Week 7 CPP Rankings

This year has been filled with trades already, so this column isn't is vital as it has been in years past. But that doesn't mean it's not still fun to rip everyone else's roster apart and come up with fake trades that could be win-wins. Without further ado...

2013 FALAFEL Mock Trades

Mock Trade 1:
Esco receives Rob Gronkowski and Torrey Smith
Joseph receives Demaryius Thomas

Esco will likely be able to cruise to the playoffs, so his goal should be getting his roster as perfect as possible before that time. Jordan Cameron looked amazing for a couple of weeks, but Brian Hoyer isn't walking through that door. In his place, Brandon Weeden has struggled to get value out of Cameron or Josh Gordan, and I don't think anyone considers Cameron an every-week starter at TE anymore. It's nice being able to start two WR1's every week, but it might be worth balancing your roster to start an actual WR2 with what could be the #1 TE for the rest of the season.

Nick has rebounded somewhat after a miserable start, but he still lacks weekly consistency, especially at WR. With Jordan Reed's emergence in Washington, Gronk is actually expendable. The playoffs remain a long shot, but your lineup with DT and Reed looks better than it would with Torrey and Gronk. Will pride over spending $30+ on Gronk get in the way of improving your team?

Mock Trade 2:
Kumpf receives Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin, and Donnie Avery
BAM receives Pierre Garcon, Lamar Miller and Daniel Thomas

There is no question that outside of a potentially healthy Jimmy Graham, my team lacks consistent star power, especially at RB. BAM has a ton of star power at RB, but really nothing else other than Vernon. A trade like this would raise the ceiling of my team during weeks where my solid but not spectacular starters don't perform well, and it would give greater balance to a BAM team that can't assume its receivers will put up more than 5 points each.

Mock Trade 3:
Ajay receives Colin Kaepernick, Stevan Ridley and T.Y. Hilton
Gutman receives Reggie Bush, Dwayne Bowe and Terrelle Pryor

Ajay isn't out of it yet, but he still needs to dig out of his rough start. Complicating things is the fact that he is using three roster spots on QBs, another three on Denver RBs, and one more on an injured Randall Cobb. Roster flexibility is a premium in our league, and no one is at a bigger disadvantage there right now than our defending champ. Assuming the Philly QB situation works itself out soon, a Kaepernick and Eagles QB combo is more than enough to get the job done. And while the downgrade from Reggie to Ridley looks big based on current points, I'd wager that they end up similar for the rest of the season.

Gutman is on the up-and-up, but he's dealing with some mediocre starting RBs. Bush has been a no-doubt RB1 so far, and will slide in nicely next to Muscle Hamster and DMC. It will hurt to lose the big-game ability of Hilton, but buying low on Bowe might not be the worst thing. At first glance, I'm aware that this looks one-sided for Gutman, but Ajay's roster as presently constructed has roughly zero chance of making the playoffs.

Mock Trade 4:
Barnard receives Jacquizz Rodgers
Weissbard receives Greg Jennings

Bar none the least exciting Mock Trade goes to the two teams I dislike the most this year. Weissbard inexplicably gave up actual assets for Quizz right before Steven Jackson Steven was due back from injury. Only one team should value Rodgers, and that's Barnard. It's not too late to capitalize on this, because Jackson has been a royal pain in the ass in terms of his return from injury. Make up for your idiotic move last week by gaining some WR depth.

Barnard is essentially dealing with yet another lost season. He's like the Bucs of our league. Some middling success in prior years, a coach that literally everyone hates, some weird infections, and no real hope for a title in the near-term. Jennings wasn't a terrible draft pick at the time, but he certainly isn't going to start over Calvin or Wallace. Get yourself some actual Jackson insurance, and some penicillin.

