Every summer leading into and throughout the NFL season, Sports Illustrated and SI.com Senior Fantasy Analyst Michael Fabiano joins Sports360AZ.com to share his insight on building and developing your fantasy team for success.
Here are some highlights from our most recent conversation (September 22nd) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
In know it’s early, but how impressive has Joe Burrow been thus far? “360 yards. Three touchdowns. Almost 25 points against the Browns. He is a tremendous, tremendous rookie player. He’s a guy who really shows me a lot in his first two games in the National Football League. So he needs to be rostered as a QB2.”
Is Jerick McKinnon the guy, for now, in San Francisco? “Jerick McKinnon is well worth a look. He only had three carries last week but he has 77 yards and a touchdown. He has scored in two-straight games. Raheem Mostert looks like he’s week-to-week with his knee injury so McKinnon is a very solid pickup. Also, Tevin Coleman is out.”
What’s your read on Jeff Driskel who takes over for Drew Lock in Denver? “Jeff Driskel is a comparable quarterback. He’s not bad. He’s had some big stat lines in the past. I remember last year he had a couple of big games for the Detroit Lions. He’s a player who can get it done. Obviously, he’s a downgrade from Drew Lock but he is a player, if you’re in a two-QB league, you could do worse picking him up off the waiver wire.”
Which tight end are seeing being rostered the most this week? “Jonnu Smith in Tennessee. Five targets, four catches and had a couple of touchdowns against the Jaguars and the Titans like to use the tight ends. It was Delaney Walker for years and now it looks like it’s Jonnu Smith.”
Let’s stick with tight ends – what’s your fantasy read on Dalton Schultz? “Those Cowboys! 10 targets, nine catches. He had almost 22 points against Atlanta. I wouldn’t play him this week because Seattle has been really tough on tight ends this year with the addition of Jamal Adams but moving forward Schultz looks like the guy for the Cowboys at that tight end position.”
With Courtland Sutton out, how does this impact Jerry Jeudy’s value? “Jeudy is already seeing the targets and he certainly is closer to a wide receiver three I would think with Sutton out. But, the big winner had been Noah Fant. I loved Noah Fant going into the season. I thought he was going to break out and he’s already broken out: two games, two touchdowns. He looks very good. Jeudy sees an increase in value. Fant sees an increase in value. He’s already been pretty damn good.”
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