McFadden Owners -- Sell High or Keep?

[steelerfan04]

I've received several trade offers over the past week for McFadden after his explosive start, and while I'm normally never in favor of trading your best player, especially when he has the potential to finish as a top RB if he keeps up his recent performance, it's hard to ignore his injury history. Even though he doesn't appear to be limited by his recent groin injury, it's still unsettling to see him on the injury report already, and coming off his 170 yard 2 td game his stock is obviously very high. Right now I'm leaning toward holding onto him and hoping he can make it through the season healthy, but I've been offered Welker and Greene or Andre Johnson and Stewart for him, and I can't help but think about unloading him before his injuries catch up with him -- not necessarily doing one of those trades, but just shopping him around in general.

McFadden owners, is now the time to sell high, or is it worth holding onto a player who could feasibly end up as the #1 or 2 RB in the league barring injuries?

[deven8703]

First of all, none of those trades are very good in my opinion.

Welker - First three games are a fluke, he'll still be a very good wide out this year, but once Hernandez gets back and Ocho gets his form, the Pats are going to spread the ball around much more.

Greene - Blah. I don't even think he'll have the starting job by the end of this year.

Stewart - Timeshare! Nuff said.

Johnson (Whom I also have) - Mr. Consistency when hes healthy, but just as injury prone lately as McFadden. Owning him last year was a headache. Now his knee is bothering him.

Overall, besides the trades, I don't think I'd trade McFadden in almost any situation. Hes the face of the franchise, captain of their team, and the reason they are winning. His field vision is amazing and he consistently breaks big runs the past two years. He will get the rock and he might get nicked up, but hes going to single handedly win you games this year. I don't remember McFadden missing many games last year if any? Either way, unless someone offers you something ridiculous, I'd keep him on my squad.

[a4ce]

No way I'm trading Run DMC if I had him. He did it last season and he hasn't missed a beat this season.

[FatFoot]

Welker is UN-TRADE-ABLE right now. LAST week was flukishly great. But the bottom line is, this is now a pattern. They are throwing SO MUCH, and teams are screwed--they can't cover Gronk, Branch, AND Welker completely. There is good reason to think that Welker will be the most desirable WR in Fantasy this season. And he doesn't REMOTELY have the measurables of so many of the expected stud WRs in the league. But I think you ignore Welker at your own peril this season.

That said, I wouldn't take any of those trades unless you're A). Stacked at RB, and B). Hosed at WR.

McFadden looks to be one of potentially only 5 or 6 traditional RB1 Studs... the way we used to have things 5 years ago... when there would be around 10-12 clear cut RB1 "Play this guy every week, or die" types. The league has changed so much, as a result of WR and QB protective rules, that WRs are frequently outscoring RBs.

But now most teams in your league don't have a true stud RB1. And every team has a stud WR, unless they were hit by the injury bug or drafted poorly.

Positional scarcity says to me "I wouldn't trade McFadden unless I'm trading for Brady vs starting Grossman" etc.

FWIW, there was no way I was picking up Run DMC without also planning the Michael Bush handcuff. I HATE handcuffs. My roster in that league is one spot more shallow than most of my competition, and that sucks. But there was NO WAY I trusted RunDMC to make it through the whole season. If he does, I JUST ABOUT can't lose in that league. If he doesn't, I have reason to believe that Michael Bush has some significant percentage of the same value (maybe 70-80% as fantasy viable)...

But yeah, I don't trade RunDMC. I trade Cam Newton if he has a good game against the Bears. I DREAM that Chris Johnson goes off. But I hang on to RunDMC (and Welker) this year.

[2ksports]

I'll sit him when he's injured, start him when he comes back. Not a big deal.

[Ricky_Christ]

McFadden looks to be one of potentially only 5 or 6 traditional RB1 Studs... the way we used to have things 5 years ago... when there would be around 10-12 clear cut RB1 "Play this guy every week, or die" types. The league has changed so much, as a result of WR and QB protective rules, that WRs are frequently outscoring RBs.

But now most teams in your league don't have a true stud RB1. And every team has a stud WR, unless they were hit by the injury bug or drafted poorly.

Positional scarcity says to me "I wouldn't trade McFadden unless I'm trading for Brady vs starting Grossman" etc.

This to me sums it up perfectly. The day of the stud RB1 is almost gone, which makes them worth their weight in gold. I have Ray Rice & Darren McFadden in my keeper league and I'm rolling over everyone, simply because there aren't many of those guys left (maybe 5 in the league?).

The top 5-6 RBs are more valuable than anything else IMO, because the drop-off is so dramatic once you get past them. Yes you'd love to have Andre Johnson, but wideout talent is deep. Yes you'd love to have Brady, but you could be doing just fine with Fitz.

Unless someone is willing to give you the farm, I don't see how you're going to get comparable value for one of the top 5 RBs in a trade. If you really have a terrible feeling and you just want to get rid of Run DMC before he breaks a leg, keep in mind that you should be getting 2 superstuds in return, because the top tier RB is so much more valuable than top tier QB/WR.

[Sex Panther]

I wouldn't sell, but I'd do everything possible to land M. Bush. Radiers are a running team w/ a suprisingly good line, if McFadden stays healthy, he's got as good a shot as anyone at fantasy's #1 crown in 2011. If anything happens to him, Bush can still put up top 10 RB numbers IMO.

[Cuffs]

I agree with everyone else, esp. if you have Michael Bush too (as I do). As long as you have Michael Bush, the risk of a McFadden injury is reduced some because you lose a top 3-4 RB if McFadden goes down, but you gain a top 12 RB in Bush at the same time. That lessens the risk that offsets the extremely high reward that could come with owning McFadden.

As stated above, if you have a serious deficiency at another position, e.g., WR, and you can get two great WRs for McFadden and have good depth to cover for him, maybe you consider it. Other than that, McFadden is playing right now like a player who could win you your league, like Arian Foster did last year.

[latsprewell20002000]

If I had DMC it would take an awful lot for me to trade him. I would have to upgrade at two positions.

[Executor111]

Unless the rest of your league sucks and you have incredible depth at RB, you can't afford to trade Run DMC. Like mentioned above, you should try to pick up Michael Bush so you can reap the rewards of McFadden while he plays, and have a safety net if he goes down. Bush has looked very solid in his backup role.

It'd be interesting if the OP told us who his other RBs are.