Mock Trade 5:
Donnie receives Josh Gordon and Ben Tate
AGD receives Alfred Morris and Percy Harvin

Donnie is likely going to make the playoffs, but this past week wasn't a good sign for his franchise RBs. Foster getting yet another hamstring injury, and Morris losing 3 rushing TDs to Helu can't make the Don feel comfortable moving forward. Unfortunately for him, both of his handcuffs are owned by AGD, because of course they're into kinky shit like that. Assuming the Jacobs/Tolbert big man special is a usable RB2 combo while Foster is out, you can use Alf to upgrade your receivers and grab Tate. Once Foster is healthy, a Texans RB isn't terrible every week.

Pre-Foster injury, AGD would have likely had to give up Welker or Marshall to get Morris. But considering they could easily just plug Tate in as their RB2 right now, they should aim higher. A lineup with AP/Alf at RB, along with your stud receivers and either Rams RB X or Harvin at flex would look pretty unstoppable.

Mock Trade 6:
Alan receives Maurice Jones-Drew
Kimmel receives Danny Amendola

Neither of these teams is going anywhere this year, though Alan obviously has the better chance. And because he has the better chance, there is no way in hell he should be starting Leonard Hankerson or having an out-for-the-season Da'Rel Scott on his bench. MJD has been terrible this year, but he at least adds some respectability to a Masand team that, outside of trade-raping Barnard, has been a mess. Kimmel needs a miracle to make the playoffs, so he might as well go for the gold and hope that Amendola can return an put up 14-catch days in the fully healthy Pats offense. It can't get any worse than it already is.

Mock Trade 7:
Zacherman receives Bilal Powell and Roddy White
Bennett receives Andre Ellington and Rashard Mendenhall

Zacherman has subtly (for him) been making moves in the recent weeks, rattling off three straight wins before falling to Esco. After re-making his team, his only real weaknesses are choosing the correct Arizona RB to start, and figuring out his flex. This trade will at least give him the chance to choose between the correct Jets RB to start, and should solve his flex problem when Roddy gets on the field. These may be marginal improvements, but ones that could be the difference between making and missing the playoffs.

Bennett's two biggest issues this year have been injuries and the Bills. It has been impossible to choose between Spiller and Jackson on any given week, so you really have to hope that one of them gets hurt so the other will only have to split carries with Tashard Choice. This trade may look like it only complicates matters further, by giving you another RB duo on a shitty team to choose from, but it looks like Powell is no longer the no-doubt starter, so you need help. Best case, Spiller and Ellington emerge as legit starters, Vereen gets healthy and fills your flex, and other than QB, your team looks solid again.

Week 7 CPP Rankings
1. Esco - CPP: 244.15, Last Week: 3rd
2. Weissbard - CPP: 232.13, Last Week: 2nd
3. AGD - CPP: 214.09, Last Week: 1st
4. Kumpf - CPP: 210.03, Last Week: 4th
5. Gutman - CPP: 209.68, Last Week: 5th
6. BAM - CPP: 204.83, Last Week: 7th
7. Zacherman - CPP: 186.23, Last Week: 6th
8. Joseph - CPP: 185.61, Last Week: 9th
9. Kimmel - CPP: 183.60, Last Week: 10th
10. Ajay - CPP: 175.14, Last Week: 8th
11. Alan - CPP: 162.49, Last Week: 14th
12. Donnie - CPP: 154.32, Last Week: 12th
13. Bennett - CPP: 152.81, Last Week: 11th
14. Barnard - CPP: 150.23, Last Week: 13th

Trade Analysis 4

Weissbard Gets:

Anquan Boldin WR SF

Jacquizz Rodgers RB ATL

Pierre Thomas RB NO

Gutman Gets:

Vincent Jackson WR TB

Ajay Gets:

Julian Edelman WR NE

I’m going to treat this as one 3 way trade because it’s really about Weissbard giving up assets to get startable RBs

#HotSportsTake: Can Gutman actually win two trades in the same year?? Our favorite trade addict must be putting all that extra time of his to some use. Is one week of Jacquizz and Pierre really worth giving up those WRs for Weissbard?  Oh wait, Pierre is on bye this week? Hmmm…

Most Valuable Addition: I think Vincent Jackson is a top 15 receiver with potential to break the top 10 by the end of the season if Mike Glennon doesn’t completely fall apart. Everyone else in this trade ranges from reliable flex to desperation flex with my preference for the rest of the year being: Jackson, Edelman, Thomas, Boldin, and then Rodgers.

