Fantasy Football Trades for Week 4: Quinshon Judkins, Terry McLaurin and More

It's only been three weeks, but we are basically already into the heart of the fantasy football season. With three games of data, managers know what to expect from their players.

In turn, they know where their teams are weak and where they are strong … which means it's a perfect time for trading. Trades should only get more frequent at this time of year, with players moving all over the place.

And if you're wondering what players are being moved the most, FantasySP has you covered. The Fantasy Assistant uses predictive analytics to generate an Expected Trade Interest (ETI) for each player. A higher ETI means that a player is more likely to be traded. Here are the leaders heading into Week 4:

Normally, the top players in ETI are those in shifting situations. That holds mostly true this week as Quinshon Judkins is settling in as Cleveland's RB1 while Terry McLaurin is dealing with a quad injury. The third player in ETI, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, hasn't seen any major shifts in his situation. But he has started the year on a tear, so his value is on the move, too. Let's break down what to do with these three hot trade assets. 

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Buy Quinshon Judkins

On Sunday against the Packers, Judkins was the Browns' clear RB1. He handled 18 of their 19 RB carries on a 58% snap share and also led the backfield with a 32% route participation rate. The only place he didn't lead was targets, where he saw one to Jerome Ford's four.

Those numbers are already solid for a rookie RB, but they look even more impressive when we consider that Judkins only officially joined the Browns' roster less than 20 days ago. His role is only going to grow from here. It's also great to see that Judkins is already trusted to lead the team in routes and see work in the passing game, as that was not his strength in college.

Judkins has also looked good on the work he has seen. He ranks 20th of 59 qualified RBs in PFF Grade, as well as third in rush yards over expected per attempt according to Next Gen Stats. He has also averaged an excellent 5.5 yards per carry. 

At this point, there are two main things keeping Judkins from being a no-brainer smash option. The first is that he still might be suspended for a preseason domestic violence arrest. The second is that he plays for the Browns.

But that suspension, if it comes at all, will likely only be a few games. And Cleveland's defense is looking elite, so they should be at least competitive in most games. Put it all together, and Judkins is looking like an RB2, at least, the rest of the way — that makes him worth targeting if his current manager doesn't realize what they have. 

Sell Terry McLaurin (If You Can)

I was massively out on McLaurin for fantasy football coming into 2025. But even I didn't see Scary Terry's season starting this badly. Through two weeks, he had been easily out-targetted by Deebo Samuel Sr., 18 to 13. McLaurin has always struggled to earn targets at an elite level, but an 18% target share was a new low even by his standards. 

Adding injury to insult, McLaurin exited the Commanders' Week 3 win over the Raiders early with a quad injury. Normally, quad injuries don't present long-term issues, but McLaurin has not returned to practice and is reportedly seeking multiple opinions, including from a core muscle injury expert, on his issue.

We don't want to overreact to what may be standard procedure, but it's never a good sign when a player has to get multiple opinions on an injury. 

With all this in mind, it's certainly not an ideal time to try to trade away McLaurin. However, especially if your team has started slow (which it probably has if you were relying on McLaurin, who is just the WR57 in half-PPR scoring), it might be worth moving him for just about anything at all. 

Right now, you could potentially sell an upside-chasing leaguemate on the idea that McLaurin simply had two mediocre games to start his season, then suffered an unfortunate (but short-term) injury. Don't expect to get his draft-day value back, but you could get something of real value. Given that McLaurin was looking like a bust even before his injury, that's a move worth making. 

Buy Jaxon Smith-Njigba

This is undeniably a recommendation to buy high. Three weeks into the year, Smith-Njigba is the WR6 in half-PPR formats. But the two names right in front of him are Tre Tucker and Quentin Johnston — it's early enough in the season that pure production numbers should be taken with a massive grain of salt.

However, JSN has the underlying usage to back up the fact that he is ascending as a truly elite fantasy receiver. Among receivers, he ranks in the top five in each of targets (third), target share (first), air yards (fifth), air yards share (first), and receiving yards (second). The eye test agrees with the volume metrics, as PFF has him grades as the third-best WR in the league so far this season.

And none of this should come as a surprise. Smith-Njigba, who is still just 23 years old, was an elite prospect. He has minimal target competition in the aging Cooper Kupp, rookie Tory Horton, and AJ Barner at tight end.

Sam Darnold, at least so far, doesn't appear to be turning back to a pumpkin in Seattle. All of the pieces are here for a third-year breakout into superstardom. If you can get on this train now at an even slightly discounted price, do it. 

Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasySP. Find him on Twitter @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.