The trade deadline is approaching and teams are looking to add players to make a championship run this year or build for future years. I believe that you can do both. There are five players I think you can get added into trades that owners won’t mind getting trading away but could help you for years to come. These are not players I’m going out and targeting but rather looking to either upgrade my team by adding some star power or I’m trying to accumulate picks and young talent. Look to see if any of these guys are on the teams I’m trading with and asking for them as an add-in to a trade. I wanted to give an honorable mention to players like Michael Gallup and Kalil Herbert, but I believe they have more value than the others and won’t be a throw-in to a trade.
Kellen Mond- QB, Minnesota Vikings
Kellen Mond was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2021 draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He came into the draft getting buried by a very good quarterback class of Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Mac Jones, and Zack Wilson. Mond didn’t have the passing numbers of those five in his last two years of college at Texas A&M. However, there are some good things we can pull out of his college career. Mond increased his completion percentage each season, with his last year finishing at 63.3%. He is a dual-threat. He rushed for 22 touchdowns over his 4-year college career. Furthermore, he also is one of three SEC quarterbacks ever to throw for 9,000 yards while rushing for 1,500. The other two were Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott. He goes to the Vikings who have had Kirk Cousins starting for the past four seasons. There were talks over the off-season about Cousins being unhappy with his contract and possibly not reporting to camp. This field trade rumors and probably forced the Viking’s hand in drafting Mond. Mond gets a year to sit behind Cousins and learn the offense and the NFL as a whole. There is a really good chance that Cousins could be in a new uniform to start the 2022 season. Cousins has a 45 million cap hit on the final year of his contract. Even if they were to keep Cousins to the end of his contract, I don’t they sign him after that. We could see Mond be a dual-threat quarterback on a team with Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson.
Amari Rodgers – WR Green Bay Packers
The former Clemson wide receiver was drafted onto a team that hasn’t spent a ton of draft capital on offensive weapons. Aaron Rodgers has been very vocal about that fact and his displeasure almost led to him retiring before the start of the 2021 season. Amari Rodgers hasn’t seen much playing time this season. He has only played 9% of the team’s snaps. He was drafted in the third round mainly due to his lack of production at the collegiate level. Part of that was due to an ACL tear in the spring of 2019 which limited his junior season and probably didn’t help his senior season where he had 77 receptions for 1020 yards and seven touchdowns. He was on a Clemson team in 2019 with the likes of Tee Higgins and Travis Etienne who took most of the offensive opportunities. Looking ahead, Amari could be the lead dog on the Packers. Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Equanimeous St. Brown are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Allen Lazard is a restricted free agent. Randall Cobb was brought back because Aaron Rodgers wanted him, so he doesn’t project to be around past this season. The lack of playing time this season and the likelihood that Aaron Rodgers will be gone next season means current owners won’t feel bad trading him away. Both of those factors play into why I want him. He right now is getting practice time with the second team. A second-team who is quarterbacked by Jordan Love. The same Jordan Love who looks to take over the green and gold in 2022. Who will he come into that season having chemistry with? That’s right Amari Rodgers. Hey, he could even change his number to 12 and have a ton of people with his jersey.
Tommy Tremble- TE, Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers have been a surprise team in 2021. Sam Darnold looks to have escaped the woes of the Jets and Adam Gase. Darnold started the 2021 season by throwing 11 passes to tight end Dan Arnold over three weeks. After Week 3 the Panthers traded Arnold to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Since then tight ends Ian Thomas and Tommy Tremble have seen an increase in targets. The Panthers seem content with what they have in their tight end group and were able to deal Arnold. Ian Thomas is currently playing more snaps than Tremble. 63% vs 38%, but he is scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the season. Tremble was a 3rd round pick for the Panthers in the 2021 draft and could be a key part of the new Panther’s offense. He came out of Notre Dame after only his 2nd season playing there. He redshirted his freshman year. They still have Christian McCaffery and DJ Moore. They got younger at the other side of the field drafting Terrace Marshall Jr in the 2021 draft as well. Tremble has been on the rise this season, already catching a touchdown and seeing 11% of the team’s targets in Week 5. In a fantasy world where tight ends are hard to find outside the Top 3, you can’t really do worse than getting a starting tight end as part of a throw-in on a trade. Coach Matt Rhule raved about Tremble after the draft and loves his versatility and seems excited to get him involved on the team.
Larry Rountree- RB, Los Angles Chargers
This is the one that will be the hardest to get added in. Larry Rountree has been a name that has been talked about for the Chargers offense. Austin Ekeler has been injury-prone and was banged up in parts of games this season. This made Rountree a name for fantasy owners to know. Fortunately, Ekeler did not miss time and even with increased snaps, Rountree did not show well. His future is still bright for the Chargers. He was a 6th round pick in 2021 for the Bolts. He had a letdown of a senior year at Missouri where he only rushed for 973 yards 14 touchdowns. Rountree does lack the receiving talent that other running backs have but could be a 2-down back and has the burst to be a productive running back. Ekeler signed a contract extension, so he’s not going anywhere, but if he were to miss time, Rountree would be a great fill-in. We see every year a running back goes down and the backup goes or a crazy amount of FAAB. How much better would it be to have them already on your bench. Justin Jackson is a free agent after this season.
Dyami Brown – WR Washington Football Team
The Football Team is on the come up. They have started to gather pieces to put around a future quarterback. They decided to roll with Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2021 and then went to Taylor Heinicke after the injury to Fitz. Washington has a solid core of young players in Antonio Gibson and Terry McLauren. They drafted wide receivers in both the 2020 and 2021 drafts. Taking Antonio Gandy-Golden and Dyami Brown respectively. I believe that Brown is the one who has the most future upside. He is a deep threat player who averaged 20+ yards on his last 100 catches in college. He also scored eight 40+ yard touchdowns during his college career. His snap counts have been trending down this season, which makes him a great add-in for trades. WFT has been competitive but they still project to be drafting a new quarterback in the upcoming draft or signing one of the free agents like Jameis Winston. He could end up being a solid flex play with upside in 2022 that you get added in for free in trades now.
(Photo by Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire)