Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Two, Volume II

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Every week during the season NFL Network and NFL.com Senior Fantasy Analyst Michael Fabiano joins Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat to share his insight on building and developing your fantasy team for success.

Here are some hi-lights from our most recent conversation (September 12th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

Who are some match-ups you like this week?  “There are some teams we are targeting, like the Jets. If you have Derek Carr you’ll want to start him, the Raiders’ wide receivers and Marshawn Lynch. We’re also going after the Colts, too. So, Carson Palmer, maybe not a QB1 but a super flex or streamable option. I still like Larry Fitzgerald. I think he’s going to see a lot of targets. I was disappointed in his numbers this past week but I do think things will get better for him. Jameis Winston and the Buccaneers. They’re coming off an extra week of because of the hurricane. They’re playing a Chicago Bears team that’s not really been good on the road and last week they gave up almost 18 points to Matt Ryan on their home field. Jacquizz Rodgers is a potential sleeper.”   

I own David Johnson. What is my plan of attack to keep my team competitive with such a huge loss? “At this point, I’d be trying to look to make trades. I’m always trying to make trades. You know that. Maybe you drafted two really good quarterbacks. Maybe you have depth at tight end. Whatever the case may be, don’t be afraid to go out there and look for a team that has depth at the running back position because there are quite a few teams in your league that probably focused on the running back position and maybe you can make a trade. You trade from an area of strength to improve an area of weakness and continue to play the waiver wire because I cannot tell you how many times players like Jay Ajayi and Jordan Howard all of a sudden make noise and nobody had drafted them. Maybe that’s Tarik Cohen this season. Just because you lost D.J. your job is much harder now but you can still compete and you can still make smart moves and play the match-ups and make trades to help bolster what is a huge void in your backfield.”

Who were some of your Week 1 surprises as we move into Week 2? “Just the number of big names that weren’t good. It’s across the board. Tight end: Rob Gronkowski, Jordan Reed, Travis Kelsey. Wide receiver: A.J. Green, Julio Jones, Dez Bryant. There were a lot of big names that did not perform well. You also saw rookie running backs perform well. Kareem Hunt, Dalvin Cook looked awesome. Leonard Fournette looked tremendous. This could be the season of the rookie running back. Look, we talked about this during the pre-season. Those are a couple of the narratives.”

Are you expecting another good fantasy number from Philip Rivers? “Philip Rivers looked really good from a fantasy perspective against Denver compared to what he’d done in the past. The Chargers have the Dolphins coming in and their pass defense has not been good over the last season. Keenan Allen looked pretty good. Melvin Gordon you’re going to be starting.

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