The 2024 NFL Trade Deadline is quickly approaching, and it’s already brought a bevy of fantasy football-relevant moves. We’ve seen several wide receivers switch teams, including Diontae Johnson, Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, and DeAndre Hopkins. We’ve had a running back trade early on Tuesday, and there figures to be more to come on both sides of the ball. We’ll be here throughout the day to provide the trades and our rapid reactions as they relate to fantasy football.
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2024 NFL Trade Deadline: Fantasy Football Reactions
Pat Fitzmaurice and Derek Brown provide their takeaways from the day’s 2024 NFL Trade Deadline deals.
Bears Trade Khalil Herbert to Bengals
The Bengals have acquired RB Khalil Herbert from the Bears in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
Herbert had become the odd man out in the Chicago backfield and hadn’t gotten a carry since Week 2. The Bears’ willingness to deal Herbert underscores the team’s commitment to the current RB hierarchy, with D’Andre Swift as the lead back and second-year man Roschon Johnson as the backup.
The move signals that the Bengals have concerns about the health of Zack Moss, who’s out indefinitely with a neck issue. With Moss sidelined in Week 9, Chase Brown logged an 80% snap share and had 32 touches in the Bengals’ 41-24 win over the Raiders. Although Brown averaged 27.3 carries a game and 29.6 touches a game in his final college season at Illinois, the Bengals clearly need to lighten his load if Moss won’t be back for a while.
Herbert now has handcuff value for fantasy but probably not stand-alone value. Without Moss cutting into his workload, the explosive Brown should return high-end RB2 value going forward — maybe even low-end RB1 value. Fantasy managers can probably let go of Moss, who isn’t likely to be back soon and had seen his role diminished by Brown anyway.
The Bengals’ trade for Herbert can also be interpreted as a vote of no-confidence for backups Trayveon Williams and Kendall Milton, who can be released from dynasty rosters.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
Panthers Trade Jonathan Mingo to Cowboys
The Cowboys traded for WR Jonathan Mingo, giving the Panthers a fourth-round pick for Mingo plus a seventh-rounder.
It’s a curious acquisition for the Cowboys, who would seem to have greater needs at running back and at other positions. At 3-5. The Cowboys’ playoff hopes are growing faint, and they’re facing a multi-week absence for QB Dak Prescott, who has a hamstring injury.
As a rookie last season, Mingo had 43 catches for 418 yards and zero touchdowns in 15 games. He has 12 catches for 121 yards so far this season and has fallen behind rookies Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker on the depth chart. Mingo played just 28% of Carolina’s offensive snaps in Week 9.
Mingo would seem to offer no fantasy value on his new team. The Cowboys have CeeDee Lamb, one of the NFL’s most prolific pass catchers. Lamb sustained a shoulder injury on Sunday and could conceivably miss a game or two. But Mingo has to get acclimated to a new system and will likely be playing limited snaps in the coming weeks. Whatever targets he gets in the next week or two will probably be coming from backup QB Cooper Rush.
Young WR Jalen Tolbert has shown promise for Dallas this season. Veteran WR Brandin Cooks is expected back from a knee injury soon. And the Cowboys have a high-volume TE in Jake Ferguson.
Fantasy managers in redraft leagues shouldn’t be rushing out to add Mingo. But Mingo is signed through 2026, and the Cowboys apparently see something in him, so the 2022 second-round draft pick from Ole Miss is worth holding in dynasty.
For the Panthers, the Mingo trade signals a commitment to young WRs Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker. The Panthers clearly have big plans for Legette after trading into the first round to land him with the 32nd overall pick in this draft. But the big winner here is Coker, who had split snaps with Mingo in Week 9. An undrafted rookie free agent from Holy Cross, Coker is a big (6-1, 208) slot receiver with intriguing upside. He could provide WR4 value this year and is an attractive young dynasty asset.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
Jets Trade Mike Williams to Steelers
In a long-rumored deal, the Steelers acquired Mike Williams from the Jets for a fifth-round pick, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Adding Williams helps beef up Pittsburgh’s WR corps, which was among the thinnest in the league. Williams figures to start on the perimeter opposite the Steelers’ No. 1 receiver, George Pickens, with Calvin Austin III as the primary slot receiver.
The 30-year-old Williams offers size (6-4, 218) and ball skills. He had a 10-touchdown season in 2018, and 1,000-yard seasons in 2019 and 2021. But Williams has been plagued by injuries throughout his career. He played only three games last season after tearing his ACL in September.
It’s a curious fit, since Pickens and Williams are both big vertical boundary receivers. Pickens is clearly No. 1 in the pecking order, which will leave Williams as a boom-or-bust fantasy asset for a Pittsburgh offense that runs the ball at the second-highest rate in the league.
Williams should probably be rostered in average-size and larger fantasy leagues, but he’s a depth piece, not an every-week starter. Consider him a WR4 or WR5 with a wide range of weekly outcomes.
The addition of Williams shouldn’t have much of an effect on Pickens, but it could cut into what little fantasy value other Pittsburgh pass catchers had — namely Austin and TE Pat Freiermuth.
Williams’ departure from the Jets has no significant fantasy impact on his former teammates, since Williams had only 12 catches in nine games and had been a nonfactor for much of the season.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