Potential Starters Gained: For this week Weissbard gets to insert Jacquizz in as a replacement for Sproles on his bye week. He also will have to decide between Pierre, Boldin, Rob Woods, Brian Hartline and Emmanuel Sanders for his WR2 and flex position for the rest of the year. This is only if you assume Larry Fitzgerald will be healthy enough to be his WR1 for the rest of the year which considering he has been questionable basically every week this season, is a little concerning...

Ajay would never have started Pierre over his three headed RB combo so losing him is no concern. Edelman becomes his best bye week replacement for his WRs and maybe even a starter over Bowe if the matchup fits.

Gutman gets an upgrade from Boldin to Vjax every week and successfully sells high on Jacquizz right before his value disappears.

Ajay Trade Grade: Our defending champion gets a much needed boost to his receiving corps after Randall Cobb fractures his fibula, Pierre was being wasted on his bench this is a no brainer. Overall Trade Grade: A

Gutman Trade Grade: I really like this trade for Gutman which I can’t really believe I’m saying twice in one year. Vjax automatically becomes his WR1 and so he has a solid trio of wide receivers between Steve Smith, TY Hilton and Jackson. I don’t see Boldin or Rodgers as a starting caliber player over anyone on his current roster for the rest of the season so I see no concern in dealing them. And once McFadden gets off his bye he also can be rotated into the RB and flex positions based on matchups and bye weeks. Overall Trade Grade: A

Weissbard Trade Grade:  Considering the other two members involved in this trade got As, you can assume this doesn’t bode well for Daniel. The Edelman/Thomas trade makes sense except for the fact this week is your week of greatest RB need and Thomas is on bye. Also now you have both starting Saints RBs to decide between for the rest of the year. They have yet to have a week where both of them succeeded at the same time so do you start them both and hope for the best or just guess each week on who is going to score the touchdowns? At least in terms of value though, this trade is very even: Weissbard/Ajay Trade Grade: B-

The trade with Gutman is far more concerning. While this one makes far more sense in the short term because you can start Jacquizz and Boldin right away this doesn’t really excite me in the long term. Jason Snelling is now predicted to play this week for the Falcons so Jacquizz won’t be getting any red zone carries and once Steven Jackson comes back next week (or maybe even this week) Jacquizz becomes at best a handcuff. So really this comes down to who do you like more over the course of the year Vincent Jackson or Anquan Boldin. And it’s not even close, Jackson is the better choice. Since his Week 1 explosion Anquan has averaged only 5.5 points per week and he still has his bye coming up in week 9  while Vincent is already past his bye week and appears to be healthy after an early season rib injury slowed him down. Weissbard/Gutman Trade Grade: C-

Overall Trade Grade: C

Week 6 CPP Rankings

First off, I want to thank Joseph for stepping in last week and putting together the quintessential Joseph rankings. I don't think there was one positive statement in there for any team, including his own.

I'm going to continue down the road to Negative Town this week, because as I went through each team this week while compiling the CPP, I noticed something disturbing. Every team has at least one player that has no business being rostered, even in our league. So I will be calling out those players in this week's rankings, as both a way to keep things short, and as a way to build excitement towards next week's Annual Mock Trade column.

Note that this was done on Tuesday, so today's moves were not considered.

Week 6 CPP Rankings:

1. AGD - CPP: 220.28, Last Week - 3rd
Rod Streater. You already have Marshall, Welker, Tampa Mike and the wildly FALAFEL overpaid Eddie Royal. Your roster is absurdly stacked and I consider you the Stevens Bowl favorite since Zac Stacy's emergence, but you are still wasting a roster spot.

2. Weissbard - CPP: 212.17, Last Week - 4th
Mike Goodson. I badly wanted to say Lance Dunbar, as the Joseph Randle Bidding War will live in infamy, but it's gotta be Goodson here. You realize he is the third string RB on the Jets right? Well he was, before he got hurt, which mercifully prompted you to drop him.

