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.
Our most recent conversation with Fabiano on Aug. 24 revolved primarily around quarterbacks, and he was able to shed some light on a number of signal callers whose fantasy values are still not entirely clear at this point in time. Case and point: rookies Trey Lance and Justin Fields.
How Risky Is It To Draft Trey Lance Or Justin Fields?
“The fantasy community is drafting Trey Lance and Justin Fields as QB2s in the middle rounds. I have seen Trey Lance drafted as someone’s QB1 because they want the late-season, potential league-winning ability. They’ll grab Kirk Cousins or Matt Ryan or Carson Wentz or [any other veteran quarterback] to play until Lance gets the job. There’s a lot of risk in that. What if the 49ers go 6-2 in their first eight games? They’re a team built to win now, and [if] Garoppolo’s rolling, they’re not going to take him out. If you want Trey Lance, if you want Justin Fields, you’re probably going to have to draft them a few rounds ahead of their ADP in home leagues because they won’t be there otherwise.”
Does The Vikings’ Weak Schedule Make Kirk Cousins A Viable Fantasy Option?
“That’s a strategy that people are using. They’ll go with Kirk because of those positive matchups. I don’t know that Cleveland is a positive matchup, but some of [their other early opponents] are pretty favorable. They’ll use him until they get Trey Lance. It’s a guessing game. You don’t know that Garoppolo is going to be terrible or suffer some sort of injury. The possibilities are there, of course, Garoppolo has had knee issues in the past but we just don’t know.”
Your Take On The Saints’ Quarterback Competition?
“Jameis looks good. Maybe the LASIK is all he needed. I prefer Jameis because of what I’ve seen but Taysom Hill is not going away, and that makes Jameis, regardless of how well he’s played, a risk. Taysom is potentially going to be in there in the red zone. If Winston has a three-interception game, which he’s done in the past, Sean Payton may go to his buddy who he loves to use – Taysom Hill. Jameis is the player that I’d target right now but he’s not anything more than a QB3.”
