Either your 2-QB fantasy football league’s trade deadline has passed, or you have one more week left to pull off a trade which will solidify your already playoff contending 2-QB team, or turn it from a playoff pretender into a playoff contender.
With that in mind, I wanted to take one last stab at producing a ‘Trading Places’ article to give you an idea of the types of trades you should consider making in your 2-QB league.
You’ve probably heard this before, but now’s the time to look into trading your depth, and acquiring a potential difference maker for your playoff run. One such way of doing that is by offering 2-for-1 trades, where you give up two decent players for one stud.
In a 2-QB league, the “1” you should consider targeting is a top of the line quarterback.
I did that exact type of trade in one of my 2-QB leagues, where I looked at the quarterback depth of my team, which consisted of Cam Newton/Colin Kaepernick/Mike Glennon, and knew I wanted to improve upon my Kaepernick/Glennon streaming QB2 combo.
I set my sights on teams that either had a weakness at quarterback or at a different position, or were a team outside the playoff bubble, looking for a shake-up which could improve their playoff chances.
There were also a few quarterbacks I had in mind I wanted to trade for, with Nick Foles and Robert Griffin III at the top of the list. I made an initial inquiry into RGIII’s availability, and while the owner was receptive, I felt I didn’t have enough to make a trade for him.
While Foles might not be a quarterback everybody trusts for the rest of the season, the fact of the matter is that he’s currently the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Head Coach Chip Kelly has no intentions to go back to Michael Vick, even if healthy, and Foles’ rest of season schedule is one to salivate over if you’re his owner.
This might come as a surprise if you’re not a Foles believer, but according to XN Sports compadre Rich Hribar, Foles has finished as a Top-6 fantasy quarterback in four out of his five starts this year. You can see Foles has consistently produced as a QB1, but still has his doubters.
With some doubting Foles, even some of his fantasy owners, it provides you the opportunity to trade for a QB1 at a discounted price, because some still view Foles as a flash in the pan. Take advantage of that thinking if you can.
Looking at the game tape shows Foles has been lucky on some of his throws, yet, he still leads the league in quarterback rating, with a 127.96 quarterback rating. While Foles might be “lucky” he’s still been really good.
The fantasy playoffs schedule for Foles might be his biggest selling point though.
A look ahead to the fantasy playoffs, and Foles faces the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, and Chicago Bears, in succession, from Week 14 to Week 16.
If we were to use the schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed tool from 4for4.com for the fantasy quarterback position, which removes schedule bias, Foles is projected to have the seventh easiest playoff schedule, with an average projected points per game of 17.6.
Hopefully, you can now see why I targeted Foles in trade talks.
Once I engaged the Foles owner about his availability in this particular 2-QB league, he approached me with a Foles/DeAndre Hopkins for Mike Glennon/Alshon Jeffrey proposal.
I’ve been hesitant to trade my top wide receivers in this league, because they’ve been the strength of my team, but knowing he had a WR3 weak spot, and Foles on a bye in Week 12, I countered with a Glennon+his choice of Michael Floyd or Aaron Dobson for Foles offer.
Dobson and Floyd are only bench pieces on my team, and the 2-for-1 offer would give him two good players to strengthen his team, while giving me a chance to land that stud second quarterback I was hoping to get. My trade partner would also have a bye week quarterback replacement for Foles. Foles being on bye in Week 12 gives you even more of a buy low opportunity, as owners like to trade players on their bye.
Eventually he settled on Dobson as his wide receiver of choice, and the deal was consummated. He won by getting two players he can start every week, while improving his WR3 slot, and I was able to get a second QB1 to team up with Newton for the playoff stretch run.
Accumulating depth throughout the season gives you the chance to then trade that depth once the season draws to a close, so that you can build a juggernaut of a team, and the hope is to land a fantasy stud quarterback. In 2-QB leagues, if you have two QB1 types, you’re going to have a good shot at competing, and if you can trade your depth to acquire a QB1, it’s a shot you have to take.
Even if you only have one QB1, it gives you a better shot at winning, compared to if you were only going with two QB2s. Of course, the team you surround your fantasy quarterbacks with will play a big part, but if you have a shot at trading for a stud QB1 in your 2-QB leagues, your playoff chances will increase.
Use the 2-for-1 offer in this article to brainstorm potential trade ideas in your 2-QB league, so that you can stock up for a playoff run. Good luck!
Stats used in this article from FantasyData.com, and 4for4.com