3. Esco - CPP: 210.90, Last Week - 1st
Sean McGrath. Honestly, I thought I went to high school with this guy. He sounds like he owns a hardware store in upstate New York, and should not be owned by any NFL team, let alone a fantasy team that gave up Garcon to get Jordan Cameron.

4. Kumpf - CPP: 209.83, Last Week - 2nd
Toby Gerhart. I can't lie, I picked him up solely because I thought AP was going to sit out and mourn the death of his son. And I feel like shit about it. I don't want to talk about this anymore.

5. Gutman - CPP: 183.44, Last Week - 7th
Jerome Simpson. It easily could have been Jeff Demps because, who? But handcuffs are more valuable in our league than most, just ask Weissbard, so it has to be the 4th target in the Christian Ponder/Matt Cassel/Josh Freeman led offense.

6. Zacherman - CPP: 183.12, Last Week - 10th
Matt Bryant. God dammit, a two-kicker team? Bryant is currently 24th in points scored among kickers, and while he might get more chances with Julio out, is he really worth holding onto during his bye? Your pledge class makes some confusing choices with their kickers.

7. BAM - CPP: 179.58, Last Week - 9th
Ted Ginn Jr. No. Just No.

8. Ajay - CPP: 171.57, Last Week - 5th
Justin Tucker. As much as it pains me to say it, I have a lot of respect for you as a fantasy athlete. Having said that, there is absolutely no reason to ever even consider owning two kickers, even if it is just for one week. Did you really think anyone else was going to pick up Tucker on his bye if you dropped him? You know better than that.

9. Joseph - CPP: 160.48, Last Week - 8th
Brian Robiskie. You probably have the best-worst-rostered player in the league, so congrats for that I guess. But Atlanta's offense is about to get really shitty, and I want no part of it. What's that? Matty Ice is my QB? Perfect.

10. Kimmel - CPP: 160.24, Last Week - 14th
Andrew Kimmel. Clearly the biggest issue with this team is its owner. I look at this roster, pre- and post-trade, and I don't see 0-6. If its not the players, its the coach. I'm not saying you should kill yourself, or even quit the league, but...well maybe I am saying those things.

11. Bennett - CPP: 156.69, Last Week - 6th
Felix Jones. When he is was 100% healthy on a solid Dallas offense, he was still un-startable. Now he's perpetually banged up on a terrible Pittsburgh offense. Get rid of him.

12. Donnie - CPP: 154.46, Last Week - 13th
Santana Moss. Another solid roster, and outside of a recently suspended Kellen Winslow, Santana has the least value here. I have to give you credit Don, your team lucked its way into a few wins to start the year, but those are in the books, and your team looks decent now. When Percy gets back, this team could have a hint of the 2010 Stevens Bowl Champion in it.

13. Barnard - CPP: 144.52, Last Week - 11th
Pats D/ST. Your consistent ownership of Michael Turner may have spurred this column idea, but your refusal to drop the 17th best fantasy defense is right in line with that. Granted the Pats get to face Geno this week, but I think you could have spared $5 of your $150 FAAB dollars to get them back. Without Wilfork, Talib and Mayo, they may not even be worth starting in Week 7.

14. Alan - CPP: 137.47, Last Week - 12th
Knile Davis. Your waiver wire moves have been baffling this year. Not asking for Leonard Hankerson in the trade with Barnard, followed by bidding $10 for him the following week. Dropping Stephen Hill for no reason, then losing him in free agency when he had value. Keeping an empty roster spot on your team for a week. But overall, you have some useful guys on your roster at this point. Davis has value as a handcuff to Jamaal Charles, but you don't own Charles. So you must just be hoping that he gets hurt.

