Fantasy Football Headset 2020; What I’d Trade (DaFnBoys and McCaffinator)

[12 team league, 25 man rosters, 5 taxi spots, start 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 2Flex, 1DST, 1K]

It’s interesting that in this 12 team league there are pairs all the way up in how they should handle the season. Admittedly, this pairing got here in two different ways but face a tough choice of trading a top RB to go full rebuild or try and trade and push towards the playoffs.

McCaffinator’s team was built around Christian McCaffery and has been a playoff team with him and a few other solid players. The week’s right after the injury looked like an obvious tank season, but the team has leveled out and could make a run in to the playoffs if McCaffery comes back right, but that’s the tough choice…should he?

McCaffinator is set to go 3-2 and a big part of that is his WR position bouncing back. Adam Thielen, D.J. Moore (finally showing up), OBJ have been solid. Golden Tate and Sammy Watkins can be flex vets in a league where you can start up to five WR. That top three is why he has been able to weather the McCaffery injury.

Rookies Josh Kelly and Jerry Jeudy are big rookies that will be key to his team going forward. QB Gardner Minshew, while on a bad team, has been solid in filling out his lineup. However, keeping Ryan Tannehill and trading for Phillip Rivers and Jimmy Garoppolo have been whiffs at a position with very little value.

The running back position has been a weakness of this team, even with McCaffery and why there could be a lingering big decision. An offseason trade for Duke Johnson and Tarik Cohen, while not studs, could have provided enough coverage with CMC and the WR to be playoff team, but that hasn’t worked out. Tight ends Jack Doyle, Greg Olsen, Trey Burton and Cameron Brate has also been a big weakness.

That’s why this team could face the choice of trading CMC. It’s a bold choice but even with CMC the team has never even sniffed the championship game, let alone winning the chip. RB depth is a problem, though Kelly could give the team pause for the big move, Thielen is old and how much do you trust OBJ? QB is an easier position to fix but TE is a hole as well.

Even injured McCaffery is still worth a haul; a couple of young players and multiple high end picks. The move would also likely put Thielen on the block, possibly OBJ and put other fringe players on the block to really load up picks. Trading CMC would also fuel a push to a top pick for his own and allow him to add a lot of young players with Kelly and Jeudy to really build a strong core instead of one superstar and some solid pieces around it.

DaFnBoys faces a similar decision but got there by building up from a complete tear down. He’s set to be 2-3 and still a ways away. There have been some questionable moves in the draft but the team has collected some nice young pieces; Josh Jacobs, CeeDee Lamb, Michael Gallup, Zack Moss, Tyler Higbee, Tyler Johnson, Justin Herbert, Michael Pittman, Darius Slayton, T.J. Hockenson and Ronald Jones. There’s a lot there but still not a playoff team.

The problem is that’s basically the team. Mark Ingram, Dak Prescott, Teddy Bridgewater, Matt Stafford and Rob Gronkowski are really the only veterans of note, most of them at quarterback and none of them lifting your team. Even worse, Prescott is now out for the season with an uncertain future.

Now, DaFnBoys faces a similar choice as McCaffinator when it comes to a stud RB but has some more flexibility. Trading CMC is something to consider because of the rest of the make up of the team, but for DaFnBoys most of their team is young and it would be very reasonable to just continue to try and add more and more young players. Most of his core is on a similar time line, whereas McCaffinator has players on a much shorter timeline.

It is a tough pill to swallow to be the one moving a top player, especially because no one wants to be on the losing side of moving a stud, but you have to be honest about your team. If you’re constantly middle ground even with a superstar then it could make sense to tear it down to build a more complete team. This league saw Saquon Barkley get traded and, despite the injury, it looks like it might of been the right call for their team. If McCaffinator plays it right he quickly could have a young core with the haul he gets from the trade, but can he swallow making the move?