Fantasy Football Trade Value Chart Week 13: 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 13 Trade Value Chart: Running Backs

Running Back Riser

It wouldn’t feel right to talk about anyone other than Bucky Irving in this spot. Last week, Irving dominated the Giants on the ground and through the air on his way to the best game of his young career. Irving’s 151 yards from scrimmage and 27.1 PPR points were both career-high marks.

While Irving’s overall production was great, his role within the offense is what is driving his climb up the rankings. For the first time all season, Irving played more snaps and ran more routes than his backfield complement, Rachaad White. Considering the value of targets for running backs, Irving seeing a bump to his route participation is very encouraging.

It must be noted that this game had an incredibly lopsided game script. The Buccaneers were winning 23-0 by halftime and this was never really a competitive game. So it’s not safe to completely latch onto these backfield splits and assume they’ll carry over to next week. All things considered, this performance was still incredibly bullish for Irving’s future outlook.

Running Back Faller

On the other side of the spectrum, Rhamondre Stevenson saw his role dramatically shrink last week. In recent weeks, Stevenson had consistently played 70 percent of the snaps and was not game-script sensitive in any capacity. Things completely changed for Stevenson last week.

In a blowout to the Dolphins, Stevenson’s snap share fell to 40 percent and he was out-snapped by Antonio Gibson. It was the first time all season that Gibson played more than 40 percent of snaps in a game that Stevenson was healthy.

Most importantly, Gibson was eating into Stevenson’s workload. Stevenson saw 10 opportunities compared to eight for Gibson. This was the first time in over a month that Stevenson received fewer than 15 opportunities, a pretty steep fall-off.

It seems that head coach Jerod Mayo is fed up with Stevenson’s inefficiency on the ground. Stevenson has failed to hit 4.0 yards per carry in six straight games, coming in below 3.0 YPC in three of those contests. While the offensive line plays a large role in this, it’s not shocking to see Mayo looking for production elsewhere.

Running Back Trade Target

Bucky Irving was our riser and he’s also going to be featured as our trade target. If you’re making trades at this point in the season, you’re likely gearing up for a playoff push. Irving is one of those running backs that can push your team over the edge in a championship run.

The Buccaneers have arguably the easiest schedule for running backs during the fantasy playoffs. If you’ve locked up a Round 1 bye, it’s undoubtedly the easiest possible schedule. The Buccaneers play the Chargers in Week 15, followed by the Cowboys and Panthers to close out the fantasy season.

Dallas and Carolina are what we call premium matchups. Both are top five matchups in terms of fantasy points allowed to the position and rank at the bottom of the barrel in most rushing efficiency metrics. We’re talking about the No. 32 and  No. 29 defenses in EPA allowed per rush. If you have Irving on your roster and make it to Week 16, you should be absolutely thrilled.

Tier 1: The Elites

Tier 2: RB1 Options

Tier 3: RB2 Options

Tier 4: Matchup-Based Starters

Tier 5: Bench Assets and Handcuffs