Sports360AZ
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.
This time, Fabiano joined the Brad Cesmat Show to discuss offseason happenings around the league. Here are some highlights from our most recent conversation (March 9) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
Of the offseason quarterback moves (Goff, Wentz, Stafford) thus far, which of those three is the most significant?
“Matthew Stafford going to the Rams because Stafford is 33-years-old but that’s not old by any stretch of the imagination. The Super Bowl quarterback was 43. Stafford going to the Rams, that’s going to help the value of Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. I don’t like Jared Goff. I’m sure he’s a wonderful human being, but he’s not a good quarterback. He had one good year and got them to the Super Bowl and everything has been downhill from there. You put Stafford in there, I feel more confident in Kupp and Woods. I don’t think their value will rise significantly because they were already pretty good, but you also have to look at Cam Akers in the backfield. He could catch a few more passes and you could also see fewer stacked fronts because Stafford can burn you if you try to stop the run. Overall, I think that’s a good move because it’s an upgrade over Jared Goff.”
Thoughts on Carson Wentz:
“The Carson Wentz situation is good on two fronts. Number one, you give Jalen Hurts the starting job in Philadelphia. I love Jalen Hurts and I know he has to improve as a passer and with his accuracy but you can run with the football, and as a quarterback, that’s so valuable. He averaged almost 80 yards on the ground a game in the games he started last year. If he can run for 800 yards and four or five touchdowns, he’s almost guaranteed to be a top-four of five quarterback even if he stinks as a passer. Wentz, he goes back to Frank Reich, who was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia when Carson had his best season and when Carson wasn’t just a fantasy starter, he was contending to be an MVP in the NFL in 2017. It’s a good change of scenery. The Colts have a good offensive line but they’ll have to replace Anthony Castonzo. They have a really good, young running back in Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines is a playmaker. You got Michael Pittman Jr. and you might keep T.Y. Hilton. Parris Campbell is a guy that if he stays healthy, has some upside as well. I think Wentz is a good move.”
Thoughts on Jared Goff:
“I don’t like Goff as a fantasy quarterback but during his time with the Rams, he had some really good receiving options from a fantasy perspective. Robert Woods was very good, Cooper Kupp was elite a couple years ago, Tyler Higbee had a stretch where he was the top tight end in fantasy football. Goff going to Detroit doesn’t necessarily mean that Kenny Golladay – assuming that he’s going to be back – is going to be bad or T.J. Hockenson is going to see a downgrade. No, I think Detroit is going to add weapons. Tyrell Williams was signed, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went out and signed someone like Jaylen Waddle, you’ve got Hockenson and you’ve got D’Andre Swift. That offense could be pretty fantasy friendly, especially assuming the defense isn’t going to be good and Goff is going to have to throw the ball in the second half to eliminate deficits.”
Dak is paid with the Cowboys. Are you happy with this move as a Cowboys fan?
“I am, because what were they going to do as an alternative? In a pie in the sky, fantasy football world, which of course I live in, I would have not minded if the Cowboys traded Zeke for Russell Wilson but that would never happen in a million years. It would have never happened based on Zeke’s contract so this to me was a best case scenario. You get Dak at about $22 million this year, so they are saving about $15 million on the cap because his tag number would have been about $37 million and you lock him up for the next four years. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league. How many good quarterbacks are there on the planet? I’m not even talking about the NFL. Half the teams in the league are wondering whether they need to make a move at the quarterback position. The Cowboys got their guy. Time will tell if they overpaid. I know they overpaid for Zeke. That’s a lot of money for a running back and we saw him start to decline last season but I’d also suggest that decline had a lot to do with no Dak, three-fifths of the offensive line was shot, all kinds of injuries, and the Cowboys should go out and draft all sorts of offensive linemen in April.”
