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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 (December 6th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
Has David Johnson even exceeded your high fantasy expectations this season? “He’s been unreal. His receiving numbers have been better than some wide receivers. It’s just insane how unreal he’s been. This is the number one overall pick in fantasy next season…you want the face of fantasy football right now? It’s David Johnson. He’s been that good…dude is such a good guy and I’m so happy for him.”
Who are you high on at running back this weekend? “Both of the running backs on Thursday night, Ware and Murray are good plays. Jeremy Hill is a good play against Cleveland this week. Thomas Rawls is a good play. If you’re looking at a sleeper, potentially Isaiah Crowell against the Bengals as a flex.”
Drew Brees or Matt Stafford this week? “You ready for this? I’m going Stafford and it has nothing to do with what happened last week. Drew Brees’ numbers on the road, they’re not good. He’s averaging about 15, 16 points a game. Have you seen Tampa Bay’s defense at home lately? Listen, Russell Wilson put up a stink bomb a couple of weeks ago in Tampa. That defense is playing at a high level and Stafford has a much better matchup this week. Believe it or not, Drew Brees is a guy I don’t believe is a must-start, especially if you have a good quarterback with a good matchup like a Matthew Stafford.”
Better play: Terrelle Pryor or Dez Bryant? “I don’t like the match-up for Pryor, I’m going Dez. Dez is a better wide receiver. He’s in a better offense and there are reports that Robert Griffin III could potentially be coming back this week. The Browns’ offense…lots of question marks. I will give T.P. credit, he’s been fantastic. I’m not telling you to bench him but I’m telling you Dez Bryant is a better play.”
What’s your overall view of the quarterback position heading into Week 14? “Let me give you some insight here. Some of the top fantasy quarterbacks in the league have awful match-ups. Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Marcus Mariota, Dak Prescott, Ben Roethlisberger. Don’t be afraid if you have a quarterback who you trust who has a better match-up to sit some of those guys this week. Kirk Cousins is a perfect example. He’s been very good and the fact that he had 15 or 16 points on the road last week against Arizona, that’s a good line for a quarterback in Arizona. Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson. Wilson’s had two mediocre games in a row but I like him against Green Bay as long as it’s not snowing there.”
How about some quarterbacks you’re sitting? “Blake Bortles. There’s not a lot of big names on the list. Ryan Tannehill is someone I would seriously consider benching. When you look at Ben Roethlisberger’s numbers on the road in non-dome games, they’re not good. So if you have a Winston or if you have a Carr, you could potentially be sitting Ben Roethlisberger this week.”
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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.