The Davante Adams trade rumors have taken over the football conversation. Seemingly every few hours we’re updated with his list of team preferences and the varied salary cap machinations that would be required for him to land anywhere other than the Jets. While Adams landing on another team would certainly have far-reaching ramifications for both real football and fantasy football, he’s not the only wide receiver who could have this kind of impact.
I decided to put together a list of wide receivers who could also be traded in the next few weeks as we approach the trade deadline on Tuesday, November 5th. I looked for receivers who were either on bad teams or who are set to become free agents at the end of this season but could appeal to other teams. I’ll try to break down why each receiver could be traded and how a trade could impact his performance, both in terms of their on-field performance and their fantasy success.
Since I’m not an NFL insider, I’m not going to speculate on where each receiver might end up or who is most likely to be dealt. We know that Buffalo, Kansas City, New Orleans, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and the New York Jets all seem to be in the market for a receiver, so those are the names to watch. We’ll treat this as more of a conversation starter on which receivers could be moved and where we’d like to see them end up most.
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Amari Cooper – WR, Cleveland Browns
Cooper may not be the biggest-name receiver who could be traded this year, but he seems to be the biggest name who’s most likely to be dealt (apart from Adams). The Browns are seemingly going nowhere right now. Deshaun Watson is playing perhaps the worst football we’ve ever seen from him, and Cooper has just 208 yards and two touchdowns on 20 catches through five games. However, as I mentioned in this week’s Fantasy Football Trade Desk, Cooper has elite usage so far.
He’s running a route on 94% of dropbacks with a 28% target share and 48% of the team’s air yards and has seen at least eight targets in each game this season. However, he’s also seen just a 55% catchable target rate with Deshaun Watson continuing to airmail him when he gets open deep. As a result, it’s easy to see teams looking at Cooper and still viewing him as a clear difference-maker at the wide receiver position. He also comes with an affordable salary after an offseason restructuring cut Cooper’s base salary to just $1.2 million this season.
All of that makes him a clear target for teams who are trying to win a Super Bowl this year since, after acquiring him, they’d only have to pay him less than $1 million. However, Cooper’s contract makes it more complicated to trade him from the Browns’ perspective.
According to The Athletic’s Zac Jackson, “If Cooper finishes the year in Cleveland, the Browns could potentially spread his remaining cap hit over multiple seasons. If he’s traded, the Browns will take on $22 million in dead money on their 2025 cap.” That’s a pretty sizable hit for the Browns to take on, especially considering that Jackson believes the Browns would most likely “be acquiring a late third-round pick in the 85-90 range — or maybe something similar in a package involving multiple picks or even another player.” The Bills ate a ton of dead money to trade Stefon Diggs, but would the Browns do the same?
FANTASY SLANT: I believe Cooper is undoubtedly still a good wide receiver. I don’t think he’s going to see the same 48% air-yard share if he were to be traded to Buffalo or Kansas City or other teams with good offenses that spread the ball around but what good is a 48% air-yard share if few of those passes are catchable? Unless the Browns make the change to Jameis Winston, it feels like a trade anywhere would be a huge boost to Cooper’s fantasy value and could put him back on the WR2 map in all fantasy formats.
Tee Higgins – WR, Cincinnati Bengals
Earlier in the season it was reported that the Bengals would be open to dealing Higgins if they continued to struggle, but there’s now a very real chance that the Bengals could be sitting with a 3-4 record after the next two weeks in which case, Higgins won’t be going anywhere. Still, given that the Bengals also lost to the Patriots and Commanders this year, I’m going to put Higgins on this list because if the team is 2-5 or worse then they may start having real conversations about whether it makes sense to trade Higgins now or let him walk in the offseason for nothing.
This year, Higgins is playing on the franchise tag, which is a 21.8 million dollar contract that is prorated throughout the season. It also means teams can’t work out an extension with him until the offseason, and he’s very likely to test the free agent market, so paying $10 million or more for half a season of a wide receiver with no guarantee they will return to your team in 2025 makes it hard to see Higgins being moved unless a team is desperate. Still, he’s certainly worth it from a talent perspective and crazier things have happened.
FANTASY SLANT: In 2023, Higgins finished WR39 in points per game in half-PPR formats, but in 2022 he finished WR15 in points per game, and he was WR13 in points per game in 2021. The Bengals struggled in Higgins’ first two games back in 2024, but he’s currently sitting WR17 in points per game this season, so any trade isn’t going to give him a massive boost. He could crack the top 10 if he became the top option in Kansas City or Buffalo, but any other potential team would be unlikely to offer him a more fantasy-friendly situation than he currently has in Cincinnati.
Diontae Johnson – WR, Carolina Panthers
Of the players on this list, Diontae seems most likely to be traded. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said, “Teams are at least on high alert here because they believe if the Panthers continue to struggle, they could be in seller’s mode, and Diontae Johnson—only 28 years old, $7 million salary—fairly reasonable for a guy who can be your receiver 1, receiver 1A.”
The Panthers are 1-4 and even though they’ve looked better with Andy Dalton under center, it’s hard to envision them having more than two or three wins by the trade deadline. If we believe
Fowler’s report, and I do, that would make it seem like a no-brainer to try and trade Johnson for draft picks since Carolina will have to keep rebuilding this team with a new quarterback and other skill position players.
