Navigating the trade market is a pivotal part of any winning fantasy football strategy — even early in the season. Identifying the right players to buy low on and which ones to sell high can give you a significant advantage over your league mates.
Here are some key quarterbacks to consider targeting or moving in your league as we gear up for Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season.
Top Trade Targets To Buy: Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
Bryce Young enjoyed a remarkable resurrection in that tail end of 2024, but fantasy football managers aren’t buying it. The Panthers quarterback is being drafted as the QB25 in fantasy this year, despite finishing five spots higher last season, having started only 12 games.
After an injury to Andy Dalton, the former Alabama star stepped back into Carolina’s starting job in Week 8 last year and showed everyone why he was drafted first overall in 2023. From Week 8, Young was the QB15 in fantasy points per game (minimum six games).
Bryce Young scores on a 23-yard run!
📺: #AZvsCAR on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/DH5yk10PPf— NFL (@NFL) December 22, 2024
After the team’s Week 11 bye, Young was the QB8 in FPPG, throwing 11 touchdowns to three interceptions, while adding five further scores with his legs. That included four rushing touchdowns in his final four games, and multiple passing scores in each of his last three.
The quarterback didn’t record a weekly fantasy finish outside the top 20 at the position from Week 10 on, and finished inside the top 10 on three occasions. That included weekly finishes of QB2 and QB1 overall in Weeks 16 and 18, respectively.
Newly equipped with a true WR1 in Tetairoa McMillan and a supporting cast of second-year receivers looking to make a jump, Young could easily be a QB1 in 2025.
J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
J.J. McCarthy appears to be an afterthought in fantasy this year and is currently being drafted as the QB19 in redraft leagues. Concerns around his limited college background and the season-ending knee injury he suffered in the 2024 preseason are valid, but not reasons to count him out entirely.
HC Kevin O’Connell has done enough in his time with the Minnesota Vikings for McCarthy to be an intriguing fantasy prospect. The Vikings offense is consistently productive and has found success with many different quarterbacks in the past.
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McCarthy may not boast the same gunslinging history as Sam Darnold, but the fact that he’s being compared to Darnold in the first place is precisely the point.
Darnold had far more doubters in 2024 than McCarthy has this year, yet he finished as the QB9 in fantasy and led the Vikings to the playoffs. Before Darnold, nobody had many positive things to say about veteran Kirk Cousins in fantasy, yet the veteran was the QB6 in his final healthy season in Minnesota.
McCarthy has been labeled a game manager who simply kept a run-heavy Michigan offense ticking in college. Just like Cousins and Darnold, though, McCarthy will reap the rewards of his explosive playmakers and elite play-caller in 2025, and any discount could disappear as early as Week 1.
Top Trade Targets To Sell: Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Baker Mayfield was a huge steal in fantasy last season, finishing as the QB4 on the year, having been drafted as the QB21. No such value is available this year, though, as Mayfield is being drafted as the QB7, behind only the “big five” quarterbacks and Patrick Mahomes.
While I fully expect Mayfield to be a good quarterback again this year, the fluctuation in fantasy finishes among pocket passers is wild. Mayfield threw 41 touchdown passes last season — his previous career high was 28.
BAKER MAYFIELD. RACHAAD WHITE. TOUCHDOWN ‼️ pic.twitter.com/cnq4IU1AB0
— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) October 27, 2024
Negative regression is inevitable in that department, which would see the Bucs star potentially fall out of the top 10 at the position. Other pocket passers like Dak Prescott, C.J. Stroud, and J.J. McCarthy could all throw more touchdowns than Mayfield this season, making him a disappointment at his cost.
Realistically, it’s easier to pass on Mayfield in a draft than it is to trade him away afterwards, meaning you’ve already lost some value by drafting him. Any quarterback after Bo Nix, though, should be attainable in a trade for Mayfield and could see you get something extra in return, depending on who you acquire.
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Usually, a player who’d finished inside the top 10 at his position for three years straight, being taken 12th at the position in drafts, would be a steal. However, Jared Goff’s entry into the top 10 coincided with Ben Johnson’s arrival as offensive coordinator of the Lions, and the play-calling guru is now in Chicago.
Before Johnson’s promotion to coordinator, Goff had recorded just two top-12 fantasy finishes over his six years in the NFL. The Lions are still the Lions, and anything is possible, but Goff is essentially a statue in the pocket, and the team has lost two veteran offensive linemen this offseason.
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If the offense takes a step back without Johnson, and/or Goff faces more pressure in the pocket behind a reshuffled line, things could go south quickly. The Lions scored the most points in the league last year and the fifth-most in 2023; a decline should be expected given the circumstances.
For a pocket passer, touchdowns are paramount to fantasy production. Like Mayfield, Goff’s 37 passing touchdowns in 2024 were a career-high, seven more than his previous high from the year before. Everything was near-enough perfect for Goff in Detroit last season; getting out at the top is always a good strategy.
