Dynasty Fantasy Football Sells: Trade Terry McLaurin Before The NFL Draft
Justin Carlucci highlights a trio of players that dynasty managers should be rushing to sell off before the 2026 NFL Draft.
The 2026 NFL Draft is rapidly approaching, and the buzz around where these college football studs will land is at an all-time high. There's going to be chaos and a ton of uncertainty. But we can connect the dots in a few areas based on context—coaches' quotes and roster decisions. Some situations just make too much sense. Let's dive into a few dynasty fantasy football sells you should be looking to trade away before it's too late.
Sell These Players In Dynasty Fantasy Football
Tony Pollard/Tyjae Spears | RBs | TEN
The Titans have one of the most polarizing picks in the draft at No. 4 overall, and of course, the forever debate: Is it worth taking a running back that high? At the same time, plenty of intelligent draft prognosticators believe Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love is the best overall player in this class.
An obvious theory is adding defense for new head coach, Robert Saleh. There are some talented edge rushers (and Sonny Styles) at the top of the board, and any of them could be dangerous next to Jeffrey Simmons and his new partner in crime, John Franklin-Myers, who received a mega payday from the Titans.
Tennessee also traded for edge Jermaine Johnson earlier this spring. While Johnson might not totally move the needle, he certainly helps, and we've seen Saleh turn lemons into lemonade with the 49ers’ defense at times. The Titans also overhauled their secondary and spent a ton of money on Alontae Taylor and Cor’Dale Flott.
Zoom out for a second. Yes, it's great that the Titans brought in a competent NFL play-caller in Brian Daboll, so quarterback Cam Ward finally gets to play at even par at the pro level. But other than that, Tennessee has done next to nothing this offseason to help its franchise quarterback.
I’d like to think Titans’ GM Mike Borgonzi is a smart football guy, and he’s talked about adding blue-chip players to help this team since his arrival last winter. A ton of new stock has been put into the Tennessee defense, and almost nothing has been done offensively.
The Titans added Wan'Dale Robinson to reunite with Daboll, which is a nice pickup—but that's the end of the entire offensive acquisition list. I can't imagine Daboll is thrilled sitting at the lunch table all alone with just Robinson. All jokes aside, the offense needs some “love,” and I'm sure Daboll would feel the same way. It's borderline negligent if they don't add more pieces to the puzzle.
There are remaining free agent playmakers on the market, mainly at the receiver position, but most carry question marks and will likely still be overvalued by desperate teams post-draft.
As of Tuesday, Love is the favorite to be drafted by the Titans at +105 on DraftKings. If oddsmakers are correct, there could be a domino effect throughout the rest of the first round. With Love off the board, teams like the Commanders could be in an even better position to take a receiver, which, spoiler alert, ties directly into our next sell.
If the Titans add Love, the current Tennessee RB room is in trouble in terms of fantasy value. Tyjae Spears might actually be the bigger loser here. Tennessee would likely hold onto him, but it would be hard to envision any significant role.
Pollard is a cut candidate regardless, who might find a new home to garner at least some kind of serviceable role. Either way, neither back would carry nearly as much value if the Titans take Love at No. 4.
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Terry McLaurin | WR | WAS
There's another obvious spot when it comes to quarterback development and adding first-round talent—the Washington Commanders.
The Commanders are in a prime spot to take a playmaker, specifically a receiver. They've done their homework. Washington has reportedly met with Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon, Jordyn Tyson, Omar Cooper and Denzel Boston. That's a lot of receiver homework!
David Blough is now the offensive coordinator after replacing Kliff Kingsbury, and my guess is he'd want to keep some of the same offensive principles. You don't want to take a young quarterback too far off the rails from what he's been learning the last couple of years. More so, I worry about another young, talented receiver coming in and what that means for Terry McLaurin.
McLaurin has been a model of consistency throughout his NFL career, up until last year's injury-plagued 2025 season, where nothing went right for the Commanders collectively.
Scary Terry is now 30 years old, and well, I’m scared.
Deebo Samuel is gone, and the Commanders simply cannot look at their depth chart, see Treylon Burks lined up across from McLaurin, and feel good about it.
Washington added Chig Okonkwo in free agency, who is solid but was never truly unlocked as a pass catcher during his time in Tennessee. He's a notoriously poor pass blocker, ranking near the bottom of PFF's grades, but he could see a lot of quick passes around the line of scrimmage given his yards-after-catch ability. It helps, but it's not enough.
Washington has the No. 7 overall pick, which is prime real estate for a receiver. Carnell Tate is a possibility, or maybe they trade down a few slots for Jordyn Tyson, whom many tout as the best receiver in the draft despite his own injury history.
Regardless, adding a first-round receiver would be great for the Commanders' offense as a whole, but bad for McLaurin specifically.
During Jayden Daniels' 2024 rookie breakout, McLaurin had a whopping 39% air-yard share, but he still owned just a 21% target share. That's not exactly a stranglehold on targets.
Daniels showed the willingness to spread it around, as four different Commanders had double-digit target shares that season. McLaurin's target competition at the time was Zach Ertz, Noah Brown and Olamide Zaccheaus, with a sprinkle of Dyami Brown. He didn't even crack 25% of the target share against that porous group.
There's another layer here. The Commanders ranked just 20th in pass rate in neutral situations in 2025, per Fantasy Points. Yes, there's a new offensive coordinator in town, but it's just another notch on the belt in terms of reasons for skepticism around McLaurin's volume.
As of Tuesday on DraftKings, Carnell Tate sits at +475, the third-best odds in the “to be selected at No. 7 overall” market. If a first-round receiver lands in Washington, I'm worried McLaurin won't hold onto that type of air-yard share—let alone the target share—by the end of the season.
Heck, there’s a chance that one of these talented youngsters can straight up steal the alpha role from him. Sell while the name still carries weight.
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