Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Three, Volume I

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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 16th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

If your quarterback is Drew Brees, what is your advice moving forward? “Well, I mean it depends if you’re in a competitive league. If Josh Allen is somehow still available in your league, you’ve got to pick him up but there’s not going to be much out there in competitive fantasy leagues when you’re talking about the quarterback position. The obvious answer is to pick up Teddy Bridgewater but he’s no Drew Brees. You can also go after Gardner Minshew who has the best moustache in the National Football League. I know no one really knows much about him but he’s looked pretty good. The good thing about the quarterback position is it’s so deep is, if you have Drew Brees, you also probably have another good quarterback. Maybe it’s Dak Prescott, maybe it’s Lamar Jackson, maybe it’s Carson Wentz. Whatever the scenario, most people drafted two good quarterbacks.”

From a strategy standpoint, does it make sense to just drop Brees at this point? “It really depends on a couple of factors. First is, who do I have behind him? So, if you have another QB who you can start week in and week out and there’s a hot free agent on the waiver wire and there are a lot, I would cut him. If I have deep rosters and I could sit on him for six weeks, I’d hold onto him. It all depends on your individual situation.”

Speaking of the waiver wire, who are some possible targets who have impressed over the first two weeks? “People need to keep in mind, especially this week, John Ross had another big game. Hollywood Brown is probably owned. Terry McLaurin looks great and he’s not owned in enough leagues. Demarcus Robinson is going to be a hot pickup this week. The Bills’ backfield situation could end up being Frank Gore’s this week if Devin Singletary. He’s going to be worth giving a look. The Chiefs have a couple of banged up running backs, too so suddenly Darwin Thompson may be worth a pickup.”

What’s LeSean McCoy’s fantasy value? “Well, McCoy’s banged up right now so we’re sort of uncertain as to what his status is going to be heading into Week 3. He’s a player that should be rostered in all leagues. Why? Because Kansas City’s offense is ridiculous and you want to have shares…right now, McCoy’s status is sort of up in the air. If Damian Williams is going to miss time. I’m not sure if he will or not but if he’s not healthy, Shady might be an RB2 in that offense. Easily.”

Is Kliff Kingsbury hampering David Johnson’s fantasy value? “The game Sunday was odd. The matchup was bad and David got banged up with the wrist. It looks like he’s ok, thank goodness. When you look at the snap counts, he’s still on the field for 76% of the snaps and remember, that’s probably a little bit low because he missed time with the wrist. He’s also a very good pass catcher and he’s been targeted eight times in two games. I think it’s fine. I think where we’re seeing Kingsbury’s influence the most: after two games, the Cardinals have two wide receivers in the top 10 in terms of targets: Christian Kirk and Larry Fitzgerald. That’s where you’re seeing the Kliff Kingsbury influence.” 

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