Do you remember how you used to have hope that you could win a championship? And do you remember when those dreams were broken? For many of you, those dreams were broken right around the time Anthony Barr forcibly drove Aaron Rodgers to the ground. Whether you own Rodgers or not, his injury creates opportunities to make your team better.
If you’ve read up on our guide to initiating fantasy football trades, you should be ready to go. If you haven’t read it, I can only assume you are illiterate, so I will show pretty pictures for you to help guide you through the disaster that is your fantasy football roster.
Rather than tell you what players to target, we are going to go through the major events of week six and figure out how to turn someone else’s disaster into your week seven fantasy football trade target opportunity. But most important of all, your assessments might not be the same as mine, so be sure to adapt these strategies according to your own evaluations.
Broken dreams and broken collarbones
Review: Week six of the NFL drastically changed the landscape of the NFC. Considered by many to be the overwhelming favorite to win the NFC North, the Green Bay Packers now find themselves without one of the premier players in the NFL. The injury to Aaron Rodgers will have far-reaching ramifications.
Fantasy Impact: The fantasy impact for the Aaron Rodgers injury is interesting. First, there is the loss of Aaron Rodgers himself. Someone in your league invested a lot of draft capital on a can’t-miss quarterback who is going to miss a lot of time. But it’s not just Aaron Rodgers who is affected by this. Jordy Nelson, Davante Adams, Ty Montgomery and Martellus Bennett will all be affected by this injury. What you need to determine is how you think this will impact their fantasy value going forward.
Strategy: First, I need to evaluate the Green Bay Packers roster before I can determine my strategy. My assessment is simple quite simple. Without Aaron Rodgers, the Packers are not a very good football team. I think they have a suspect defense and Rodgers elite skills has bailed them out of many terrible situations. And I believe a lot of their skill position players will definitely suffer major hits to their production because of his absence.
Next, I need to assess how I believe the rest of the players in my league will respond. This one is easy, because I can taste the blood in the water. Panic has set in. People in my leagues are trying to figure out what kind of value they can get for their now devalued players. This is great, because if I am right about the players I like, I’m going to be able to upgrade certain positions for pennies on the dollar. Of course, if I am wrong, I will be shooting myself in the foot. But I’m a big believer in going big or going home.
My personal assessment going forward is that the Packer’s running game took a huge hit and I don’t want any shares of it. Defenses are going to challenge Brett Hundley to beat them with his arm and that means keying in on stopping the run. I also think any value Martellus Bennett and Davante Adams had was a result of Aaron Rodgers skills, not their own. I want no parts of them.
The only player I think is still being undervalued is Jordy Nelson. When Rodgers last missed extended playing time, Jordy averaged 4 catches for 77 yards during that time span. There are concerns, because he only topped 100 yards twice and only scored 1 touchdown during that time. But his floor is still that of a low-end WR1 and there is no questioning his talent.
Quite simply, I am targeting all the Jordy Nelson owners to see if they are selling low. If I can get him for a couple of bench spots, I could find myself in a great position for the playoffs. And if Rodgers does end up playing again this season, I will have added a high-end WR1 for cheap. Of course, if Hundley turns out to be good, that is even better. That will mean his value could shoot up just by remaining on a solid offense. Finally, if I am right about the rest of the team being garbage, that means the Packers will be playing from behind a lot and that means garbage time yards. In short, Jordy Nelson is definitely a player worth having.
Then there is the question of Aaron Rodgers himself. Someone in your fantasy league is without a quarterback right now and they are definitely panicking. I am offering my quarterback in any type of package deal to try picking up an RB1 or WR1. A QB and an RB2/WR2 is definitely feasible. Send out feelers to the Rodgers owner and see who they like on your roster and what it would take to make a deal.
If you are the guy who owns Aaron Rodgers, don’t panic. It sucks losing your best player, but for the love of God, don’t trade away your only remaining good players. There is no fixing this mess. Nothing you get in return will match the production you would have received from Rodgers. Losing fantasy points from other starting positions will only compound the problem. You can still find some combination of Jared Goff, Tyrod Taylor and Carson Palmer on your waiver wire. Stream whatever quarterback you can until you are able to make a deal that doesn’t destroy your roster.
