Gray Acquires Mike Evans in Six-Player Trade
In 2005, 26-year-old Kyle MacDonald looked down at his desk and noticed an ordinary red paperclip. But where others might have seen a run-of-the-mill office supply, a worthless loop of steel wire more readily tossed in the trash than given a second thought, MacDonald saw an opportunity. One year and 14 trades later, he turned that paperclip into a house.
MacDonald later recounted his now infamous story in a book and a TEDx Talk he gave in Austria in 2015, describing his methods as “moving liabilities into assets.” He traded the paperclip for a fish pen. Then the fish pen for a doorknob. Then the doorknob for a camping stove. And on and on and on.
At times, he made trades others deemed terrible. Like when he traded an afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS snow globe. But he knew the tendencies of his potential trade partners. Like the fact that Hollywood actor Corbin Bernsen (with whom MacDonald had already been corresponding) had one of the world’s largest snow globe collections. So it was no surprise then that Bernsen immediately offered up a role in an upcoming film in exchange for the KISS snow globe, which turned out to be the trade that led to the house.
Why do I bring up MacDonald’s story? Because after acquiring Mike Evans yesterday evening, it appears Gray has a lot in common with the red paperclip guy.
In two trades, two waiver adds and a little over three weeks, Gray has turned a struggling RB stuck in a timeshare on a bad offense, one undrafted handcuff, and a TE he grabbed off of waivers into the #6 WR in fantasy.
Let’s recap exactly how he did it:
Prior to Week 1, Gray dropped 13th-round pick Ronald Jones, picking up undrafted RB Austin Ekeler in free agency.
Then in the first round of waivers, he acquired undrafted TE George Kittle, dropping injured 11th-round pick Jack Doyle.
Two weeks later, he traded Ekeler to Trevor for ninth-round pick Sterling Shepard, whose value has trended up following an injury to Evan Engram.
And one week after that, he packaged Kittle, the recently acquired Shepard and his struggling fourth-round pick Derrick Henry for Mike Evans and what amounts to a couple of throwaways in Austin Hooper and Alfred Blue, both undrafted and available in free agency as recently as last week.
That’s how you turn a busted fourth-round pick into a top-10 WR.
Now, all of this is not to say that it’s a bad trade for Geoff. I’m sure none of the people that made trades with MacDonald felt like they were getting a raw deal. The girl with the fish pen wanted the paperclip. The guy who gave away the camping stove could use the doorknob for his stovetop espresso maker. And Corbin Bernsen is weirdly obsessed with snow globes. But it was MacDonald’s vision to see the deal beyond the deal that got him from paperclip to house.
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those people shouting “Veto!” on WhatsApp. Would I rather be Gray in this trade? Yes. But I think this deal does make sense for Geoff. He’s 1-3 and 11th in the Power Rankings. Clearly, the season has not gone as planned. He needs to win now and to do that he needs to shake things up. Specifically, he needs multiple starters. Mike Evans is the best player in the deal, sure, but he has several holes to fill. By trading away Evans, he’s essentially getting a 3-for-1 deal. He gives up his highest-performing and likely “best” player (not counting Le’Veon Bell who is still AWOL, reportedly until Week 8). And in exchange, he gets:
A young WR3 with upside who has had over 77 yards and a TD two weeks in a row.
The #3 TE in fantasy in a year in which TE has been absolutely brutal with scoring down by 10%.
And a former Heisman winner, entering the prime years of his career, who is still technically the starter in Tennessee when, as always, RBs are hard to come by.
That’s at least two starters this week and potentially three down the line. Not counting streamers like kicker or defense, that’s 43% of your roster in one deal. Plus, let’s not forget that Mike Evans is on bye this week, which means Geoff wasn’t going to be able to start him in Week 5 anyway. And when you’re 1-3, you’re definitely playing for today, not for tomorrow. Suddenly, he has a much stronger team to face off with against Greco this week. If he can win two of his next three games, you can kind of squint and maybe see Geoff making some noise down the stretch, especially once Le’Veon Bell returns in Week 8.
As for Gray, his team has been bad, but a lot of that is due to injuries. If and when Leonard Fournette ever finally recovers from his hamstring issues and Devonta Freeman finally suits back up (which it sounds like might be this week), Gray will be a problem. Especially now that he’s turned a liability (Derrick Henry) into an asset (Mike Evans). Plus the addition of Alfred Blue to pair with recently acquired Lamar Miller guarantees him the Houston RB to start in the flex along opposite studs Stefon Diggs and Mike Evans at WR.
And as Gray said on WhatsApp, “I’m not done.” His biggest remaining asset is backup QB Jared Goff. Whether he trades Goff or Cam, he’ll likely be looking to upgrade one of those RBs, possibly by pairing a QB with Freeman or Miller/Blue for an RB1 or RB2, depending on who is in the deal. At least, that’s what I would do. Of course, trading QBs is easier said than done given the great depth at the position.
In the meanwhile, the league marches on. In the short term, Gray will have a tough fight on his hands this week with Jess as he’ll be without Evans, Fournette and his likely starter at TE moving forward, Trey Burton, who is on bye. But we know Gray is playing the long game. His eyes are on the prize, always looking to turn today’s waiver claim into tomorrow’s playoff MVP.
Kinda like turning a little, red paperclip into a house.
