Dynasty Fantasy Football | Buy, Sell, or Hold? (Week 1 — 2026)

by Wolf Trelles-Heard · Featured
Dynasty Buy, Sell, Hold Week 1

If you’re looking for an edge or some guidance on the best dynasty fantasy football trade to make before most of Week 1 kicks off, I’ve got you covered. I’ve highlighted some dynasty players I think you should buy, sell, or hold in Week 1, depending on your roster build. Check them out below — and go make some deals.

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Dynasty Trades to Go After Before the Price Climbs

Let’s play a little game, shall we? I’ll give you two sets of stats from unnamed players. Tell me which player you’d rather have going into 2026.

Per-game averages for Player A over the last six games of 2025:

  • 5.5 targets
  • 3.2 receptions
  • 52 receiving yards
  • 0.33 touchdowns
  • 10.0 fantasy points

Now, the same for Player B:

  • 6 targets
  • 4.7 receptions
  • 63 receiving yards
  • 0.66 touchdowns
  • 14.6 fantasy points

Obviously, Player B is the guy to have here, right?

BUY Jalen Coker | WR, Carolina Panthers

That’s Jalen Coker. Player A is none other than his teammate, Tetairoa McMillan. McMillan has the draft capital — he was the No. 8 overall pick last year — and won Offensive Rookie of the Year after finishing with 70 receptions for 1,014 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.

As you can see, though, he wasn’t Carolina’s best receiver down the stretch. That would be Coker, the former undrafted free agent out of Holy Cross.

Jalen Coker’s Advanced Metrics

The Panthers noticed that as well, and rewarded Coker with a three-year, $35-million deal this offseason. The deal can climb up to $41 million with incentives and includes $19.5 million in guarantees.

Former NFL receiver Adam Thielen recently appeared on a podcast with Matthew Berry and said he believes Coker is the wideout on that roster… not McMillan. That’s a bold statement, but Thielen may be on to something. Coker is an elite zone beater; he averaged +0.60 EPA/target and had an 85% catch rate against zone defense last year.

Coker also ranked ninth in QB rating per target (117.8), 12th in fantasy points per target (2.10), and 20th in target separation (1.81) among all receivers a season ago.

Here at PlayerProfiler, we have these teammates closer together in dynasty rankings than nearly every other site. McMillian is WR18, while Coker is WR39. But on KeepTradeCut, the value gap between them is vast. McMillian is currently WR10, with Coker all the way down at WR47.

Use those sites that have Coker lower to your advantage in any trade talks. I suspect it won’t cost much more than a single future second-round rookie pick to land his services. And as you can see from how he finished his second season, Coker is a player on the rise.

SELL Jake Ferguson | TE, Dallas Cowboys

I’ve been out on Jake Ferguson all offseason, and nothing has changed as we head into the Week 1 slate. He’s just a “catch-and-fall-down” tight end — not a true impact player — with a tough strength of schedule this season. Because of that, I’d rather get out now before other managers start seeing the same thing.

Last year, his counting stats were decent. He finished third among all tight ends with 82 catches and set a career high with eight touchdowns. That was a big turnaround from the prior season, when Ferguson had a big, fat goose egg in the touchdown column.

Everything else was pretty gross, though. Ferguson totaled just 600 receiving yards, and his measly 7.3 yards per reception ranked 42nd at the position.

His efficiency metrics also show a middling player who benefited from some touchdown luck:

  • First downs per route run – 0.068 (TE28)
  • Target separation – 1.83 (TE30)
  • Yards per route run – 1.27 (TE33)
  • Yards per target – 5.9 (TE40)

Not only that, but Ferguson had some jarring splits last year. In three games without CeeDee Lamb, Ferguson averaged 17.7 fantasy points. In the 14 games with Lamb, that number dropped all the way down to 9.6. That’s quite the dip.

Jake Ferguson’s splits in 2025 with and without CeeDee Lamb

Then there’s how he finished down the stretch. In Weeks 1-6, he was the TE1, averaging 16.4 fantasy points per game. From Week 7 on, however, he was only the TE17, averaging 8.1 fantasy points.

That’s not the type of profile I want to depend on in my fantasy lineup most weeks. Ferguson will get a boost if Lamb or Pickens ever miss time, but he’s an uninspiring play when the Cowboys’ top receivers are healthy.

dynasty buy, sell, hold week 1

And one more thing worth noting: Dallas re-signed backup tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford to a three-year extension this week. Ferguson signed a four-year, $50-million contract last year, but the Cowboys could get out of that deal after this season with only a $12-million dead cap hit.

I’m not suggesting that will happen, but in dynasty, it’s worth knowing little nuggets like that.

See if you can push the raw stats and Ferguson’s TE5 overall finish to get maximum value in return from one of your league mates. Or maybe you can package him with another asset to enhance your tight end position before his value starts to slip.

HOLD Brock Bowers | TE, Las Vegas Raiders

Brock Bowers managers, I know things feel bleak and hopeless right now. I should know; outside of Kyle Pitts, Bowers is my most-rostered starter at the position across my dynasty leagues. The man his head coach called a “football robot from heaven” is far too talented to offload for pennies on the dollar just because of this meniscus trim.

Yes, he’ll miss a couple of games to start the season. And yes, he’ll likely be a little slow out of the gate as he ramps back up to full speed. Bowers remains a beast. He’s cut from a different cloth. You don’t trade away guys like that lightly.

Brock Bowers’ Career Stats

Over his first two seasons, Bowers has averaged 15.13 fantasy points per game in full-PPR, non-TE-premium formats. The only tight end in NFL history to top that in his first two seasons was Rob Gronkowski, with 15.17 per game.

Bowers will be back sooner rather than later, and we’ve already seen him dominate after returning from an injury. After sitting out a month last year due to a PCL injury, Bowers came back in Week 9 and put up a legendary performance against the Jaguars. He displayed no rust and racked up 12 receptions for 127 yards and three scores.

His 43.3 fantasy points in that game were a career-high and the second-best single-game performance by a tight end in 2025, trailing only Kyle Pitts‘ 45.6-fantasy-point explosion in Week 15 against the Buccaneers.

That’s the kind of week-winning upside Bowers possesses. Do NOT panic-sell. Hang tight and see if you can snag Michael Mayer for a simple plug-and-play replacement. If not, scour the waiver wire for guys like Cade Otton, Greg Dulcich, or Pat Freiermuth.

I know it sucks, but this is a speed bump, not a reason to bail. You’ll be much happier holding Bowers rather than selling him when his value took a temporary tumble.

Wolf Trelles-Heard is a fantasy football analyst for PlayerProfiler.

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