Alan Masand

im hoping something happens to jamaal charles

MACH

Week 5 CPP Rankings

This week we get our first set of guest rankings, brought to you by none other than our Commish. They have been edited for formatting, but not for spelling, capitalization, or grammer. Obviously:

1. Esco - CPP: 211.25, Last Week: 1st

How dare you give me a B in that trade with zball. Ray ray is a champ and will lead the dingleberry nation back from the dead. More on that later. Your teams not that good and you’ve been getting lucky. Your luck finally caught up with you this week and I predict more losses to come especially in week 9. No idea how you lost and your cpp shit went up. Probably because these rankings are retarded. And I heard you’re a premature ejaculator. If I was a fruitcake who communicated in gifs I’d post one of a Mexican eating a bag of dicks. You’ll all just have to use your imagination.

2. Kumpf - CPP: 207.98, Last Week: 2^nd

Guess how much I care about whether you think I could do better naming my division? About as much as I care about some dumbass 4-way trade. You need to not be starting benny agbayani’s cousin chris. Ill give you Donald brown for cecil. And I’ll throw in 2 wings (not drumsticks) at winter meetings. Come on bro. your team is pretty solid actually, relatively balanced. If cj2k wasn’t such an enormous pussy you’d be better. You’re pretty weak at rb, but I guess so are most people in this league. Big matchup against weezlebeezle this week, if you can pick up the W with natty ice and lamar on byes you’ll be in good shape going forward.

3. AGD - CPP: 205.25, Last Week: 3^rd

After numerous rounds of trade talks with ding-tap broke down last week, you got a nice victory over the worst franchise in falafel history. Solid waiver pickup with Stacey. Good luck figuring out who to start between him and Richardson for the rest of the year. I feel like you guys might be the team whose managers weigh the least in the league even though theres two of you. Did we ever decide to take you guys off probation?

4. Weissbard - CPP: 186.48, Last Week: 5^th

Your team is actually pretty good, and usually you are pretty bad at fantasy football. You should stop being such a bitch and sending out general requests that people offer you trades and man up and trade for a decent rb. You’re gonna have to overpay, just fucking do it. Try kimmel hes handing out RBs like they’re jujubes. This might sound cray but you might wanna trade peyton. His stock will never be higher and you could get a package of gold for him right now. If only your roster and your general persona lived up to your amazing team name. ya slapdick.

5. Ajay - CPP: 161.68, Last Week: 4^th

I still can’t believe how fucked up you were when I found you on the street that night. I want to meet the kids who made you rip shots and then left you alone too plastered to get in a cab and/or stem the steady flow of fecal leakage. I feel like I’d get along with them. Your team is decent but you’re still brown. At least you’re not muffin. Also sick lineup decisions last week dumbass.

6. Bennett - CPP: 159.76, Last Week: 6^th

If I finish with a worse record than you I might kill myself. Can’t believe you lost to Donnie who might be the worst 4-1 team in fantasy history. Im really gonna fuck your life up when I go down to tampa in march. My goal is to get you at least evicted and maybe stabbed. I wish you participated on the listserv more so I had more opportunities to laugh at you, but I understand why you choose not to given your profound lack of wit or valuable insight. Cathy told me you have the tiniest dick shes ever seen. Did you know bilal powell hails from the village where they shot “the air up there”? true story. Your team really sucks a fat dick and will likely drop precipitously in the standings, so enjoy being over .500 and relevant while it lasts. I’m on to you weatherman.

7. Gutman - CPP: 155.91, Last Week: 12^th

God I was so happy to see ridley be inactive after I traded him to you. It’s really a special kind of feeling. Cant be easily simulated outside of the fantasy context. I guess if you’re banging a chick and drop her and your buddy starts hitting it and she gains 60 pounds that would be close, but I feel like this is better. Don’t even care if that trade turns out in your favor, the joy I got from ridley being out makes it worthwhile. I will say however that the fact that you would have beaten me with just your TE, flex, d/st and kicker mitigates my joy significantly. If rivers comes down with syphilis after playing in Oakland it will be like chanukah came early. Loser of your/barnards matchup this week is probably done.

