Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week 16, 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 (December 16th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

If you have Kenyan Drake, how are you handling the last two weeks of the season? “You tell me! I didn’t like the matchup. Cleveland has been pretty tough against running backs over the last month or so and then there were reports…the Cardinals were going to give David Johnson more burn so they could sort of see what they had in David and if they were going to keep him around next season…I think I had [Kenyan Drake] ranked like 22nd among running backs which is like a flex but I didn’t really particularly think he was going to have a monster game. That was ridiculous! You want to talk about a performance that came out of absolutely nowhere.”

Let’s stick with running backs, how about Todd Gurley? “Gurley did score a couple of times so his actual stat line wasn’t that bad but if you made it this far, you’re rolling with him. San Francisco’s defense is really tough, though…at worst, I think Gurley is still a flex starter in that game. For the rest of your Rams, boy, Jared Goff looked terrible. Fantasy-wise, he had almost 18 points in garbage time so it wasn’t bad in fantasy but, even before he injured his thumb, he didn’t look good.”

How about the Rams’ skill players against the Niners? “You can trust Tyler Higbee who has been ridiculous the last three weeks and maybe Robert Woods. Brandin Cooks is off the radar. I mean, Cooper Kupp salvaged his stat line with a garbage time touchdown but the matchup’s not great. San Francisco lost a game [Sunday] that they probably shouldn’t have lost.”

What are some other fantasy “wild cards” heading into championship Week 16? “There are a few teams out there that have become really difficult to predict. The Cowboys have become one of them. The Rams have become one of them. When you try to figure out what’s going on on a week-to-week basis with Atlanta’s defense, that one’s really tough, too. So you play the matchups, you trust the process but at this point, if you’ve made it to the championship, you’re sticking with your studs. I still believe Todd Gurley’s a stud running back, especially the way they’re still using him the last month or so.”

Can you please peel back the onion on your Cowboys this week? “In terms of the Cowboys…good luck. Philadelphia…that is a Jekyll and Hyde defense. They’ve been much better at home than they’ve been on the road this year. But you look at some of the numbers they’ve given up to some of these players this year…you’re starting Dak [Prescott], you’ve starting Zeke [Elliott], that’s obvious. I mean, Amari Cooper’s gotta be in your lineup even though he had a stinker last week.”

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