A Wild Week With Four Trades Has Turned The Show Fantasy League Upside Down

Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox. Getty Images.

The league's defending champion, Alex Bregman shook up The Show by making two mega trades this week to completely reshape his roster into the Runningback-heavy squad he craves. In my 23 years of playing fantasy football, I've never seen someone jettison their first two picks after three weeks in separate deals, but here we are. First Bregman made a deal with his opponent for this week, Mike Napoli. Dealing Cooper Kupp, Miles Sanders, and Darren Waller for Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Pitts. The Tight Ends are a wash in my opinion, but CMC for Kupp and Miles Sanders seems like a great deal for Napoli! 

We'll see this week as McCaffrey will need a monster game to take down Napoli's squad. But in a full PPR league, CMC is a potential league winner. But Bregman wasn't done dealing. I talked to him on the phone when he agreed to his first deal and he assured me he had something else in the works that would make his first deal make sense. This was his idea of that, trading Deebo Samuel and Travis Etienne for three more Runningbacks. The two headed backfield of Zeke and Tony Pollard is an interesting option. If one gets hurts, especially if it's Zeke, Tony Pollard had dynamo potential. Alexander Mattison same thing with Dalvin Cook, who at the time was dealing with a shoulder injury, but is expected to play in London today. 

And after all that, Bregman is starting only two RBs this week. But let's get into the picks. Shoutout to me for going 6-0 last week after a 5-1 Week 2.

Napoli has been riding high with Jalen Hurts, but now Miles Sanders in his backfield may cap that upside. This will likely come down to at least Sunday night with Bregman needing a big game from JuJu Smith-Schuster and Napoli having three guys go on Monday Night with Kupp headlining to go with Rams D/ST and Matt Gay. But credit to Bregman for believing in his vision and going all in. You gotta respect the move. That being said, I don't see him winning today's matchup.

Commissioner Cheah's Pick: Miami ThunderCoxs

Both Manny Machado and Jake Marisnick were involved in trades this week as well. Marisnick in the Deebo Samuel & Travis Etienne package discussed above. Machado upgraded his QB play and benched the struggling Russell Wilson. He's now led by Joe Burrow and boasts an explosive team.

Marisnick's team is a little banged up with D'Andre Swift missing the game. That's big and he'll need bigger games from his Monday Night guys, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel. I will note, it is interesting having two pass catchers on the same fantasy team tied to Jimmy G's arm. Machado's team is just so dang explosive, and now that he has QB play he can count on (and already delivered over his projected). 

Commissioner Cheah's Pick: Cono Squad

Joc Pederson, Alex Wood, and Austin Barnes changed their team name to Big Ben this week. And much like Big Ben Roethlisberger they were slinging it this week, in the form of a late week trade.

This is a pretty even deal in my eyes. I'm much higher on Javonte Williams, but I think the WRs are fairly even and I can see the appeal in Alvin Kamara, especially if Andy Dalton will be under center for awhile.

Team Big Ben got a HUGE game out of Tee Higgins to start the week on Thursday. In contrast, Dave Portnoy had his lone TNFer deliver 12.4 points under projected - YIKES! That's a 23.8 swing in one game. But he does catch a break with both Amon-Ra St. Brown and Michael Thomas missing their games. Team Big Ben may need a repeat performance out of DeVonta Smith and I'm not sure that's in the cards. The one thing playing into their favor is that Khalil Herbert is starting vs. the Giants and that's a tasty FLEX. Dave is going with Tom Brady as his QB1 for the first time all year which I think will pay dividends in a 6-point passing TD league. However, benching Antonio Gibson, who has the highest projected points in his RB group is a bold move. But what's helping Dave is that Dalvin Cook and the Vikings D/DST both underwhelmed in London.

Commissioner Cheah's Pick: Dumb Jocs

Moose was dealing this week with the aforementioned Alvin Kamara deal, but did he get a lemon? Kamara was OUT today forcing Clyde Edwards-Helaire into the starting lineup. He will have Lamar Jackson in a difficult matchup vs. a Buffalo team he has struggled against historically. Justin Jefferson had a monster 10 catch 160 game in London giving him a big edge early with 46.90 points out of his top two WRs. Ja'Marr U Lose, Ja'Less U Care is just plain struggling. They're in last place at 0-3 and their explosive group of WRs have yet to really go nuclear in a week. Will this be it? It's going to be tough with WR1 falling 7.4 below his projected total.

Commissioner Cheah's Pick: Takos and Tequila

Trout has had absolutely brutal luck at QB this season. First, he benched Tua during his 50+ point outburst vs. the Ravens. Then he starts Tua last week only to have Joe Burrow on his bench outscore him. Then he tries to resolve the problem by dealing Burrow and getting back his guy AJ Brown, but then Tua gets an injury that could cost him several weeks or more. Luckily, he made a savvy waiver wire move picking up Trevor Lawrence which gave him some additional flexibility at the QB spot. The duo of Christian Yelich and Jace Peterson have a monster edge due to the Tua injury, but also have Jamaal Williams slated to go at FLEX in the 2nd highest point total game (47.5) of the week. Jonathan Taylor, James Conner will go with Williams to form a dynamite backfield, but unless this team chokes all around, they should walk away with the W.

Commissioner Cheah's Pick: Team Questionable

Almost every player in this game has a tough matchup for their fantasy numbers. But what is apparent is Eric Hosmer is playing a dangerous game continuing to rotate out WRs and play them on gut feel. The group of Rashod Bateman, Brandon Aiyuk, Allen Robinson II, Adam Thielen, and Jahan Dotson are all WR3s at best. Luckily for him, Joe Mixon did just above his projected on Thursday Night to keep this matchup well within reach. Wil Myers squad's performance will be heavily weighted by Sunday Night Football as Patrick Mahomes had a tough time the last time he played my Buccaneers. He'll also need a good performance out of the Raiders with both Davante Adams and Josh Jacobs trotting out there for him.

Commissioner Cheah's Pick: Wil's Football Team