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Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Two Vol. 2 – The Speculation Station

Every week during the NFL season, Sports Illustrated Senior Fantasy Analyst Michael Fabiano joins Sports360AZ’s Brad Cesmat to share his insight on building and developing your fantasy team for success.

In our most recent conversation with Michael (Sep. 14), we went over players who overperformed their week one expectations and could provide value to your team as speculative adds. Here are the players we highlighted:

Eagles Running Back Kenneth Gainwell

“Gainwell is the number two in Philadelphia. It seems that he has passed Boston Scott as the number two running back. I think Gainwell needs to be owned across the board as a backup. It’s not like you’re going to start this guy but the fact of the matter is that if Miles Sanders goes down, Gainwell could play a pretty big role and split time with Scott in that backfield. Gainwell had the touchdown in week one, but again, it was against Atlanta. The Falcons defense is terrible. Sometimes you have to take these performances with a grain of salt.”

Saints Running Back Tony Jones, Jr.

https://twitter.com/MichaelBalkoJr/status/1435588689116151813?s=20

“He’s definitely worth an add if you have Alvin Kamara, because you want to have the handcuff. I think he’s worth a speculative add as well because if Kamara went down, and let’s hope that never happens, Jones would end up playing a pretty big role in that offense. He didn’t get a ton of touches week one but he got enough touches to open our eyes and he looked good in the preseason so he’s probably a rosterable asset. You’re not going to start him, though.”

Giants Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard

“He should already be owned in most leagues. I’m not surprised by his week one performance because I had him ranked ahead of Kenny Golladay. Why? Rapport. Daniel Jones knows Sterling Shepard’s tendencies, he doesn’t really know Kenny Golladay’s tendencies because they didn’t get a lot of time to work together because Golladay was hurt all preseason.”

Washington Quarterback Taylor Heinecke

“Heinecke opened a lot of eyes with his postseason performance against the Buccaneers last year. If you’re in a two-quarterback or super flex league, he’s going to be worth a look. When you get down to the bottom and you’re looking for a third quarterback, Taylor Heinecke is a guy who probably would’ve gotten drafted. Very late, but would’ve been drafted in those leagues. If you’re in a traditional league, he won’t be worth picking up off the waiver wire.”

Lions Quarterback Jared Goff

“I’m not a fan of him as a quarterback. But when you play on a bad team with a bad defense, game script and garbage time are going to be in the equation. That’s what Goff did against the 49ers. His wide receivers barely got targeted, it was the running backs and T.J. Hockenson. The running backs got targeted 20 times. Will Goff have value at times during the course of the season? Yes, absolutely. It’s going to be really hard to figure it out, though. You don’t want to start a quarterback based on the assumption that he’ll be in a negative game script and garbage time will be his friend. That was the case this past week.

Related posts:

Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Three Vol. II

Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Three Vol. I – Running Back Injuries Mounting Up

Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week IV Vol. 2 – Start These Players With Confidence

Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week Eight, Vol. I – What To Do On Waivers