Trade Kelce, Hopkins, or Lamar?

[Jdawg]

Hey Everyone - Team 1 in sig is a salary cap league (and rookies holdout for more salary if they are a top finisher), so I’m in a tough situation where I need to trade one of the following guys to get under the $600 salary cap:

I’ve shopped all of Hopkins, Lamar, and Kelce and the deals are pretty underwhelming. (*Edited to add most recent offers)

Hopkins ($99, 3 years) - best offer is a late 2022 1st, 3rd, and OBJ (salary filler I would cut for a cap hit)
Lamar Jackson ($93, 4 years) - No good offers on the table.
Kelce RFA rights (means I can match any offer in the free agency auction) - Mark Andrews ($28, 4 years)


I’m leaning towards trading Hopkins because I've got decent depth at WR, but swapping Kelce for Andrews would allow me to keep the rest of the roster in place and still have a serviceable TE on a much cheaper deal.

Any thoughts or things I’m missing here? Thanks!

[Gator Sens]

Hopkins brings back the best return based on the offers on the table therefore, I would move him. Pretty low offers overall. The Jackson offer in SF is just bad.

[Jdawg]

Hopkins brings back the best return based on the offers on the table therefore, I would move him. Pretty low offers overall. The Jackson offer in SF is just bad.

I know, it’s pretty sad haha. But also tough to move a player with 1/6 of the cap for a ton of assets in this league unfortunately.

[Bennyblanco22]

Tough one when you're not getting offers of Hop's real worth. I'd say Hop is the answer here but ya hate selling low when you're fighting to compete for a title.

Edit: if the league has a good long standing reputation n will be there for awhile, then you might be able to get an early second this year, and maybe a 23 first or more? You're right about his contract being a massive hit on cap, so I think I'd be looking to get out sooner than later to open up other options.

[Jdawg]

Tough one when you're not getting offers of Hop's real worth. I'd say Hop is the answer here but ya hate selling low when you're fighting to compete for a title.

Edit: if the league has a good long standing reputation n will be there for awhile, then you might be able to get an early second this year, and maybe a 23 first or more? You're right about his contract being a massive hit on cap, so I think I'd be looking to get out sooner than later to open up other options.

Exactly. My thought as well on trying to get out now. I’d definitely look to 23 picks, but our league only allows current and next year picks to be traded so people don’t blow up there team and then leave the league. It’s worked pretty well for these first 6 years and everyone has stayed. So not super opposed to it.

[TheBelgian]

Because of the price of Hopkins and Lamar, these are probably fair offers. I don’t know how far above the cap you are, but let’s look at some things. First off, don’t be discouraged on the offers. The higher the price of a player the less attractive they become in the market. This is especially true if there are multiple years left on a big price. Teams don’t have cap space to attain them, teams are unwilling to commit to these players for multiple years or teams are just not interested in the player and their future. When you want to be a contender you pay for the elite players. So congratulations on the back2back championships.

Now it’s decision time.

Personally, I’m perfectly ok with trading away players (Hopkins and Lamar) who in this case are 16% a piece of your cap, but the price needs to be right. I’m not familiar with the nuances and market of your league and I’m only operating within the lines you have given, but the price seems right for Hopkins, at least from the perspective that I’m given from your post. Again, I’m not against moving Lamar, but a player for player trade might be the best route.

[repkllrs]

Hopkins is the most replacable in your line up and too expensive. Easy choice for me.

[Jdawg]

Because of the price of Hopkins and Lamar, these are probably fair offers. I don’t know how far above the cap you are, but let’s look at some things. First off, don’t be discouraged on the offers. The higher the price of a player the less attractive they become in the market. This is especially true if there are multiple years left on a big price. Teams don’t have cap space to attain them, teams are unwilling to commit to these players for multiple years or teams are just not interested in the player and their future. When you want to be a contender you pay for the elite players. So congratulations on the back2back championships.

Now it’s decision time.

Personally, I’m perfectly ok with trading away players (Hopkins and Lamar) who in this case are 16% a piece of your cap, but the price needs to be right. I’m not familiar with the nuances and market of your league and I’m only operating within the lines you have given, but the price seems right for Hopkins, at least from the perspective that I’m given from your post. Again, I’m not against moving Lamar, but a player for player trade might be the best route.

These are some really good thoughts, thanks! I think my biggest issue is that everyone with cap space is not contending this year, so they don’t want to trade a 1st+ or any of their young cheaper players since DHop or even Lamar probably won’t move the needle. So I’m left with some lackluster offers. But a 1st for Hopkins at the end of the day isn’t too bad considering this is similar to the value that higher cost vets go for.

[Edgy68]

I agree that Hopkins is more replaceable than Jackson in that format. I would take the ‘22 1st and not be extremely happy about it. This doesn’t preclude you from trading Jackson during the season when both ‘22 and ‘23 picks are on the table. You might be able to nab a 1st and a couple of decent players for him then.

[Jdawg]

Just circling back up on this - trading Lamar Jackson for an Early 1st + 2nd next year (guy has finished last 3 years in a row now...) would free up enough space for me to keep Kelce + add one of Brady/Fitzpatrick in our FA auction. I know it's not a great return, but it would give me more flexibility to potentially trade for a cheaper QB option down the road as well with the additional picks.

Or Hopkins for the late 1st (came in 2nd last year and has a great roster, so kinda hurts to trade Hopkins his way...)

Either way, need to move one or the other in the next few weeks.

[Jdawg]

I guess another option that could be explored is moving Davante Adams ($85 contract, 1 year left). A friendlier contract, but still up there in cost. I would definitely prefer to hold on to Adams over the next few years vs. Hopkins, but with Rodgers situation up in the air, maybe it would be worth looking at?

If I could get the early 1st + 2nd for Adams would that be more exciting than a late first for Hop?

[TheBelgian]

I guess another option that could be explored is moving Davante Adams ($85 contract, 1 year left). A friendlier contract, but still up there in cost. I would definitely prefer to hold on to Adams over the next few years vs. Hopkins, but with Rodgers situation up in the air, maybe it would be worth looking at?

If I could get the early 1st + 2nd for Adams would that be more exciting than a late first for Hop?

Moving Lamar is not a bad idea and I don’t think that you’re going to get a better offer. Adams is only going to be attractive to contenders because he only has 1 year left. So you would be trading to your competition once again.

[TheBelgian]

I’m curious what moves you ended up making in this scenario.

[Jdawg]

Alright, got an update here - finally making a move after waiting a bit to see if any other offers came through. Here's what's on the table:

Option 1: Trade Hopkins for 2022 late 1st, 3rd, and OBJ (who would be cut due to his high salary and a $20 cap hit would be added).

Option 2: Trade Kelce FA rights for Mark Andrews on a nice $28 contract. This would let me keep the rest of the squad in place, but I'd be downgrading Kelce to Andrews.

Any thoughts?
(more details in my original post)