On the year, Johnson has run a route on 83% of dropbacks, with a 28% target share and 40% of the team’s air yards. However, even in the three games that Andy Dalton has been at quarterback, Johnson is seeing just a 63% catchable target rate. Given that he has an average depth of target of just 11 yards, that number should be a little higher and could unlock another level of success for Johnson.
FANTASY SLANT: It’s unlikely that Johnson would be traded into a situation where he’ll see more volume; however, he could be traded into a situation where he sees BETTER volume with more catchable targets and more targets inside the red zone. That being said, I could see a trade leading to a slight boost in value, but you’re still getting strong production from here as the clear top target in Carolina.
DeAndre Hopkins and Tyler Boyd – WRs, Tennessee Titans
Both Hopkins and Boyd are set to become unrestricted free agents in the offseason, and it seems highly unlikely either would return to the Titans. Tennessee is sitting at 1-3 right now and Will Levis doesn’t seem quite ready to carry this team to a winning season, so it makes sense for the Titans to try and get anything for either of these guys before letting them walk for free.
Hopkins is the higher profile of the two receivers, but he also has a base salary of over $8 million this year, so the Titans would likely need to pay down the vast majority of that and hope to get a better pick in return. While the 32-year-old started the year battling a knee injury, he has been improving in recent weeks but still has just 10 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown this season. Even while not being the D-Hop of old, Hopkins would be a tremendous WR2 or WR3 on a contending team and should attract some interest if the Titans pay down the salary.
Boyd, on the other hand, is younger at 29 years old and had proven to be a top-tier slot receiver as recently as last season. He’s topped 700 receiving yards and 60 catches in five of his last six seasons and his base salary this season was just $1.4 million so he would be attractive to a lot of teams as a complementary piece to their wide receiver rotation.
FANTASY SLANT: Both of these guys should see a huge boost going anywhere else. That doesn’t mean they would immediately be major fantasy assets, but both Hopkins and Boyd have barely topped 100 total yards each this season, so moving to any kind of offense that can move the ball consistently through the air would be nice for them. Imagine Boyd working over the middle of the field in Dallas or Hopkins being a move-the-chains asset for Patrick Mahomes. You’re not winning fantasy leagues with those players, but they could be beneficial.
Romeo Doubs – WR, Green Bay Packers
Doubs is only on here because the Packers have a crowded receiving room and Doubs was recently suspended for one game for not being present at team practices. There has been some speculation from reporters that there is more than meets the eye with this story, and there is a reason Doubs was not at practice for unreported reasons. All of that is speculation, but what we do know is that there was some brief friction between Doubs and his team, and so there may be lingering consequences there. Given that the Packers also have Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, and Dontayvion Wicks in their receiving room, it’s possible the team could be persuaded to trade Doubs if an attractive enough offer is made.
FANTASY SLANT: I don’t consider a deal overly likely, but Doubs could flourish on a team where he was allowed to be one of the top two wide receivers. On the season, Doubs has run a route on 91% of targets but has just a 17% target share. Doubs was a solid receiver at Nevada and while he doesn’t have elite speed, he has sure hands and could be a fantasy difference-maker if he was in a place where he could see a bigger target share.
Darius Slayton – WR, New York Giants
The Giants have gotten great production this season from Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson, and they have another young receiver in Jalin Hyatt who hasn’t even been able to see the field. Perhaps that tells us all we need to know about Hyatt’s ability to stick as an NFL receiver, but maybe he just needs another opportunity. The Giants don’t look as hapless as people expected, so they might not be looking to trade away any rotational players, but moving Slayton for draft picks and then being able to get Hyatt onto the field more could also be enticing.
With Nabers healthy, Slayton is playing on 84% of dropbacks for the Giants but has just an 11% target share and 18% of the team’s air yards, so his role would seemingly be replaceable with Hyatt. Especially since Slayton’s 12.7 aDOT is the highest of any Giants player, so he is operating as their de facto deep threat in an offense that doesn’t air it out much. What would Slayton be like operating as the field stretcher in Buffalo for Josh Allen? With a base salary of just $2.5 million, Slayton is a very tradable asset.
FANTASY SLANT: It’s unlikely that Slayton emerges as a huge fantasy contributor regardless of where he plays the remainder of this season, but he has flashed the ability to be an impactful deep target, so we could see a boost in value if he winds up on a team that does actually push the ball down the field. The Bills would certainly be the best news for his fantasy value and would likely make him rosterable in most deeper formats.
Zay Jones – WR, Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals just signed Jones to a one-year contract in the offseason, but he was then suspended by the NFL for the first five games and will now miss Week 6 with a hamstring injury. The Cardinals went just 2-3 in his absence, but Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch have shown enough to make it far from a guarantee that Jones would push them out of the starting lineup. Perhaps the Cardinals feel good enough without Jones to see what they can get for him in a trade. Perhaps the Cardinals drop to 2-5 or something similar and feel like getting something for Jones. His salary was a little over $1 million, and the Cardinals won’t get a lot for him, but perhaps a 5th-round pick or something similar would be enough to entice them.
FANTASY SLANT: I think the best situation for Jones would be for him to remain in Arizona and get a chance to push Michael Wilson for the number two job behind Marvin Harrison Jr. It’s unlikely he would be dealt to a situation that could offer him more potential volume, and even with that, Jones really only has two solid fantasy seasons, back in 2018 with the Bills and in 2023 with the Jaguars.
