Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Seven, Vol. II – What To Do With Your Most Disappointing Players

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

In our most recent conversation with Michael (Oct. 19), we highlighted a couple of underachieving players and discussed whether fantasy owners should move them while they still can or play the long game and hope for better results down the road. Here is what the Hall-of-Famer advised:

Let’s Talk About Miles Sanders. He Still Has Zero Touchdowns Through Six Games And Seems Like An Afterthought In The Eagles Offense. Is He Playable This Week?

“You’ve got to play Sanders. What are you going to do? You’ve got six teams on bye and everyone is hurt. You’ve got to play him. The matchup isn’t bad, the Raiders are not great against the run, but the Eagles don’t run the ball. He actually found some success in the second half last week but they don’t give him the ball enough in terms of rush attempts and I don’t know that it’s going to change. Regardless, you still have to play him. You have to.”

Aside From A Couple Of Highlight Reel Catches, Julio Jones Has Also Been A Massive Disappointment So Far. Is It Time For Managers To Cut Their Losses?

“If you can get a ham sandwich for Julio Jones right now, take it. He was one of the guys I didn’t want before the season. I drafted him in two of my 14 leagues because he fell so far that I had to take him. I traded him in one weeks before he got hurt and I don’t know what to do with him in the other one. Julio Jones is going to be the shining example of an older wide receiver who gets traded to a team late in his career where it doesn’t work out. If I could trade Julio right now for anything, and I mean anything, I’d do it.”

Does The Litany Of Running Back Injuries This Year Mean That Managers Should Prioritize Other Positions Early In The Draft?

“People who say, ‘ah, you should have gone with a wide receiver early,’ I can give you a lot of examples of wide receivers who aren’t producing either. How’s Allen Robinson doing? He was a third-round pick and he’s been terrible. What about Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf? Russell Wilson is out, so you can’t trust those guys. Brandon Aiyuk, we all liked him and he’s been a dud. Yes, running backs get hurt, but there are plenty of wide receivers that if you drafted, you’re thinking ‘what was I thinking?'”