Here is the second installment of the fantasy football dynasty league market value series, this time on my favorite player, Larry Fitzgerald.

LARRY FITZGERALD (ARI)
Dynasty Talk Ranking: WR2 / #4 overall
Market Ranking: WR2 / #6 overall

Overview: Considered by most a year ago as the #1 WR in dynasty and #1 overall in many leagues, Fitzgerald rewarded owners in 2009 with another stellar year (284 points in PPR and the WR5). With Kurt Warner now retired, Fitzgerald’s value takes a small dip (wow, from WR1 to WR2). I get the sense though that if Fitzgerald’s QB situation were not in flux (e.g., if he had Matt Schaub throwing him the ball), Fitzgerald would still be considered the #1 WR ahead of Andre Johnson. Since situations are subject to change and given that Fitz is 2 years younger than AJ, I have seriously considered putting Fitz back on top of my rankings. For now, due to his lesser projected point production in 2010 relative to AJ and the top 4 RBs, he is my WR2, and the #4 overall in 2RB minimum leagues. In a 1 RB minimum league, I would rank Fitz at #2 overall just behind AJ.

Startup Draft Value: In dynasty startup drafts this year, he is usually taken as the 1.06 or 1.07 in PPR leagues after the top 4 RBs and AJ. Calvin has snuck ahead of Fitz in a number of startups I have either participated in or watched. In a $500 dynasty league startup earlier this year, I was thrilled to take Fitz at 1.07 when the 1.06 owner took Calvin. His startup value does not change between a 1RB minimum and 2RB minimum league.

Trade Value: Fitzgerald is not often traded, although I have definitely seen more Fitz trades this year than last and more offers from Fitz owners than in past years. Last year, he was considered by many (including myself) as untouchable. I traded for Fitz in one dynasty league where I gave up Ryan Mathews and Jahvid Best for Larry Fitzgerald and Ahmad Bradshaw. That is a high price to pay, and I waiver back and forth on the assessment of that deal still today, which indicates to me that the trade is probably dead on for purposes of market value. I wouldn’t recommend making a deal like that for Fitz, however, unless you have a definite plan or you have a ton of depth as that kind of deal has the potential of really stunting a team’s growth even though you would be getting arguably the second best player in all of fantasy football (according to my fantasy football dynasty rankings for 1RB minimum leagues). For examples of deals involving a package of lesser players that might get it done for Fitz, see Andre Johnson (e.g., Wells/Spiller, Mendy/MSW, etc.).