
Sam Wallace breaks down four players that every dynasty fantasy football manager should be targeting in the trade markets early in the 2026 offseason.

There's never a bad time to improve your dynasty fantasy football roster. Values fluctuate throughout the year and different landmark events (combine, draft, etc.) can impact how managers view specific players and situations. As we delve deeper into the offseason, here are four dynasty fantasy football trade targets you should look into.
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Currently valued as a low-end WR3 with a legitimate path to be his team's No. 1 wideout next season? There's a very real chance we are vastly underestimating the value of Ricky Pearsall.
First, let's take stock of the current pass-catchers in San Francisco. Jauan Jennings is a free agent, and Brandon Aiyuk has likely played his last snap for the team. In addition, George Kittle will likely miss time next season as he works his way back from injury, which really just leaves us with Pearsall.
Is having Pearsall as a top-24 receiver in the first edition of my 2026 ranks aggressive? Yes, but we're also talking fantasy ranks in … February … so let's have a little bit of an open mind here!
Injuries have unfortunately robbed us as a society of seeing Pearsall operate at full health for any level of extended stretch during his short two-year career. And yet, one quick look at the #film reveals that we are truly looking at one of the league's top-tier route tacticians here.
The team will likely add help to their wideout room in some fashion, either through the draft or free agency, but as the presumptive remaining veteran on the team, it appears as though the job is Pearsall's to lose.
The Chicago Bears might have gotten one of the biggest steals of the 2025 NFL Draft when they snagged Luther Burden early in the second round (39th overall). He's currently my WR11 in dynasty formats.
The Ben Johnson/Caleb Williams pairing paid off in a big way. If the Bears can ever figure out how to get out quickly and start games faster instead of needing all these fourth-quarter comebacks, they could become one of the most dangerous offenses in the league.
Chicago is deep at every offensive skill position, but Burden rapidly surfaced as the go-to option in the receiver room over the final weeks of the season. Despite his slow start, he averaged six targets per game over his final seven contests.
DJ Moore and Rome Odunze are more than capable in their own right, but Burden profiles as the alpha of the room and should be treated as such both by Johnson/Williams and dynasty managers everywhere.
Dwain McFarland recently said this about Burden:
Burden's underlying data points toward a player with a high ceiling.
His 2.36 YPRR ranks 10th out of 163 rookie WRs with at least 250 routes since 2011. Below is the list of part-time rookie players who posted a YPRR of 2.25 or higher:
All of those players earned more playing time in their second seasons, with Hill and Rice erupting into fantasy stars.
When Dwain says something (anything, really), I pay attention. The consensus still has Odunze ranked ahead of Burden, which means there are still chances to land this talented young player before he truly breaks out next season.
Whenever an RB checks the following five boxes (courtesy of our legend Ian Hartitz), they should immediately garner your attention:
Enter, Chase Brown. He might not be as flashy as some of the other premier options at the RB position, but he scores points with the best of them.
Valued outside of the top-12 RBs by consensus, Brown offers RB1 upside and consistently weekly usage at a discount. Certainly, the key to making all of this work is the health of Joe Burrow. As someone who doesn't like to project injuries, I'm operating under the assumption that the Bengals will have their QB1 for the entirety of the season.
Still only 25 years old, Brown is the ideal trade target for any type of dynasty roster. Looking to push your chips in for a run at a title? Need to offload an aging, elite option in either Saquon Barkley or Christian McCaffrey? Brown fits either mold very well.
He might be the oldest soon-to-be Year 2 QB we've ever had, but there's no mistaking how productive Tyler Shough was over the final half of his rookie campaign. From Weeks 10-18, he averaged:
It sounds like the Saints are considering Shough to be their QB heading into this offseason and next season, which is always great when you get confirmation this soon. Give the man all the reps and get him some additional offensive weapons.
Chris Allen and Jake Trowbridge recently debated Shough, and here's some pro-Shough propaganda for you:
However, with just over a half-season of starts, Shough's metrics stack up with his first-year brethren.
With the team's other roster needs, Shough has multi-year starter potential on his current deal.
I'm certainly in agreement with that last point—the Saints have too many other holes to fill on that roster to spend any sort of meaningful capital (draft or financial) on the QB position. A young QB punching well above his weight on a cheap contract is still a valuable asset.
I would be targeting Shough as my strong QB2 or high-end QB3. The market currently views him as a low-end QB2, and that's more due to the strength of some of the guys ahead of him than it is a not on Shough. Don't get too caught up in his age; when a player shows that he can play, he's going to get opportunities.