Fantasy Football Trader's Alley Week 3: Players to Buy, Hold, or Sell

Sep 17, 2025

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

Welcome to the Week 3 edition of Trader's Alley! I'm your weekly tour guide on the bumpy ride that is trading in fantasy football leagues, here to highlight the most notable Buys, Holds, and Sells each week, powered by 4for4's powerful Trade Evaluator tool.

Remember, trading is more of a league- and leaguemates-dependent exercise than anything else in fantasy. What makes a trade "fair" or "feasible" is heavily determined by your league settings, roster constructions, available players, and leaguemate dispositions. So take everything you read here with a grain of salt, and do your best to adjust accordingly! (Or become a 4for4 subscriber of any tier and join the Discord to ask me directly in the weekly Trade Talk AMA on Wednesday evenings!)

This column assumes half-PPR, four-point passing touchdowns, and starting rosters with 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, and 1 FLEX — but you can also change the configurations on the Trade Evaluator tool to fit your league exactly.

Let's get into it.

Buy D'Andre Swift

Trade Evaluator: RB27 / 54th overall / 53 Trade Value points

I was the D'Andre Swift guy all offseason, and through two weeks, that's looking ... relatively fine? He's the RB22 on the merits of a high-ish floor, but has yet to really hit anything close to a ceiling with the Bears offense struggling to start the season. Still, there are good signs so far: his 35 touches are top-15 in the league, he's played 71.3% of the offensive snaps (to Kyle Monangai's 29.5%), and he scored a goal-line rushing touchdown in Week 2. Meanwhile, the Bears have played two theoretically tough division opponents to start the year, and are just 120 minutes into the Ben Johnson era.

With an upcoming schedule featuring the Cowboys, Raiders, and an early bye to help everyone get on the same page, I believe this offense will look quite a bit better over the coming weeks (as long as Caleb Williams isn't a complete bust). As the clear lead back in said offense, Swift has tons of room for fantasy growth, which is exactly what we're targeting with early-season trades. If you buy him "at cost" right now, you're more or less buying his floor, with high-end RB2 upside on the table in an improved offense.