The Denver Broncos trade WR Demaryius Thomas to the Houston Texans in exchange for a fourth-round pick. The teams are also swapping seventh-round picks.
Dr. Roto: Great trade for both the Texans and Broncos—and for Fantasy players. Demaryius Thomas is now locked in as the WR2 in Houston while Courtland Sutton gets the chance to be full-time starter in Denver. Thomas will now play in an upgraded offense and Sutton gets a huge upgrade in playing time & opportunity.
The only loser in this deal is Texans rookie WR Keke Coutee although he is not fully healthy at this point anyway. Houston gave up a fourth-round pick for Thomas and the teams are also swapping seventh round picks. Denver would have owed Thomas $14 million in 2019 so this saves them a lot of cap next year.
Doc’s Grade: Texans A, Broncos B-
Adam Ronis: The biggest winner here is Courtland Sutton. All he needs is opportunity and now he will get it. If he’s available in your league, empty the wallet to get him. He’s a great talent and has flashed when given the chance in his rookie season. He is averaging 19.1 yards per catch.
Thomas is a WR3 in Houston. They have a need for a wide receivers and Thomas won’t get the top cover corners with DeAndre Hopkins on the other side. Thomas gets an upgrade at quarterback with Deshaun Watson. Keke Coutee takes a slight hit since he was in line to get a bigger target share with Will Fuller out for the season. Coutee is dealing with a hamstring injury, too. Coutee is still worth rostering, but Sutton and D.J. Moore are better waiver wire adds this week.
The Detroit Lions send Golden Tate to the Philadelphia Eagles for a third-round draft pick.
Matt De Lima: Tate being in the final year of his contract seems like the main motivator for trading him. Plus it’s hard to blame Detroit since Kenny Golladay looks like a borderline superstar at times and deserves a bigger role. Tate joins the Eagles and fits nicely as the team’s No. 2 WR. I don’t love this situation. The Eagles gave up a third-round pick which seems steep since again, Tate is in a contract year. A third-round pick for what amounts to a second-half rental is way too much to pay. Unless Tate has let the franchise know he’d be very, very willing to re-sign. There’s been a lot of criticism about Wentz not performing as well as he did last year in the red zone and Tate doesn’t add much of anything in that regard as an undersized slot type. It’s certainly not a bad trade, but it feels just a bit off the mark for the Eagles. The Lions adding a third rounder is big. Detroit can easily land a starting-caliber player in Round 3.
Matt’s Grade: Eagles C, Lions A
Adam Ronis: Tate will get his second bye week of the season now that he’s with the Eagles, who have a bye this week. It gives him some time to learn the offense. Tate takes a slight dip in Fantasy value and is more of a WR3 in PPR formats. Tate was getting 27 percent of the target share in Detroit and now he has to vie with Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz for targets. Nelson Agholor is the big loser here. He might not see as much time in the slot, where he excels from. He’s been trending down since Jeffery returns. This is a nice boost for Carson Wentz and the whole Eagles offense. The Eagles have struggled to run the ball and Tate could become an extension of the running game.
For the Lions, Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones get big boosts and are WR2 every week. Tate leaving opens a lot of targets for them. Golladay had three targets the last two weeks and people started to panic. The biggest problem for the Lions is the slow pace they are playing. With tough teams ahead, they should have to throw more. T.J. Jones should see more snaps and is worth a look in deep formats. Theo Riddick could benefit when he returns and see some time in the slot.
