With the 2024 NFL Season still over three months away, this is the opportune time to stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on player values. Even in the off-season, player values fluctuate dramatically, which, in turn, creates prime opportunities for savvy managers to capitalize on assets. This goes for both undervalued and overvalued players. Here are the best NFC East players to buy low or sell high.
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
Buy-Low Candidate: Ezekiel Elliot
Ironically, after years of being a ‘Sell’ candidate, Ezekiel Elliot is one of the most undervalued assets in Dynasty. Shockingly ranked as the RB62 according to KTC, he’s now back with the team where he began his fantasy dominance and is seemingly in line to be the lead back for a high-powered offense. It’s not hard to imagine Elliot being a Top-24 RB next season.
Sell-High Candidate: CeeDee Lamb
CeeDee Lamb is essentially tied with Ja’Marr Chase as the WR2 in Dynasty, per KTC. He earned that after finishing as the WR1 overall in fantasy last year, solidifying his elite status. While he is likely to remain an elite fantasy option, I believe it is worth considering his current sky-high trade value.
Wide receiver rankings fluctuate yearly, with only about 3.5 Top-12 WRs repeating their performance. Lamb is one of the safer candidates to stay in the Top 12 next season, but with his value possibly at its peak, now might be the perfect time to trade him for a huge return. According to fantasy-calc, here are recent Dynasty trades that included Lamb with a haul in return:
Lamb for Puka Nacua + Nico Collins
Lamb for Amon-Ra St. Brown + 2024 1st + 2025 1st
Lamb for Bijan Robinson + Trey McBride (TEP)
New York Giants
Buy-Low Candidate: Daniel Jones
Around this time last year, Daniel Jones’ value was at its peak after finishing as a Top-10 fantasy quarterback in 2022. One year later, he’s currently sandwiched between Justin Fields (current backup) and Aaron Rodgers (40 years old), according to KTC.
Despite tearing his ACL last year, all signs point to Jones being the Giants’ starting quarterback heading into 2024 with an improved (on-paper) supporting cast after drafting Malik Nabers 6th overall in the 2024 draft. While Jones, even at his best, is one of the most inconsistent fantasy quarterbacks out there, there aren’t many quarterbacks at his value that offer the same week-winning upside. Jones had 7 QB1 weeks in 2022.
Sell-High Candidate: Malik Nabers
Admittedly, Malik Nabers might be the only realistic candidate that you can even sell on the Giants. While I believe Nabers is one of the best and safest WR prospects of the last few years, it doesn’t completely balance out the fact that his value appears to be slightly inflated due to post-draft rookie hype. It also doesn’t negate the fact that the Giants have had one of the lowest-volume passing offenses in the NFL over the last few years. OBJ accounted for 29% of the team’s passing yards in his historic 2014 rookie season.
If Nabers were to replicate this with the Giants passing volume last year, he wouldn’t break 1,000 yards. This is Dynasty, and Nabers may very well rise to the level of Jefferson, Chase, or Lamb, but he’s currently being valued as if that’s a given. And he may not get the opportunity to do so until the Giants get a quarterback (or at least a higher volume passing attack).
Philadelphia Eagles
Buy-Low Candidate: Dallas Goedert
This might come as a surprise, but just a year ago, Dallas Goedert was almost universally regarded as a Top-5 Dynasty Tight End. Fast-forward one year, and he’s now valued outside of the Top-15 in the position. This is despite the fact that, when healthy, Goedert has always been a productive player.
Even more surprising is this: when both play over 75% of the snaps, Goedert has outscored Devonta Smith over the last three years. In 2023, Smith averaged 10.31 Points Per Game while Goedert averaged 10.38 Points Per Game when both played over 75% of snaps (Half-PPR Scoring).
Sell-High Candidate: Saquon Barkley
If you are a Saquon Barkley owner of the last few years, you’re aware of how much his value has fluctuated over the years. Luckily for owners, Barkley found a prime destination in free agency this off-season, and his value has stabilized.
There aren’t a great amount of people who believe Barkley belongs with the aging running backs whose sell windows are rapidly closing, but he’s not far off. “The grass is always greener on the other side” perfectly describes Barkley’s fantasy situation. He’s moving from an offense where he was the lone star to a team where there might not be enough volume to sustain his production.
Washington Commanders
Buy-Low Candidate: Luke McCaffrey
The Commanders are a somewhat interesting case where none of their players clearly stand out as buy-low or sell-high candidates. With that said, I’ll present the best case of why I believe Luke McCaffrey will overtake Jahan Dotson as the clear WR2. First, over the last two years, Dotson himself has proven not to command targets on an offense that has had plenty of volume to go around despite ranking in the top 10 of routes run last year.
Pair that with the fact that McCaffrey excelled at wide receiver despite playing the position for only two years. Among the 2023 Draft Class, he ranked first in contested catch rate, had one of the best drop rates in the class, and was surprisingly productive in his short tenure at the position.
McCaffrey recorded 129 receptions for 1,715 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns, which was more than players like Keon Coleman, Adonai Mitchell, and Xavier Leggete (tied with Coleman for touchdowns). In today’s zone-heavy defensive era, McCaffrey also demonstrated his ability to get open, earning the second-best PFF grade against zone coverage.
Sell-High Candidate: Jayden Daniels
As mentioned previously, Washington does not have any standout sell-high candidates. That’s why I wanted to highlight why I believe Jayden Daniels may not be worthy of his current hype in both rookie and startup drafts. As a rusher, Daniels is much closer to Justin Fields and Lamar Jackson than he is to Jalen Hurts or Josh Allen, both of whom get a significant amount of their fantasy points from rushing touchdowns. With Daniels’ physique and running style, he does not project to be a similar rushing threat in the Red Zone.
Dating back ten years, only eight quarterbacks finished as a QB1 with 600+ rushing yards (something that can be expected if Daniels plays a full season). The quarterbacks are Lamar Jackson (3x), Josh Allen (2x), Jalen Hurts (2x), Cam Newton (2x), Kyler Murray (1x), Justin Fields (1x), Russell Wilson (1x), and Daniel Jones (1x). Daniels’ value appears to rely more on speculation about his potential rather than an assessment of the likelihood of him reaching it.
If we want to factor in risk in the rankings, Daniels may not deserve to be ranked in the top five of rookie drafts or as a top 12 quarterback in startup drafts. That said, I still believe Daniels offers an extremely high floor in fantasy, and unless he completely bombs as a passer, it’s hard not to see him as a consistent fantasy quarterback. But with his current value post-draft, it may be smart to secure an elite player at a different position or pivot to a safer option at quarterback like Dak Prescott, Tua Tagovailoa, or Brock Purdy.
