Top Dynasty Fantasy Football Trade Targets Before Week 1
Jonathan Fuller shares his top trade targets in dynasty fantasy football heading into the start of the NFL season.
We are in a tricky part of the fantasy football calendar for dynasty leagues. Rookie drafts have been over for a while, and most fantasy managers are consumed with their redraft leagues in the final weeks leading up to the season. This is unavoidable, but it does create an opportunity for you to make some last-minute deals while your leaguemates aren't in full dynasty mode like they were earlier in the offseason.
You probably aren't getting as many inbound trade requests these days, so if you want to get a deal done, you will have to be proactive in sending out offers and contacting managers to keep negotiations moving.
The players I've identified for this article have breakout potential in 2025, but aren't rookies or proven superstars. Most fantasy managers are still too attached to their rookie draft selections to be able to trade for them at a discount. Similarly, when fantasy managers are looking at their starting lineups heading into the season, it is going to be difficult to get them to part with their best players.
Joshua Palmer - WR, Buffalo Bills
Joshua Palmer has been a reasonably productive NFL player, but he has never had a breakout season for fantasy football for two reasons: route volume and touchdowns. He has topped 400 routes in the regular season just once, spiking up over 600 routes in 2022. He fell back down to 342 routes in 2023 and 392 in 2024, both of which ranked outside the top 50 for routes run among WRs.
What I find encouraging is that Palmer has gotten more efficient on a per-route basis, with his two best TPRR and YPRR seasons being 2023 and 2024. Unfortunately, his TD totals have declined every season, from four as a rookie down to just one last season.
He has always played alongside at least one target-dominant WR, Keenan Allen and most recently Ladd McConkey. As a clear supporting cast member, he has hovered between 15% - 18% targets per route run. Now in Buffalo, Palmer has a chance to establish himself as one of the primary pass catchers.
The Bills have a lot of receiving options, but none of them have separated from the pack to be Josh Allen's go-to guy. Buffalo certainly hoped one of Dalton Kincaid or Keon Coleman would be that guy, but they haven't been so far.
Khalil Shakir enters the season as Buffalo's top option, but he is limited as a smaller receiver who primarily plays out of the slot. If Coleman and Kincaid fail to step up in 2025, the path is there for Palmer to seize the opportunity and become the 1B (or maybe even the 1A) in the passing game.
Becoming one of the top options in a high-powered Bills offense would make it very likely for Palmer to post career-best fantasy production and move up from a dynasty bench stash to a startable WR3.
Keaton Mitchell - RB, Baltimore Ravens
Most people probably view Keaton Mitchell as the RB3 on the Baltimore Ravens and don't value him highly because of that. That may technically be true, but it ignores just how impressive Mitchell has been in his first two NFL seasons. He burst onto the scene in 2023 with a ludicrous 8.4 YPC. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in December, which cost him the end of that season and most of 2024.
Mitchell is now reportedly fully healthy and has looked good in preseason action. I'm not predicting him to steal the job from Derrick Henry this year, but Henry is 31 years old with more than 2,500 career rush attempts. As a team with Super Bowl aspirations, the Ravens will be thinking about a potential 22-game season instead of just an 18-game campaign. I expect them to mix in both Mitchell and Justice Hill throughout the year. If Mitchell impresses like I think he will, he can continue to carve out a larger role as the primary backup.
If Baltimore continues to be a run-heavy team that is leading in a lot of games, this should lead to a meaningful amount of volume for Mitchell even when Henry is healthy. Mitchell won't be startable most weeks, but I view him as one of the best handcuffs in the league with massive contingent value if something were to happen to Henry.
C.J. Stroud - QB, Texans
Stroud was the darling of the fantasy community after his rookie season, but a disappointing 2024 campaign saw his value fall behind that of a number of other young QBs heading into this season.
For 2025, Stroud is the QB20 in the Fantasy Life consensus rankings and anywhere from QB14 to QB20 in drafts depending on which site you are drafting on. I think this has impacted his dynasty value, with Stroud currently the QB15 in our consensus dynasty rankings. To be fair, the QB8 - QB16 range is one big, flat tier, so it's not like the difference in value is massive, but Stroud still ranks toward the bottom of that group.
We've seen more flashes from Stroud on an NFL field than we have from guys like Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, who rank ahead of him. Williams and Maye will both add more fantasy points via rushing than Stroud will, but that isn't a guarantee they will deliver more fantasy points.
I'm relatively optimistic on Stroud's outlook for this season, even with the turnover on Houston's offensive line. The WR room is talented and deep, with Christian Kirk, Jayden Higgins, and Jaylin Noel all joining the team this year to work alongside Nico Collins. The running game is unlikely to be very good with Joe Mixon on IR and rumors that he may not play at all in 2025. If that is the case, Houston may be forced to rely on their passing attack. An increase in passing volume, combined with a bounce back in efficiency, should see Stroud go well over 4,000 passing yards in 2025.
C.J. Stroud will only turn 24 in October, so a strong season could easily push him back into the top 10 of dynasty rankings. Trading for him now, while he is valued as a QB2, is a winning move to help your team compete for championships in 2025 and beyond.
Breece Hall - RB, Jets
The fantasy community has soured on Breece Hall quickly this offseason. Earlier in the summer he was a third round pick in best ball drafts, but he is now plummeting down draft boards.
There are definitely reasons for concern. Hall's rushing efficiency has declined in each of his first three seasons. He faces strong competition from two other young, talented RBs in Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis. The Jets' coaching staff is openly talking about a committee situation for the backfield, and their new QB isn't known for throwing to his RBs.
However, if we zoom out, there is still a lot to like about Hall's profile. He's only entering his age 24 season, has played in 16 games in back-to-back years, and has totaled 2,944 scrimmage yards with 17 TDs across those two campaigns. Hall now enters the final year of his rookie deal and would likely land in a better situation if he moved on from the Jets after this year.
From a dynasty perspective, there is still a lot to like about Hall's profile, and I think the concern about his 2025 outlook is influencing his dynasty value more than it should. Even in his least efficient season (2024), his 4.2 YPC and 3.03 yards after contact per attempt were solid, just not elite.
This strikes me as a great buy-low opportunity for a talented RB who is facing some short-term headwinds. Even if the Jets deploy a true committee, Hall should still be startable this year and could see a massive increase in his dynasty value if he signs to be the lead back in a better offense next year. He is one of my favorite dynasty trade targets right now.
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