With Week 9 upon us teams should, by now, have a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses on their roster.  With the trade deadlines nearing in most standard leagues, I have identified a few players who are solid Buy Low/Sell High candidates for those looking to make improvements as they work towards the fantasy playoffs.

Buy Low

, QB CAR- There is no denying that Newton is struggling as he ranks as the 17th best fantasy quarterback this season after finishing each of the past two seasons among the top five overall scorers.   The struggles of Newton can be attributed to a few things, the first of which was his lack of rushing attempts after carrying the ball 111 times in 2013. This season, Newton had just 14 carries through the first four games.  The next obvious factor was the departure of his two leading wide receivers from last year with Steve Smith going to Baltimore and Brandon LaFell heading to New England. The Panthers replaced them with rookie first-rounder Kelvin Benjamin and veteran role-player, Jericho Cotchery. Obviously it takes time to build a rapport similar to what he had with Smith and LaFell.  Newton is coming off of his worst game of the season Sunday as he failed to throw for a touchdown for the first time this season while also turning the ball over twice to a struggling Seattle defense.  With all of that I feel there is a reason to be optimistic about Newton going forward. Sure he still has the same weapons as before but Kelvin Benjamin ranks just outside the top 10 of fantasy receivers and the Panthers find themselves playing against some very soft pass defenses in the second half of the season starting with Thursday when the Panthers face a Saints defense that has been terrible on the road, having allowed nine of their 12 passing touchdowns while traveling.  Another reason for optimism is the fact that Cam is running again and often.  After rushing just 14 times over his first four games, he has carried the ball 36 times over the past three games for 172 yards and a touchdown.  If Cam continues to run like he has in the past he will only need to post marginal passing numbers to be among the top fantasy QBs each week and given the Panthers weak schedule, I feel like now is the time to take a chance on Newton as he could be a key contributor to your playoff run.

, RB WSH- Morris is coming off one of his better games of the season as the Redskins made a commitment to stick with the running game. The result was 18 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown against a Cowboys run defense that has allowed the seventh fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs this season. Morris’ struggles this season can be blamed on a career-low 3.9 yards per carry as teams focused on taking away the run and forced the likes of Kirk Cousins to try and beat them through the air. My optimism on Morris going forward stems from his soft schedule over the next few weeks and the return of Robert Griffin which should bring some legitimacy to their passing attack and can open up some things for Morris in the running game, especially this week against a Vikings defense that has allowed the fifth most fantasy points to running backs this season.

Sell High

, RB DAL-  Given that Murray is the No. 1 rated running back in fantasy this season and the No. 2 overall player, it’s highly unlikely that an owner of Murray would even consider dealing him.  The idea here is to make a case on why to sell him as opposed to the obvious answer of why to keep him.  Durability for one thing has always been an issue for Murray who has yet to make it through an entire 16 game season.  With Murray on pace to top 400 carries this season a cynic would assume that he is bound to break down and get hurt.  At this point in the season a Murray owner can likely get quite a haul for his services and with the trade deadlines likely on the horizon, a sooner-than-later mindset could be beneficial given how we have seen running backs go down with an injury almost every week this season.  Again, I am not recommending that an owner should abandon ship on Murray but who’s to say you couldn’t trade him for a package which includes a player like Marshawn Lynch who hasn’t produced as much over the past few weeks but has some favorable matchups in his future? He is certainly capable of matching the output Murray provides on any given Sunday.  At the very least it would be smart for a Murray owner to do their due diligence and see what type of offers are out there. You never know when you might get blown away.

, WR DET- Tate has been among the best wide receivers in fantasy this season thanks in part to the Lions pass-happy offense, but also largely due to the injury to Calvin Johnson.  Since Johnson has been out, Tate has posted four games of over 100 receiving yards, including back to back games of 150 yards over the past two weeks.  With the Lions currently on bye many believe that Calvin will be active for their Week 10 matchup against the Dolphins which will undoubtedly take away from Tate’s production.  Prior to Calvin’s injury Tate had been targeted 21 times while Johnson had been targeted 34 times through the first three games.  After his injury Tate has seen no less than nine targets in any game and having caught no fewer than seven passes.   It only makes sense that a healthy Calvin Johnson will hinder Tate’s production and will likely render him as no more than a WR2 going forward.  If you look to move Tate now you can sell him on his WR1 status and potentially grab yourself a player or two who can match up with his expected output once Megatron re-enters the lineup.