Fantasy football trade tips to set you up for success in 2024

Trading in fantasy football is both an art and a science, and things don't always go your way during negotiations. However, these fantasy football trade tips from analyst Sal Vetri should set you up for success in your leagues for the 2024 season.

Your reputation matters

Your reputation matters when it comes to trading in fantasy football. You want to be seen as a player who is serious about trades and always negotiates fairly. But the truth is, most people have a poor trade reputation.

I bet most of the people in your league are sending multiple trades a week, and odds are these trades are heavily skewed in favor of the member sending them. This leads to a bad reputation. Remember the boy who cried wolf? When you send bad trades too often, your leaguemates will be conditioned to not take them seriously. Then, when you actually send a fair trade offer, it will be difficult for them to trust you. Be serious when sending trades.

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Understand your leaguemates' needs

Let me tell you a secret about fantasy trades: it’s all about catering to your leaguemates' needs and not YOUR wants. You need to approach your leaguemates with a giving mentality. Research their team and identify which positions they need to improve most.

You don’t want to blindly go into trade discussions without understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your leaguemate's roster. Otherwise, you are at risk of damaging your reputation, and we can’t have that. Go into a trade discussion knowing exactly what your leaguemate's needs are and send a trade that reflects your consideration of those needs.

Trading in fantasy football is just sales. Get your leaguemates feeling good about your interaction and it takes down any walls they may have about your trade offer.

Use this phrase in your negotiations

While negotiating a trade, one tactic you can use is to close your pitch with the following sentence: "Are you against this idea?"

In general, people have a hard time saying "yes" in a negotiation or sales pitch, so by asking the question "Are you against this idea?", you are getting them to say yes by actually saying no. Psychologically, this makes it easier for a person to then say "yes" down the road. Like I said earlier, trading in fantasy football is just sales.

Identify the key trade stats

When looking for players to target in a trade you want to focus on guys who are currently underperforming in the fantasy points department but are still seeing strong usage.

These metrics vary depending on position. For wide receivers, you want to look at catchable targets, air yards (indicating down-field usage), performance vs. man coverage, routes run and red-zone usage. The big ones are downfield usage and red-zone targets; these are what I’d consider the ultimate cheat codes for fantasy receivers.

For example, if Malik Nabers has scores fewer than 10 points per game in the first four weeks of the season, his fantasy manager will start to become frustrated. However, you’ve identified that Nabers is seeing downfield usage, running his normal routes and even earning red-zone targets.

The takeaway here is Nabers has perhaps been unlucky with his opportunities over a small four-week sample, and he’s likely due for positive production soon. This would make him the perfect buy-low target.

The key metrics to track for running back trade targets include routes run, target share, red-zone snaps, explosive run rate and broken tackle rate.

Be patient and avoid getting emotional

A trade won’t happen overnight most of the time; it may be something you need to work on for a few weeks. Be patient. Don’t spam your leaguemate with the same or similar offers. Communicate and let time be your friend.

You also want to avoid getting emotional. Be objective as much as you can. Just because you drafted a player doesn’t mean they are an incredible player who should be valued highly. You need to avoid letting your emotions sway your trade talks. You’ll see emotions pop up most in the form of anchoring bias. Anchoring bias is people’s tendency to overweight the first piece of information they receive. Here’s an example for fantasy football.

Let's pretend Rashee Rice had posted 100 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 for your team; it’s would be nearly impossible for you to forget the joy and satisfaction this brought you. You will overweight that performance even if Rice struggles the next six-to-eight weeks, harming your team in the process.

The good news is that you can overcome anchoring bias simply by identifying it. Once you do this, you’ll be able to look at the players on your team with less emotion, ultimately leading to a fairer negotiation with your trading partner.