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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 27th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
With so many wide receivers injured or underperforming who has really stepped in and surprised? “Stefon Diggs I would guess is the most obvious choice because the talk was Diggs and Laquon Treadwell. Laquon Treadwell has done nothing. He’s not even playing. Mike Wallace has also emerged. I’m not saying he’s a week in, week out starter but this was a guy who was a fantasy star in Pittsburgh and had a few bad seasons in Miami. He comes to Baltimore and now suddenly he should be owned in a lot of leagues. Sterling Shepard, the rookie. Injuries haven’t caused him to become too elevated [but] the Giants offense is just that good.”
Is it time to add Josh Gordon–just to have? “Gordon’s ownership is about 50-55% on NFL.com right now so he’s another player, hey, see if he’s out. Pick him up if he is.”
Carson Palmer, Brock Osweiler or waiver wire this week? “Palmer had a stinker last week but the entire Cardinals team was terrible. Hard to predict. Almost like Trevor Simien leading all quarterbacks in fantasy points in his first road game in Cincinnati. Sometimes, often times, the NFL and fantasy football is unpredictable. Palmer had a bad game last week. It happens. Start him this week. The match up is a whole heck of a lot better. He has a track record of 18-20 fantasy points when he’s at home and he did it earlier this year against New England. So, stay the course with Palmer. I think last week was a blip on the radar.”
Are you buying in on Tyrod Taylor? “Tyrod’s actually had a couple good weeks. If you remember the previous week he played the Jets and had those two long touchdown passes that really helped his fantasy value. Last week, as a passer, it was ugly. But what Tyrod brings to the table and what I talked about in the pre-season is, even when he has a bad game as a passer, his ability to run with the football makes him special from a fantasy standpoint. Last week he had 76 yards [rushing] and a touchdown. He had 16.3 fantasy points and had 119 yards passing…I don’t like the match up this week against New England. I’m not telling you to start him because it is a matchup you want to avoid but I wouldn’t give up on Tyrod Taylor unless you can go get Dak Prescott or Carson Wentz. Remember, the Eagles are on a bye this week. While Tyrod hasn’t had a great season, he’s basically right there with Carson Palmer in fantasy points. He’s scored more points than Eli Manning. He’s scored more points than Blake Bortles.”
Have you noticed any past early season fantasy trends that have repeated themselves to this point? “I think I talked about this with you in the pre-season. If you look historically at the track record of second-year running backs, especially those coming off of good rookie campaigns, a lot of times those guys fall off. Let’s look at the second-year running backs this year. Duke Johnson has not been good. Todd Gurley? OK, great game last week and thank goodness. David Johnson has been really good too, right? But [Thomas] Rawls has fallen off. Jeremy Langford has fallen off. This is a trend you should be monitoring year in and year out with second-year running backs.”
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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.