8. Joseph - CPP: 155.73, Last Week: 9^th

I don’t care if I’m 1-4, I’m about to rape all of you. After an admittedly subpar draft effort where I actually forgot to bid on WRs and literally spent half my budget on RGIII, ahmad and ridley, I basically turned over my entire lineup last week and I think I’m ready to dominate. Espn agrees as im favored by 37.8 against the “4-1” Donnie. I basically need to go 7-1 though, so I’m on extremely thin ice. If I somehow sneak into the playoffs though you’re all fucked. The fantasy gods continued to torture me last week, dangling an undeserved victory in front of me against black nutz and then snatching it away in the form of schaub having one of the worst fantasy performances I’ve witnessed. crazy shit can always happen when you’re playing against the luckiest bastard in falafel history, but I feel confident going into this matchup with my revamped lineup.

9. BAM - CPP: 150.72, Last Week: 7^th

You guys are almost as lucky as Donnie to be 4-1. Looking at your lineup it seems like it should be one of the better teams in the league, but its just been under achieving. I have to be honest, I’m rooting against you guys all year because I’d rather see you two dress up like women than reap/belfer, especially since it would be only a mild deviation from normal for reap. Your RBs are dirty and you have better depth than most, I’d say if you could trade for an upgrade at QB without giving up one of your two starting RBs you’d be a real contender. However, given how unintelligible your responses were to my trade overtures recently, I’d tend to doubt your ability to do so. Marshall please stay active on the listserv, your emails are one of only a handful of things related to fantasy or real football that aren’t a source of misery for me these days.

10. Zacherman - CPP: 148.88, Last Week: 11^th

boy did I feel better about our trade after everyone’s performance this past week. Although I kind of wish I hadn’t thrown in harry douglas now that julios dead. Just the fact that I didn’t have to wait until yesterday at noon to see schaub removed from my team made it worthwhile. I think it helped both of us though, jamal is a straight up g and you have the depth to take the hit at WR. By the way, can we can an update on kimmel (the real kimmel)? I’m assuming you’re still in contact with your former butt buddy. Is he alive? Does he have any thoughts or feelings on being unceremoniously booted for steve Levine? Also I think if you lose to new kimmel this week you should be kicked out of the league.

11. Barnard - CPP: 147.21, Last Week: 8^th

You really need to stop writing those stupid fucking awards emails. I never knew someone could try so hard to be funny and still fail so miserably. I have about as much respect for you as the average dude in the espn cafeteria has for john brenkus. To make matters worse your current lineup has replaced mine as the biggest abomination in the league, and you definitely have the smallest dick in the league. god you’re annoying. On the plus side I’ve thoroughly enjoyed our lack of gchat interaction recently, lets keep that going.

12. Alan - CPP: 130.07, Last Week: 10^th

Glad to see you filled out your last roster spot muff. However, the fact that you have totally neglected to make a team name is really a slap in the face to the rest of the league, especially those of us who have gone to the trouble to even upload a team picture (me, Donnie and the gay twins; I don’t count gutman and zball because theirs are lame). Even Bennett made some incredibly dumb team name to remind us how much of an idiot he is, you cant do your part? I know you’re all hot shit now because you’re dating chicks and living in an apartment and trying to get people to call you alan and everything, but how about throwing us little people a bone once in a while. At least you paid $30 to pick up a dude that no one else bid on, so that was pretty amusing. You might not win another game.

13. Donnie - CPP: 129.05, Last Week: 13^th

You motherfucker. How the fuck do you do it? I don’t know how this cpp works but all I know is you have the 4^th fewest points in the league and are tied for the league’s best record. Looks like your luck may have run out though with Julio going down. I was going to make fun of you for bidding $77 on keenan allen, but then I saw your other WRs and now I get it. Sidebet proposal: loser this week has to nair their nutsack on video and send it to barnard.

14. Kimmel - CPP: 126.22, Last Week: 14th

Get your shit together dude. This could end up being the shortest stint ever in falafel, even chris long made it through a couple seasons before he got booted. When I look at your lineup I have to wonder who you used all your draft dollars on, especially since I remember you got deangelo for like 3 cents. Must really suck for you living with esco on Sundays given how vastly inferior you are to him in fantasy, and must really suck living with amir any day. I feel for you bro.

