Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week 5, 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 (October 3rd) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

What are some of the bigger fantasy storylines for you from Week Four? “You’ve got to look at some of the big-name players who were injured. Chris Carson went down. Ty Montgomery went down. Unfortunately, Dalvin Cook went down and Cook was having a tremendous season. Marcus Mariota was injured. There were others. So with four teams on a bye this week a lot of fantasy owners are going to be scrambling to try to pick up players off the waiver wire.”

If I’m looking to add a quarterback off the waiver wire, who makes the most sense?  “The first one is DeShaun Watson. He’s been amazing. This is a guy who went into New England and scored over 20 points. Then last week against the Titans, which was a great matchup, goes for over 30 points. You know I always say it, rookie quarterbacks who can run with the football have added value in fantasy leagues. He’s slowly becoming this year’s Dak Prescott and this is guy you want to target. Believe it or not, Jared Goff. He was a sleeper for me last week against my Cowboys because I know their defense is not very good. Goff came in and scored 18 points. He’s scored 18+ points two-straight games. He’s more of deeper dive to be quite honest with you but he’s now in play in terms of streaming quarterbacks. Finally, let’s not forget about Alex Smith. This guy right now is on pace for over 350 fantasy points. He is on pace to have more points than Matt Ryan had last year.”

On the topic of quarterbacks, what do I do with Derek Carr? “I wouldn’t drop D.C. I don’t know how long he’s going to be out. No one really does. He may be out just this week, it could up being as long as six weeks. But, if it’s the same injury that Tony Romo had in 2014, Romo only missed a game. So maybe Carr’s back sooner rather than later. Speaking of quarterbacks, if Andrew Luck is out there on your waiver wire, go get him. He’s still out there in some leagues. That’s another player to take a look at in terms of maybe a longer-term solution.”

You’ve been critical, and rightfully so, of Eddie Lacy. Does he have fantasy value again with Carson’s injury in Seattle? “Now he’s back on the radar. Listen, he was one of my biggest bust candidates coming into the season but he’s back. With Pete Carroll coaching, who knows what the heck is going to happen. I mean, Chris Johnson got cut by the Cardinals, David Johnson goes down and they re-sign Chris Johnson and boom, he’s the starter over two guys they kept on the roster. So, maybe Thomas Rawls starts in Seattle but we don’t know. Last week he was a healthy scratch. But Eddie Lacy right now is probably going to be added in most leagues because of the chance that he is a starter for the Seahawks.”

I’ve got Doug Martin on my roster, coming back from suspension. Is he an automatic plug and play this week? “I’d start him this week against the Patriots to be quite honest. The Patriots’ defense is awful. Historically bad. This is the worst four-game stretch in the history of that franchise in terms of their defense. They’re giving up 32 points a game. That’s one of the biggest shockers to me is that a Bill Belichick team has that bad of a defense. The Patriots are bad right now so Martin is a play.” 

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