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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 (November 8th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
What do you make out of the New Orleans Saints backfield? “What surprised me was that Tim Hightower actually out-snapped and out-touched Mark Ingram despite the fact that Ingram was just ripping apart that ‘Niners defense but that defense is just terrible. But that matchup is much tougher this week but don’t get confused Denver’s defense is not that great. It’s not as bad as the 49ers but look what Latavius Murray did to them last week scoring three touchdowns. I see Ingram as an RB2 and I see Hightower as a potential flex starter because, as of now, it looks like there’s a backfield committee going on there in New Orleans.”
Besides David Johnson, what Cardinals do you trust in your fantasy lineup? “Larry Fitzgerald is someone to trust. As Cardinals’ fans know, he just has a history of destroying San Francisco in the stats sheets. Carson Palmer has been tough to trust this year but the matchup is good. That defense is just as bad, if not worse with quarterbacks. Drew Brees went off on them last week. I do think J.J. Nelson is a really good sleeper this week. Now outside of Fitzgerald, it’s been hard to trust any Cardinals’ wide receivers but J.J. Nelson is someone to keep an eye on if you have wide receiver on a bye or if your wide receivers are just not producing up to snuff like Marvin Jones who has really struggled and has a bye this week.”
Is Darren Sproles a must-start in Philadelphia every week? “I don’t know if he’s a must-start but he’s a very good flex option, no question about that. What hurts Sproles is once Philadelphia gets in that red zone area they go to Ryan Mathews and that is where Ryan Mathews has all of his value. He’s only giving you 10-20 yards but if he’s scores a touchdown maybe he’s giving you seven-to-eight points like he did last week which is not great so Sproles is certainly the guy. He’s out-snapping Mathews, he’s out-touching Mathews. The match up this week against Atlanta is pretty favorable so I certainly start Sproles as a flex but I don’t call him a must-start. Must-start guys for me are David Johnson, Ezekiel Elliott, Le’Veon Bell—players like that. But Sproles is definitely a good play this week.”
Who are some quarterbacks you like in Week 10? “So this season has been so insane I actually need to tell people to start Cam Newton. He’s been the regression king, along with a whole lot of his wide receivers. I do like the matchup here against the Chiefs. You may think, ‘wait a minute, the Chiefs have a good defense.’ They’ve actually given up 18+ fantasy points to four of their last five opposing quarterbacks. I start Ben Roethlisberger whenever he plays at Hines Field because he is just a different quarterback there.”
What about Todd Gurley? “Todd Gurley is someone you probably have to play. You don’t have to like it. I told you to bench him last week. I would say bench him this week if you can against the Jets who have been tougher against running backs on their home field.”
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Eric Sorenson
A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.