Trade Analysis 3

Nick Gets:

Ray Rice RB BAL

Bernard Pierce RB BAL

Steve Johnson WR BUF

Hakeem Nicks WR NYG

Zacherman Gets:

Matt Schaub QB HOU

Jamaal Charles RB KC

Scott Chandler TE BUF

Harry Douglas WR ATL

#HotSportsTake: Zacherman gives up three startable players plus a strong handcuff for a top 3 RB and spare parts. I think the price was a little high and now depth becomes an issue but at least you know exactly who your starting lineup is every week. As for Nick this trade makes perfect sense, you desperately need a complete roster and now you get three starters for the price of one even if all of them come with considerable question marks.

Reaction Gif

Most Valuable Addition: Without question this is Charles. Along with AP and McCoy he is a top 3 running back this year and I think you could make the case he will probably be the highest scorer for the rest of the year. Because AP is so dependent on long runs for his high point totals if he doesn’t break many more 60+ yarders Jamaal is likely to pass him by. Also why doesn’t he have a nickname? Doug Martin gets Muscle Hamster as a rookie and Jamaal can’t get one at 25 after multiple Pro-Bowl seasons and a college career at UT? Someone needs to work on this.

Potential Starters Gained: Zacherman only gains Charles as a starting player and any situation where is has to put any of the other three players into the starting lineup is a scary one.

Nick will probably be starting Ray, Hakeem and Stevie every week from here on out. Doug Baldwin is definitely worth consideration for that flex spot but at the very least Nick gets at least one RB and a WR every week for Charles.

Nijo Trade Grade: You needed to sell off your team for parts if you want any hope of making the playoffs and you clearly have done that with the Ridley move and now this. We will see next week if it pays off with Bell back from bye and this trade going through on Tuesday. My fear with this trade if every part you picked up has serious red flags. Ray Rice finally broke out this weekend but he has barely been on the field over 50% of the time for the year and is no longer the stud he once was. You are going to have to start him every week that he’s healthy but my guess is Pierce will continue to get 10-15 touches every game and the Ravens just aren’t good enough to assume you can get multiple touchdown games from Rice very often. Hakeem is an injury risk and has already gotten a little banged up earlier this year and the odds of him making it through every game this year are basically zero percent. Since he entered the league in 2009 he has played in 14, 13, 15, and 13 games so pencil him in for about two missed games at some point this year. Stevie is going to have a rookie from Duke throwing the ball to him this Sunday. When EJ Manuel gets back in a few weeks hopefully he will return to WR2 value but until then it’s going to be pretty rough in Buffalo. Just like your last trade this was a move you had to make and while I don’t think you robbed Zacherman like you did to Gutman I think this is good value for Charles who could end up being the 2013 Fantasy MVP.

Overall Trade Grade: B

Zball Trade Grade: Zacherman has pretty much set his RB/WR/Flex lineup for the rest of the year, Jamaal Charles and Andre Ellington at RB and Eric Decker, Justin Blackmon and DeAndre Hopkins at WR/Flex. That is a fine lineup and with Julius Thomas and Brees at TE and QB you definitely have potential to put up big points every week. The only concern is what happens on bye weeks. Without flex worthy players like Stevie and Hakeem in the mix Harry Douglas becomes your best play off the bench and being forced to put in any of your backup RBs on your current roster is going to be very depressing. This is great news for Gutman who plays you in week 9 when you will have Justin Blackmon, Eric Decker, Julius Thomas, Andre Ellington and Rashard Mendenhall on bye. I will be very impressed if you break 60 that week. So basically you are giving up week 9 and potentially week 10 (Charles and Chris Ivory bye week) for a strong lineup the rest of the year. I’m still concerned about the lack of depth but this move definitely makes you one of the stronger teams when you can put your full starting roster in the lineup

Overall Trade Grade: B+