Fantasy Football 2014: Trade Bait and Prey Week 7

We’re back with 13 new fantasy football players that you should be trading for or trading away for Week 7 and beyond.

As always, the players who are considered trade bait are the ones you should be trading away, while the ones who are trade prey are the players you should be looking into acquiring.

With that, let’s take a closer look at who should be on the move this week.

Trade Bait (Sell High)

Quarterbacks

Tom Brady: Tom Terrific had a great game on Sunday, but he’s by no means back in the conversation to be an elite fantasy QB—he probably isn’t even a QB1. Brady has always picked the Bills apart (he’s 23-2 against them in his career), so seeing him drop 30 on them shouldn’t change your opinion of him much. If you want to wait a week until after he plays the hapless Jets secondary, that’s fine. But make sure you don’t fall in love with TB12 again. It isn’t 2007.

Running Backs

Arian Foster, Houston Texans: Foster proved me wrong last week with another 25-point performance. But the fact remains that he is old and wearing down. Odds are, Foster won’t be able to handle 20-plus carries every week and stay healthy. He’s going to help you in the regular season, but it would be surprising to see him healthy when the playoffs start (which is much more important). That’s why he’s in this spot for a second straight week. If you can trade him for a Matt Forte or Gio Bernard, both of those guys have more lasting value.

Branden Oliver, San Diego Chargers: Oliver is back on this list for a second week. He had another big game as San Diego’s featured back, but the fact still remains that he won’t have this role for long. Mathews is still San Diego’s No. 1 RB, and whenever he returns to the field you can expect Oliver to return to fantasy irrelevance.

Shane Vereen, New England Patriots: Stevan Ridley’s injury may seem like a good thing for Vereen, but it probably won’t change much. Vereen isn’t a guy who can shoulder 20 touches per game and run between the tackles. That role will probably be available for another one of New England’s backs, raising their value instead. If, however, you can convince another owner that Vereen will be ‘the guy’ in New England now, he’ll have a huge boost in his trade value this week.

Wide Receivers

T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts: Unsurprisingly, Hilton broke out in NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant Stadium). Hilton is a burner whose speed is best used on turf fields and in indoor stadiums. He’s always been better in those situations, and continuing that trend shouldn’t be surprising. On the other hand, that trend isn’t well known, and you should be able to convince another owner in your league that Hilton’s current rank as the No. 7 fantasy WR is legit, he’ll have much more value than he should.

Torrey Smith, Baltimore Ravens: Smith’s value is peaking, as he’s caught three touchdown passes in the last three weeks. But bear in mind, Smith isn’t the type of guy who can reach double-digit touchdowns on the year because he is only 6’0”. What’s more important to Smith is his yardage, and those numbers have been pitiful. He has yet to go over four receptions and 53 yards in any given game, showing how much he’s been relying on touchdowns. Once his scoring numbers go down, so will his fantasy value.

Tight Ends

Jordan Cameron, Cleveland Browns: Going into the year, Cameron was expected to be one of the guys who could compete with the Big 3 TEs for an elite ranking at the position. So far, Cameron has struggled, but he went for over 100 yards and scored his first touchdown of the year this week. He could’ve had another touchdown too if Brian Hoyer hadn’t underthrown him. But the problem with Cameron is the offense Cleveland is running. The team isn’t throwing the ball, and Hoyer isn’t exactly an elite QB. Cameron still hasn’t had more than three catches in a game and only went over 50 yards once. Don’t let his big game fool you, he’s still not worth starting on a weekly basis.

Trade Prey (Buy Low)

Quarterbacks

Carson Palmer, Arizona Cardinals: Palmer made his way back into the lineup this week to the tune of 250 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. He posted a solid performance with 18 fantasy points, and that’s without playing or practicing with his WRs for several weeks. He’s only going to get better as he develops more chemistry with them once again. He should be considered a solid QB2 now that he’s healthy.

Running Backs

Justin Forsett, Baltimore Ravens: We’ve been advocating Forsett as the RB to own in Baltimore for several weeks now, and he keeps making us look good. He’s currently the NFL’s leader in yards per carry among qualifiers, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that over 10 percent of his carries have gone for 20 yards or more. He’s clearly better than his teammates in the Ravens’ backfield and should continue to be a solid RB2.

Fred Jackson, Buffalo Bills: The oldest RB in the NFL just keeps running. Jackson has averaged 11.0 points per game over his last four and has been as consistent as any RB in fantasy. The Bills continue to run the ball enough to support two RBs, but Jackson has been much more consistent than Spiller. He’s a solid RB2 at this point, but his value is considered to be much lower than that.

Wide Receivers

Sammy Watkins, Buffalo Bills: Watkins was in this position last week as well, but this will likely be the last week you can buy Watkins for a discounted price. Manuel is out and Orton is in, which is great news for Watkins owners. He might have struggled last week, but so did the rest of the Bills. Don’t freak out because the rookie was shut down by one of the best cornerbacks in the game. He’ll play the Vikings this week and a hapless Jets secondary next week before a bye. Expect Watkins to start producing WR2 numbers starting this week.

Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd, Arizona Cardinals: Carson Palmer’s return gives a huge boost to everyone on Arizona’s offense, but nowhere will the improvement be seen more than in Palmer’s top two WRs. Fitz and Floyd are clearly better when they’re working with Palmer, and now that their QB is back and healthy it’s only a matter of time until they both get back to high-end WR2 status.

Tight Ends

Jace Amaro, New York Jets: Well hello there, Jace. The Jets’ rookie TE broke out in a big way on Sunday, racking up 10 receptions for 68 yards and a score. He’s now had at least 50 yards in three of his last four games and is starting to look like the offensive weapon the Jets so desperately need. Now that he’ll be playing against a Patriots team that is without linebacker Jerod Mayo, Amaro could stay hot this week and is worth picking up or trading for.