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 hi-lights from our most recent conversation (September 1st) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
With Leonard Fournette gone, what does Jacksonville’s backfield look like now? “Now you’re looking at a potential committee situation, right? Ryquell Armstead is potentially going to be the guy there but he’s banged up right now and he was also on the COVID list. Chris Thompson is in the mix there, as well. Devine Ozigbo is also a guy who see a bigger role in Week One so suddenly Ozigbo’s name has fantasy relevance.”
With Jalen Reagor out due to injury in Philadelphia, what does that do to DeSean Jackson’s value? “I moved him up at the wide receiver position. He’s a wide receiver four category but based on the matchups, as long as Reagor is out, DeSean Jackson could be a wide receiver three or flex starter and potentially be a matchup-based option for fantasy owners. But I feel like this…there’s been a lot of hype with Reagor and I get it, there’s a lot of upside – there have been a lot of rookie wide receivers who have come in the league and didn’t absolutely take things over in Week One or in their rookie season at all. So, how much of the target share was he really going to eat up? He’s not a volume wide receiver. He’s more like DeSean Jackson who will give you maybe four or five catches a game tops.”
What do you make of the New England backfield? “You got a coin? Let’s flip it. Honestly, Sony Michael is back. Damien Harris has been gaining tons of hype but Bill Belichick likes to trick us. Thus, “Belitricks.” So, I would love to have James White as a running back three because his role is not going to change. Outside of those three, Harris probably has the highest ceiling and I guess Michael has the best floor but it’s hard to really invest in any one of these guys in a prominent fashion. I’ll go with the cheapest one. So, whoever is coming off the board last. It would probably be Damien Harris who I would go after but nobody knows and that’s what makes that situation so difficult because we haven’t seen pre-season games. It’s really hard to judge how healthy these guys are. All we have is beat writer reports. If you’re going for ceiling, though – Harris is the guy to go after.”
If you’re looking for fantasy sleepers, who’s at the top of your list? “Daniel Jones is probably at the top of the list. I love him and I’m a Cowboys’ fan talking very prominently about a Giants’ quarterback so, I’m not a Giants’ fan. That should really tell you I like Daniel Jones. 24 touchdowns, 12 picks last year. a two-to-one touchdown-to-interception ratio. He can give you 350 yards on the ground, maybe three touchdowns. The offensive should be better or at least as good as it was last year. He also has all of his weapons back. So Daniel Jones is certainly a guy I’m targeting as a QB2 who could end up putting up Top 10 numbers.”
How about some under-the-radar players? “There will be several of these. Steven Sims in Washington would certainly fit that bill. Chase Edmonds in Arizona. Blake Jarwin from my Dallas Cowboys also a little bit under-the-radar, although he’s been getting a lot of positive publicity out of Cowboys’ camp recently. Also, Preston Williams in Miami is also a guy who’s not coming off the board in late rounds that could make an impact. He was very good last year until he went down with the knee injury.”
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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.