Trade value chart, Week 6: Injuries affect everything

There are still plenty of gems on the waiver wire, but Week 6 also brings new opportunities to exploit fantasy trade values and improve your team. Odds are, a bunch of you are scrambling to patch some holes after a devastating weekend of injuries.

Whether you’re now sporting an Odell Beckham-less team, or your breakout tight end (Charles Clay) was actually breaking out before getting injured, it’s time to shore up the roster.

Below is the full trade value chart and a few of the week’s biggest risers and fallers.

The trade value chart uses our rest-of-season projections to assign values to every relevant player. The dollar amounts assume a 12-team league and a starting lineup of 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, and 1 Flex. The players are displayed in order of their standard league values, but we’ve included the PPR values for those players as well.

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This week’s biggest riser was Melvin Gordon. We got a little too caught up in the “Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley have switched roles again!” fun and overlooked Gordon over the past couple of weeks. He hasn’t been dynamite (just 3.7 YPC), but he does rank in the top 15 in every meaningful running back category, including attempts, rushing yards, targets, receptions, receiving yards, and rushing and receiving touchdowns.

Sterling Shepard saw his value skyrocket after Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall both went down with season-ending injuries. Shepard has a full year’s worth of experience with Eli Manning under his belt and has out-targeted Roger Lewis 29-to-11 so far this year. Shepard becomes a volume-based WR2, with a lower floor (flex) and no real ceiling. He could be a good sell-high candidate if someone in your league is overvaluing him. On the flip side, he could be a good buy-low candidate if you’re able to trade a few spare parts for him. His weekly volume will be bankable.

Alvin Kamara also shot up the chart. Kamara has caught 10 of 10 passes for 71 yards and a score over the past two weeks, and he has a been a top-15 PPR running back in that time. Now that the Saints have traded away Adrian Peterson, Kamara’s role is even more secure, and he should see a few more rushing attempts. He could be an every-week RB2 in PPR leagues and a flex option in standard formats. He’ll still a relative unknown, so buy now.

Carlos Hyde’s value went tumbling after he was out-snapped by rookie backup Matt Breida in Week 5. It seems insane to think that Breida could seriously eat into Hyde’s role, but based on what we saw in Week 5 (and the coaching staff said it had nothing to do with injury), there’s cause for concern. Hyde is a very tricky player to figure out. Was the timeshare just a one-week ordeal? It’s tough to know for sure. But if you’re spooked at the thought, now is the time to try to sell Hyde. Another week or two of a full-on timeshare and he will lose a ton of his value.

Below is the Week 6 fantasy football trade value chart. Remember, these values are not written in stone. They are meant to serve as a guide.