The Fantasy Football Geek Blog

Here are our responses to the first couple of questions for the week. Remember, you can always ask us questions by clicking the Ask the Geeks logo on the left sidebar (or this link).

Scott asks: I have been offered Jay Cutler for Steve Smith. I am allowed to play 2 QB’s in my league.  One of them can fill the open offensive position. My current WR’s are Smith, A. Johnson, Holt, A. Bryant, S. Holmes. My QB’s are Rivers and Russel.  RB’s are L. White, Slaton, Fargas, J.Stewart.  Right now I’ve been alternating between Stewart and Russel in the OP position.  Do you think I should make this trade knowing that QB’s predominantly score more or am I losing too much of a stronghold on my WRs?

Brandon’s take: Scott, I was curious how many wide receivers you start in your league (not counting the OP position)? If you only start two, then I would definitely go for this trade. Jay Cutler is a HUGE improvement over JaMarcus Russel and he’s a guy you could leave in the OP position for the rest of the season. In that case, Andre Johnson and one of your other receivers should suffice to hold down the WR position. Even if you start three wide receivers, due to the fact that you get more points from quarterbacks than other positions, I’m still leaning towards you making the deal. Cutler should return from the bye week with his finger back in working condition and he should resume his regular destruction of opposing defenses. Steve Smith will continue to get tons of looks from Jake Delhomme, but in math terms:

(Jay Cutler – JaMarcus Russell) > (Steve Smith – Torry Holt)

Matt’s take: *shakes fist at Brandon for making him do math* I’d make the trade. I count no fewer than five weak secondaries on the Broncos’ upcoming schedule, which means the fearsome Cutler-to-Marshall machine will have lots of opportunities to do some serious damage. Especially in a two-QB league, a guy like Cutler is a game-changer who can singlehandedly win your matchup for you any given week. Can you say the same thing about Steve Smith?

Smiley B asks: Hi, I need your help and suggest. I have been offered LaDainian Tomlinson for Larry Fitzgerald, should I make the trade? I know LT has a toe injury and is on his bye week. The guy who offered the trade is deep at WR.

Brandon’s take: Hey Smiley B (?), this is a hard trade to really analyze without knowing more details about your current situation. Straight up, I would probably not make this trade. While LT is having a “down” year of sorts, he’s still a great running back and is probably too valuable to your team to trade for even a top notch receiver. If you already have two solid running backs though and are lacking at the wide receiver position, then it would be a much more interesting trade. See if you can work in an upgrade at tight end or something, as you are giving up more (at least a higher draft pick!) than the other guy is. Write back with some more details on the situation and I can hopefully give you some better advice.

Matt’s take: Actually, it isn’t clear to me what direction the trade is in, but I think he means he’d be getting LT, in which case I’d make the trade if you’re weak at RB. Otherwise, I’d think twice – if you don’t need RB help, do you really want to give up a top WR like Fitz for a hobbled superstar?

UPDATE: Hey Brandon and Matt, I mean I will be getting LT looking for upgade my RB.  I have Calvin Johnson, Greg Jenning, Santana Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Desean Jackson, and Donnie Avery at WR; Thomas Jone, Larry Johnson, E. James, Justin fargas at RB.  Good or bad trade?

Brandon’s take (part 2): Hey Smiley B, thanks for the update on the situation. Since I had the trade backwards, I recommend you completely disregard my previous statements…hah. Anyways, if you will be getting LT in return for Larry Fitzgerald, I have to recommend you accept the trade. You are STACKED at receiver and I assume you’re benching a pretty good WR each week, while starting a pretty mediocre (at best) running back each week. Tomlinson would be a HUGE upgrade to your team and you could still start Megatron (Calvin Johnson), Moss and Jennings at the receiver position, with DeSean and Avery rotating in or filling a flex position. Hope this helps!