Read Option

Is DK Metcalf for Michael Thomas fair?

DK Metcalf and Michael Thomas have been on opposite sides of 20 real dynasty trades.

Not simulations and not a calculator lining up two numbers. Every one of them is a completed trade from a public Sleeper league, graded at the player values that were current on the day it happened.

Most of those were larger deals with other pieces attached. 3 of them were straight up: DK Metcalf for Michael Thomas, nothing else changing hands.

This is the part a calculator cannot tell you. In 6 of these deals exactly one side had to attach something extra, and 4 of those 6 times it was the Michael Thomas side (2 the other way). The side that keeps having to add is the side holding the lesser asset, so the market has been treating DK Metcalf as the more valuable of the two.

20
Deals they were both in
3
Straight up, one for one
2 / 4
One side sweetened: DK Metcalf / Michael Thomas
Grade DK Metcalf for Michael Thomas now Scout your league

The deals themselves

DateMarginWent with DK MetcalfWent with Michael Thomas
2023-09-06+35%DJ Moore
2023-08-25+137%Tyler Allgeier, 1 2nd
2023-08-03+88%Mike Williams, Courtland Sutton, Damien Harris
2023-05-04-4%1 1stJonathan Taylor
2022-10-29+21%Cole KmetDerrick Henry, 1 2nd, 2 3rds
2022-09-30+29%Cam Akers, 1 2nd, 1 3rdAmari Cooper, James Conner, Miles Sanders
2022-06-17+48%Melvin Gordon, Robbie Chosen, JuJu Smith-Schuster, 10 more, 1 1st, 1 later pickRobert Woods, Davante Adams, C.J. Uzomah, 9 more, 1 2nd, 1 3rd
2022-05-11+51%1 1st, 1 3rd
2022-05-04+91%Jared Cook, 1 3rd, 1 later pickNoah Fant
2021-08-12-6%2 2ndsD'Andre Swift

Read each row as: DK Metcalf, plus anything in the third column, was traded for Michael Thomas plus anything in the fourth. An em dash means that side sent nobody else. Margin is the value gap at that day’s prices from the side that received DK Metcalf; positive means that side came out ahead.

The whole-deal margin

Across all 20, the whole-deal value gap runs +10.6% from the side that received DK Metcalf, so the side ending up with DK Metcalf has generally come out ahead on face value. That measures the entire trade, every piece included, not these two players against each other.

Why this beats a calculator on this exact question

A calculator answers “is DK Metcalf for Michael Thomas fair” by subtracting one number from another, and it gives every manager in your league the same answer. That tells you nothing about whether the trade closes. What closes it is whether one side has to attach a piece, and which side that usually is. The 20 deals above are the record of what leagues actually agreed to when these two were on the table together.

How trade fairness actually works →

Full trade histories

Every DK Metcalf trade · Every Michael Thomas trade

Other matchups for these two

All players with real trade data →

Values from DynastyProcess and nflverse. Trades from public Sleeper leagues. When the data will not support a fair grade I leave it out and say so. Is this trade fair? · All players · Research · Privacy · Terms