11Alive Sports offers up five fantasy dynamos who represent stealth acquisition targets before your fantasy's league's trade deadline.
We're talking about five solid, yet still-attainable starters during the fantasy season, all of whom have good-to-excellent schedules for the crunch-time period of Weeks 10-16.
Why now?
There are no universal trade deadlines in fantasy football. For every league that has a trade deadline next week ... there are countless others which expire just seconds before the opening kickoff on Thanksgiving Day. (Or maybe into December.)
So, let's get cracking early. This marks the time to maximize your value within the starting lineup, while steadily shedding productive assets from the bench.
After all, bench points mean jack squat during the fantasy playoffs.
Also, if you're currently harboring a pair of top-five quarterbacks on the roster, don't waste your time with a platoon system.
Pick one with the better schedule/greater upside ... and then trade the other—along with other bench assets—for one last missing piece at tailback or wide receiver.
Consolidate, consolidate!
QB BEN ROETHLISBERGER, STEELERS
REASONS TO COVET
1. The Steelers, Chiefs and Packers are the only three teams averaging 300 yards passing and 100 rushing yards this season.
2. Receivers Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster each boast top-15 rankings with catches and targets, despite logging only seven games to date.
3. Roethlisberger promises to be a must-start for Weeks 13-16, with the Steelers encountering the Chargers, Raiders, Patriots and Saints during the fantasy playoffs.
4. Here's the killer stat of the day: Of his 11 last home games during the months of November and December, Big Ben owns absurd averages of 352 yards passing and 2.9 touchdowns.
Wow!
NOTE: Roethlisberger carried yours truly to two fantasy titles last season.
RB TEVIN COLEMAN, FALCONS
REASONS TO COVET
1. Coleman (447 total yards, 4 TDs) should remain the Falcons' primary back for another 4-6 weeks; and if Atlanta has no chance of making the playoffs come mid-December, club officials would likely shelve Devonta Freeman (in-season injured reserve) until next year.
2. Only two NFL defenses (Browns, Cardinals) have surrendered double-digit rushing touchdowns to opposing tailbacks; and the Falcons will see both teams very soon (Weeks 10 and 15).
3. At home this year, Coleman has reached 100 total yards and/or one touchdown four times.
4. Since Week 2, Coleman possesses a superb catch-to-target rate of 88 percent.
5. Given his modest stats, Coleman represents a great Trojan Horse asset during trade talks.
What's a Trojan Horse?
When negotiating a complicated deal involving one bankable fantasy asset, be sure to play up Coleman as a casual throw-in piece for this blockbuster trade—even if you have no genuine interest in going the distance.
Once the trade falls through, allowing time for cooler heads to prevail, then circle back with Owner B and begin less-intense discussions about a simple 1-for-1 swap involving Coleman, with your team likely surrendering a WR3.
WR MICHAEL CRABTREE, RAVENS
REASONS TO COVET
1. From Weeks 2-7, Crabtree was a perfect 6 for 6 in collecting eight-plus targets.
2. Crabtree might rank 10th with receiving targets, but he'll still be a reasonable buy-low option down the stretch.
Why is that?
Crabtree has yet to post a single outing of eight catches, 100 yards receiving or multiple touchdowns ... meaning he's (hopefully) due for a breakout.
3. Speaking of which, Crabtree has enjoyed at least one game of multiple TDs over the previous three seasons.
4. You couldn't have hand-picked a more attractive fantasy-playoff schedule for Crabtree and the Ravens.
From Weeks 13, 17, it's the Raiders (fresh off Thursday's implosion vs. the 49ers), Falcons (11 TDs allowed to opposing receivers in just seven games), Chiefs (bottom-7 rankings with catches, targets, receiving yards allowed to opposing wideouts), Buccaneers (the NFL's worst passing defense, hands down) and Chargers.
The Chargers have been decent against opposing wideouts, but this late-December tilt will be in Los Angeles; and we're presuming immaculate weather for Dec. 22.
5. By extension, QB Joe Flacco merits an endorsement for the trade deadline. In fact, if he's currently your QB2 ... it might be fun to trade the QB1 in the next week or so, since Flacco would be a top-10 passing asset during the fantasy playoffs.
RB DAVID JOHNSON, CARDINALS
REASONS TO COVET
1. Johnson (601 total yards, 1 TD) has flown under the radar this season, due to the Cardinals' crummy play; and while he's been successful in pockets, the production hardly justifies a top-five draft pick from August.
Especially when these same fantasy GMs could have had Ezekiel Elliott, Kareem Hunt, Melvin Gordon or Alvin Kamara on Draft Night.
Put it all together, and your chances of netting Johnson at a reasonable trade rate are substantially higher than 3-4 weeks ago.
(Arizona's offense can be maddeningly inconsistent.)
2. The schedule for Weeks 10-15 has seemingly been paved in gold, with outings against the Chiefs (bottom-5 rankings with catches, receptions, receiving yards allowed to opposing tailbacks), Raiders (bottom-5 rankings with rushing yards/rushing TDs allowed), Lions (NFL's worst rush defense) and Falcons (league's worst defense against receiving tailbacks).
3. The Cardinals offense might be a work-in-progress (with rookie QB Josh Rosen), but Johnson has still averaged 21.4 touches over the last five games.
TE JACK DOYLE, COLTS
REASONS TO COVET
1. Let's start with the obvious: Colts QB Andrew Luck has been on fire of late, averaging 305 yards passing and 3.6 touchdowns over his last five outings.
2. Doyle enjoyed a stellar return from injury last week, rolling for six catches, seven targets, 70 yards and one touchdown versus the Raiders.
3. There are no bad-weather concerns for the next seven games on the Colts schedule: Five at Lucas Oil Stadium ... and temperate trips to Jacksonville and Houston.
4. With Indy's running game suddenly clicking into high gear (we warned you about Marlon Mack during the preseason), the Colts' two-tight-end look of Doyle and Eric Ebron should be terrific down the stretch.
And with the aforementioned Luck ... there are minimal worries about Doyle collecting enough targets.
5. As such, looking ahead, Doyle could be a top-5 tight end for Week 12 (vs. Dolphins), Week 14 (@ Texans) and the all-important Week 16 (vs. Giants).
