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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.
Initial thoughts on David Johnson’s wrist injury and expected to miss 8-12 weeks? “That’s the biggest loss you can have and for it to happen in Week One. For D.J. to be out potentially 2-3 months, that’s a huge blow for fantasy owners. The real issue is you can’t replace him. You can’t replace a guy who is capable of scoring well over 300 fantasy points. You can’t replace a guy who can go from 1,000 and 1,000 (rushing and receiving) and potentially score 15 to 20 touchdowns. So now you’re looking to piece together playing the match-ups and using the waiver wire.”
Who are some options who may be available if you own Johnson? “I would suggest Tarik Cohen who had 12 targets for the Bears last week. He looked very good. Looks like they’re going to go with a committee there with Jordan Howard, as well. Cohen is available in a lot of leagues. I also think Buck Allen is going to be out there on the waiver wire with Danny Woodhead injured. He’s actually a guy who led Baltimore in touches last week in that backfield. He’ll share work with Terrence West but he’ll look to fit into that Danny Woodhead role. There are obviously going to be some options there with the Cardinals in Kerwynn Williams, Andre Ellington (and Chris Johnson) but I think it’s going to be a committee. Bruce Arians had the total package in D.J. and now that he doesn’t, he had to put a couple of guys together to potentially do some of what David Johnson could have done and clearly those guys are not going to be able to fill his shoes from a fantasy perspective.”
What sort of impact does it have on Carson Palmer? “You would think the Cardinals are going to have to throw the ball a little bit more and this is a team now you could see behind in games, like we saw last week. Maybe Carson Palmer’s a guy who is going to be more of a garbage time player. He’s clearly not the same player from a fantasy perspective that he was a few years ago when he was a Top 10 player at that position. But this injury knocks the entire offense down a notch because you lose, arguably, the most dynamic player at that position in the entire league outside of Le’Veon Bell and Ezekiel Elliott.”
Where are you on Alex Smith after shredding the Patriots? “How crazy was last week!? It was a nutty week. Alex Smith. This is a guy who finished 10th at best during his time in Kansas City at quarterback based on fantasy points. I believe he was 13th, 18th…something like that. I like what I saw from him. I’m not saying he’s going to turn into Brett Favre overnight but they have great weapons in Tyreke Hill and Kareem Hunt who you know I loved going into the season. They’ve got a good matchup too, against the Eagles at home. The Eagles defense…last week they held Kirk Cousins back but last season they were not good on the road against quarterbacks so I can absolutely see Alex Smith, maybe not being a QB1 across the board, but if you need a streamer for a week or maybe you’re in DFS or have a super flex position, he’s got to be in the conversation, at least. I know he’s Alex Smith but he looked pretty good last week. He looked a heck of a lot better than Tom Brady and that’s something I never thought I’d say.”
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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.