defense), and I’m worried teams are either daring the Eagles to beat them in the pass game, or his legs are just getting tired. Even a man with quads that reside in their own area codes will eventually break down. I’m not saying he’s toast, but I think I’d rather ship him off for a king’s ransom and sit this year out. Give me Omarion Hampton +, James Cook+, or Bijan instead – if you can make those deals happen.

Romeo Doubs

Okay, this is maybe a cop-out, but if you can capitalize on a hat-trick game, do it! I’ve never loved Doubs in this receiving room, mostly because of how much the team spreads the ball around. And I don’t think he’s an alpha whatsoever. I think he is a really solid WR and a very reliable pass-catcher. But that hasn’t often translated to fantasy utility. Sure, he’s fine to ride in your FLEX all year, and occasionally, you will get some TDs out of him. But nothing I’ve seen from Doubs thus far in his career tells me he’ll be a WR2 or WR3, and he’s currently sitting at WR18 in half-PPR. His previous finishes are WR77, WR37, and WR57 (another weird trend).

There are two moves here: the first is to capitalize on Romeo’s big week (and the jump in the rankings) to try to get an underperforming stud. A few players with fewer fantasy points than Doubs this season include Ladd McConkey, Brian Thomas, Tetairoa McMillan, and Marvin Harrison Jr. I’d much rather have any of these over Romeo the rest of the season.

The other move is to trade Doubs to a team that needs 7-10 points out of their FLEX every week, in exchange for a lottery ticket. I’d rather roster and stash Luther Burden, Matthew Golden, or Elic Ayomanor, to name a few.

Hit me up!

I’m getting GREAT questions from you in my DMs and mentions on X – find me on Twitter @kempertrull!

There are some really sharp players out there, and I have really enjoyed the back-and-forth. Most of all, I appreciate the kind words and recommendations for the series. I want to start including some of my favorite trades that I’m hearing about from you, so keep sending them my way, and I’ll give you a shoutout. Last week, a user on X let me know that he flipped A.J. Brown for Marvin Harrison Jr. and Woody Marks. He’s feeling pretty, pretty, pretty good right now!