Luke Basha fantasy football: If you’re on the bubble, make the trade

You probably have a pretty good idea of how you’re going to spend the fantasy playoffs by now. At this point, you likely fall into one of three categories.

There are the contenders who are 7-3 or better and have already punched their tickets for all intents and purposes.

There are the afterthoughts who are clearly out of the race, and might have been that way for a long time.

Then there are the teams on the bubble. Their record could be 4-6, 5-5, or 6-4. Depending on how your playoff bracket is set up and how poor your division is, the playoff glimmer might still be flickering.

At this point, and with the trade deadline for most leagues (Nov. 26) rapidly approaching, you should either stay the course or throw a few Hail Marys to see if you can land a championship. A bold move can greatly improve a team or damage it, but that call is all yours to make.

Decide if you want to employ a boom-or-bust approach and try to trade for players who present massive upside but who have also struggled for stretches. Doug Martin, T.Y. Hilton, and Ben Roethlisberger come to mind here. Or maybe all you need is a consistent eight to 12 points per week to improve your team. Eric Decker is the poster boy for such consistency.

You should also factor in your schedule in planning such trades. If you’re striking a deal with someone you still have yet to face or might run into in the playoffs, proceed with caution. Most (fair) trades equally benefit both teams, and you might shore up your Achilles heel while doing the same for a team that could possibly end your playoff dreams.

When in doubt, I’d say do whatever it takes to make it into the playoffs if you’re on the bubble. I’m not for passing out participation trophies at the end of the year, but making it into the playoffs at least counts as a good season. And once you’re in, you never know what could happen. Just ask those Buckeyes.

▪ Tony Romo (QB, DAL): In case no one in your league has been smart enough to add him, do it. He returns this week to face a vulnerable Dolphins defense. Romo’s return also boosts the value of all Cowboy players, especially Jason Witten and Dez Bryant.

▪ Alex Smith (QB, KC): Recipe for 15-20 fantasy points from QB position: Add one conservative QB who only throws short passes to his talented pass-catchers to minimize interceptions. Add one banged up and already bad Chargers’ secondary. Mix gently. Bake until golden brown.

▪ Joique Bell (RB, DET): He seems to be the favorite RB of the Lions’ new OC and he gets to face an Oakland defense that just lost Aldon Smith to suspension.

▪ Matt Jones (RB, WAS): Take this from a guy who left Jones on the bench last week, he was clearly the best Washington RB out there last week. Yes the Saints are atrocious on defense, but great players cash out on great matchups just like Jones did. He has a tough game against the Panthers this week, but Jones is adept at pass-catching as well, and the Panthers yielded a score to another pass-catcher in Dexter McCluster last week.

▪ Jay Ajayi (RB, MIA): I mentioned him last week and the Dolphins seem to be feeding him the ball a little more. In the last two games, he’s averaged close to 8.1 yards per carry. If his workload continues to increase, you could benefit from adding Ajayi at the expense of Lamar Miler’s owner.

▪ Denard Robinson (RB, JAX): T.J. Yeldon is injured and may miss Thursday’s game against the Titans. If he does, or is limited, that would open the door for the still-talented Robinson to play and exploit a decent matchup. Robinson was a hot name in fantasy last year, and he now has a prime chance to rekindle some of that success.

▪ Danny Amendola/Brandon LaFell (WR, NE): Repeat after me … “next man up.” With Julian Edelman out for the rest of the regular season (and effectively done for fantasy purposes), lower-ranking Patriots WRs are set to see a boost in their usage. Amendola seems to be getting more love in fantasy circles, but LaFell is far from a consolation prize.

▪ Dorial Green-Beckham (WR, TEN): I’ll try to stop mentioning DGB here each week, but the reasons to add him keep coming. DGB has a matchup against the Jaguars this Thursday night. Fellow Titans WRS Justin Hunter and Kendall Wright will not be playing, which means that DGB will likely get plenty of targets.

▪ Stevie Johnson (WR, SD): Coming off the bye, San Diego’s WRs are still ravaged by injuries. Johnson is the top dog and he is going to see a lot of looks from a pass-happy Philip Rivers. Playing Kansas City this week, Johnson’s upside is dependent on whether you think the Chiefs’ play last week was a turnaround from their otherwise dismal play against WRs or taking advantage of a dead-Manning-walking. My money is on the latter.

▪ Eric Ebron (TE, DET): When in doubt, deploy the TE who is facing Oakland. They’ve already ceded 10 scores to the position, and as mentioned above, they lost Aldon Smith to suspension. That should open up some great holes over the middle for even more TE success.

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Luke Basha fantasy football: If you’re on the bubble, make the trade."