Photo: USA Today Sports

Target young players. Easy. When launching a rebuild, it is easy to say, “Target young players with upside.” 

But should we not always target young players in Dynasty? 

Far too often, rebuilding dynasty teams will seek to scattershot young wide receivers, hoping a couple will pan out. That process is long and messy, usually leading to rosters filled with receivers you are not quite ready to give up on year over year.

RELATED: See Players to Trade Away here >>>

The dynasty process has shifted dramatically towards valuing young wide receivers as building blocks. Attempting to acquire your leaguemate's elite assets is a chicken or egg equation. Why are you rebuilding if you have high-end assets to acquire high-end players?

Instead, seek cheaper veterans with distressed values and quick paths to recovering relevance. Take Mike Evans, for example. Last summer, Evans’s dynasty value cratered following the retirement of Tom Brady. Evans was not a worse receiver. His situation changed. And “fantasy hive mind” was wrong. Evans reached as high as WR16 in dynasty value in the summer of 2022 before plummeting to WR44 in 2023. He returned one of his best seasons, climbing back to WR27 in February 2024. Regarding raw value gained, buying in the dip and selling in the peak was the equivalent of trading a late 2nd for a late 1st. 

Draft picks are the path to rebuilding a roster. Positioning your roster to obtain high picks and hitting on those picks in repeated cycles will allow you to enter a competitive window as the top teams in your league age out. One of the easiest ways to accumulate picks is selling to contending rosters at trade deadlines or during the playoffs. 

Here are four receivers with a path to dynasty value bumps, along with some recently completed trades from FantasyCalc.

WR to Target: Tee Higgins, Cincinnati

Higgins entered the 2023 season as WR11 in Keeptradecut.com value. It was a disappointing season where he missed five games, and his overall production dropped in an offense that lost Joe Burrow after their tenth game. 

The result has dropped Higgins into the WR24 range for much of the offseason. Interestingly, a small window at the beginning of February jumped him up to WR18 before the team announced they would apply the franchise tag, wiping out the rebound. Higgins again started to gain steam in mid-April until the team selected Jermaine Burton on Day 2. He has remained on the fringe of losing WR2 status through the summer. 

But things are breaking in his direction. 

Ja’Marr Chase has been absent from camp, holding in for a new contract. Burton has started his career slowly, with a minor ankle injury costing him some time. Burrow and Higgins have been able to rebuild any bit of lost chemistry, and Higgins has stood out in the camp. 

The dynasty community has shown they still believe in talent. Higgins is motivated, playing in a contract season, and the Bengals are on a mission after missing the 2023 playoffs. Higgins has been viewed as a dynasty blue-chip asset, and it will not take much to put him back there again. 

Completed Trades from FantasyCalc

• Tee Higgins for MarShawn Lloyd, Josh Jacobs, and 2025 3rd
• Tee Higgins and Tyler Higbee for Tony Pollard and Javonte Williams
• Tee Higgins for Isiah Pacheco
• Tee Higgins and 2025 2nd for Davante Adams and Pat Freiermuth

WR to Target: Cooper Kupp, LA Rams

Just over two years ago, in October 2022, Kupp was dynasty WR3 overall. Now? Dynasty WR35. It would be understandable if he were on a new team, with a new quarterback, or suffered an injury that would significantly alter his career trajectory. 

He is not.

He has the same quarterback as Matthew Stafford, who helped him to one of the best seasons in NFL history in 2021. He is healthy, something he could not say for most of the last two years. And he is in the same offensive-friendly system. 

Sure, Puka Nacua broke out in 2023. And Kupp was injured for a significant portion of the season. He still bounced back, finishing as the WR7 between Weeks 13 and 17 (he sat a Week 18 game that did not impact the standings). He scored touchdowns in four of those five games, and his 17-game pace projects to 150 targets, 109 receptions, and 1,170 yards. 

The Rams open the season in primetime against Detroit and have ample opportunity for a quick rebound of Kupp’s value, creating a flip situation HGTV would put in their primetime lineup.

Completed Trades from FantasyCalc

• Cooper Kupp for Troy Franklin and 2025 2nd
• Cooper Kupp for Amari Cooper and 2025 3rd
• Cooper Kupp for Chris Godwin and 2025 3rd
• Cooper Kupp for Derek Carr and Josh Downs