Roasted: Terrible Trades Featuring the Russell Wilson Overpay
Image By: Thomas Tipple
Hey everyone! Hopefully, you didn’t forget about me. It’s been a few weeks since I graced your presence with some terrible fantasy football trades. Life has been busy. Dinner doesn’t make itself around here.
Trade offers seemed to slow quite a bit in the doldrums between the end of the free-agency madness and the NFL Draft. Most of the movement was picks for picks, and that’s hard to roast if we’re being fair. However, now that we are through the draft and have landing spots for these rookies, the trade exchange is back open for business and as awful as ever!
To quote the great Josh Fewster of Front Yard Fantasy, “Trading makes fantasy fun!” but only if you don’t embarrass yourself and your entire bloodline by making bad ones.
Trigger warning: The trade you are about to see may cause involuntary anger, outrage, crying, screaming, loss of appetite, vomiting, and deep questioning of humanity on a visceral level. Read on at your own peril.
Where do I even start here? Wow. The trade we are discussing isn’t as bad as my first trade roasting, but it’s pretty close. I must have missed the part where Russell Wilson was going to break fantasy in 2022. Someone believed Wilson was going to do so well, they sent the bag to acquire him.
Check this out:
Jonathan Taylor and your choice of Garrett Wilson, James Cook, Drake London, or maybe even Kenneth Walker went for Wilson and two late-round rookie picks. Now I know what you’re thinking. “It’s bad, but I’ve seen worse. Maybe he desperately needed a quarterback in his superflex league and he has plenty of depth at running back.”
Sure. Except it was a single quarterback league.
It’s like some people don't even understand the idea of calculating value. Have they even heard of trade calculators? While they shouldn’t be your sole method of deciding whether or not trades are terrible, at least like, give it a look? (Look at that! Free fantasy advice, and he’s funny!)
Terrible Trades Side One (The Offeror)
As I alluded to in the last article, don’t insult your leaguemates with a terrible offer. If you keep throwing stinkers in your leagues, word gets around, and you’ll soon be unable to make moves outside the waiver wire. Don’t be that manager. But also don’t send them the farm.
The first and most egregious part of this offer is pretty evident. Why in the world would anyone be interested in trading away Taylor? This man just had one of the most convincing RB1 seasons in recent memory from a player not named Christian McCaffrey. Taylor is 23 years old, heading into his third NFL season. He finished 2020 as the RB6 despite many talking heads screaming about his misusage all season long. 2021 saw him blow up with no signs he’s anywhere near stopping.
Then, you “throw in” that rookie 1.04 pick to make matters worse? When we get to this offseason point, there is a pretty good idea of where players will go in rookie drafts. For 2022, the fourth pick is likely a high-end wide receiver or a solid running back; think Kenneth Walker, or maybe Treylon Burks depending on your league.
Of course, The offeree wants Taylor and the 1.04 pick in the 2022 rookie draft. Not one fantasy football manager on Earth wouldn’t look at that side and want to get a deal done for it.
Suppose I’m the manager trying to acquire him and the pick. In that case, I’m starting with my 2022 first-round rookie pick, a 2023 first-rounder, and probably another solid veteran running back along, such as Austin Ekeler just to get the conversation going. Not this manager. Oh no. He woke up and chose violence (or stupidity pending how you view it).
Terrible Trades Side Two (The Offeree)
Let’s break down the comparisons into two sections: the players and the picks.
Wilson is a great quarterback, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who would argue otherwise. His QB16 finish in 2021 on a lackluster Seattle team that wasn’t anywhere near competing, while also his breaking his hand and missing three games was impressive. His value is on the rise, but does it equal what JT could do long-term? Not even close. Wilson would need to finish as the overall QB1 or higher the next 8-plus seasons to match Taylor’s potential RB1 output for the next three to five seasons.
Don’t forget; it's a single quarterback league.
Now, let’s look at those picks. With an early first-rounder, the potential is a future top-tier fantasy asset at their respective position as we mentioned above. Can two very late-round selections match the value in exchange?
The short answer is no. The long answer is absolutely not even close. What were you even thinking? Do you watch football? At best, you might get someone with the fourth-round pick who will fill a need on a bye week or maybe get lucky with an Elijah Mitchell. However, players in late rounds of rookie drafts rarely achieve success. They will likely sit on your taxi squad until a better player comes along and you drop them. The fifth-round pick? Unless this is an Individual Defensive Player format league, it’s curious you’d even have a fifth-round. It’s like having a sixth finger. Useless.
The Bottom Line
The trade is an egregious, one-sided trade offer. I'd be offended if I saw this in my Sleeper inbox. I want Taylor rostered. Everybody wants to have him rostered. If you're trying to acquire him, be ready to spend up. Most fantasy managers are savvy enough to know a good offer when they see one and ignore bad ones when they come across the wire.
Be fair, be honest, and maybe you can get a conversation started that ends in a beneficial trade for both sides. Use trade calculators to get an idea of a ballpark offer that will get you close rather than angering your league mates and putting yourself out on a no-trades-allowed island all alone.
Do you have a bad trade you want me to roast? Send it over to me via Twitter @NatePolvogt or email natepolvogt@gmail.com!
