Fantasy Football Trade Value Chart Week 9: Running Backs

RSJ’s Jackson Barrett created a value-based drafting Excel tool to create the preseason values for this Fantasy Football Trade Value Chart. The tool uses the FantasyPros consensus projections to assign values based on a 12-team, full PPR league.

Each week throughout the season, these values will be altered to reflect the player’s value for the rest of the season. Changes made to player’s value will be based on FantasyPros Rest of Season ECR, results from the season thus far, and The Wolf’s Rest of Season Rankings. But for the most part, the below values should generally reflect consensus rankings. The values provided also allow for comparing player values across positions, not just within one positional group.

For more information on how to make successful deals, check out our strategies for negotiating trades.

Be sure to tune back each week throughout the season. We’ll be adjusting the chart, discussing risers & fallers, and pinpointing trade targets.

The trade value chart for each position is linked below.

Fantasy Football Week 9 Trade Value Chart: Running Backs

Running Back Riser

After being declared a colossal bust and drop candidate through three weeks, D’Andre Swift has bounced back harder than anyone expected. He’s found the endzone and scored at least 18.9 fantasy points in four straight games.

Swift is getting it done in a variety of ways, creating plays on the ground and racking up receptions that drive his PPR value. The biggest difference since Week 3 has been Swift’s ability to create explosive plays, also known as gains of 15-plus yards. Swift didn’t have a single explosive play in the first three weeks but has multiple explosive plays in his last four contests.

Swift has been a legitimate playmaker for the Bears in the last month. He has also dominated the touches in Chicago’s backfield. He is firmly among the RB2 ranks for the rest of the year and is making a push for RB1 status.

Running Back Faller

As the weeks wear on, it’s beginning to look like the Chuba Hubbard RB1 experience was a mirage. The Carolina offense has taken a significant step back from the successes it had early on with Andy Dalton and Hubbard is sinking with the ship.

Nearly everything about the situation in Carolina points to Hubbard being irrelevant in fantasy down the stretch. The offense is struggling to sustain drives, Hubbard’s workload is shrinking due to the offensive regression, and the defense is creating game scripts that don’t exactly favor heavy usage for Hubbard.

With Bryce Young back under center and Jonathon Brooks returning soon, Hubbard is going to plummet to zero very soon. Hubbard still carries an RB11 rank so he might hold some weight in the trade market. Selling him for pennies on the dollar is a fine move.

Running Back Trade Target

During the preseason, the Minnesota coaching staff told us that they viewed Aaron Jones and Ty Chandler as two starting running backs. Through seven games, the Vikings have almost completely abandoned that plan. 

Week 8 was the Aaron Jones show in the Minnesota backfield. He played 92 percent of snaps and was the only running back that saw a carry or target. Things have been trending in that direction over the last month, but it was surprising to see Chandler be fully boxed out.

The neutral and trailing game script certainly played a role in Jones’ larger workload. It’s hard to imagine that Kevin O’Connell wants Jones out there for 90 percent of snaps every week. Still, Jones’ role is trending towards elite bell cow status.

If Jones’ role has him regularly playing 80-plus percent of snaps, he’ll be putting up high-end fantasy numbers fairly regularly. Following a day with 11.5 PPR points, a buying window is open for Jones.

Tier 1: The Elites

Tier 2: RB1 Options

Tier 3: RB2 Options

Tier 4: Matchup-Based Starters

Tier 5: Bench Assets and Handcuffs