Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: Week 5, Volume II

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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 7th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

How much longer do you stick with Eddie Lacy? “Stick with him. You remember last year Brad, Lacy had a slow start to the year and then ended up being one of the better running backs in fantasy football and he’s got a really good matchup this week against the Rams who have a talented front seven but they’ve given up a boatload of fantasy points. In fact, you remember Matt Jones had a big game against them a few weeks ago and he’s kind of fazed into oblivion…bottom line here is Eddie Lacy is going to turn things around and I think it’s going to happen this week.”

Amari Cooper or Julian Edelman? “Edelman. Cooper’s got a really bad matchup this week. He’s been so good and it’s hard to bench him and unless you’re deep at wide receiver I wouldn’t bench him but in this case, Edelman’s been awesome. I mean, this guy is a targets machine and the Cowboys’ defense is just a mess. It’s an absolute mess right now. Tom Brady is going to surgically pick apart that defense this weekend in the Jerry Dome. It’s not going to be fun to watch if you’re a Cowboys’ fan like me. But, if you have Julian Edelman or Tom Brady on your fantasy team you are going to be very happy.”

Baltimore or San Diego defense Sunday? “I like the Ravens this week. The Ravens are actually my start of the week against Cleveland. I know Josh McCown looked good last week. I know Duke Johnson looked good last week and I like Travis Benjamin as a sleeper/flex this week but the Ravens, after a win last week and boy, what a win it was…I like Baltimore at home. I think it’s the start of good things for them.”

Who are some of your starts/sits at quarterback? “I love Philip Rivers. Great matchup against Pittsburgh. Carson Palmer is in Detroit, I’m starting him. I know they looked really good against Russell Wilson last week but Wilson fumbled twice and the offensive line did him no favors. Ya know it’s coming to the point now where I have to tell people whether to start or sit Peyton Manning. Did you know that’s he’s 23rd in fantasy points right now? 23rd! But I do start him this week. I also start his little brother [Eli]. I’m sitting Matt Stafford. I’m sitting Andy Dalton as good as he’s been against Seattle. I’m sitting Colin Kaepernick against the New York Giants. I’m sitting Colin Kaepernick against everybody.”

How about at running back? “Running backs to start this week: Justin Forsett. Latavius Murray–you may think that’s a bad matchup but the Broncos have actually allowed more than 21 fantasy points to running backs in half their games this year. I like Carlos Hyde. I’m hoping the Giants don’t blow the Niners out and the team abandons the run, but the matchup is good. I like T.J. Yeldon and Dion Lewis, as well. Guys I’m sitting:Melvin Gordon, Ameer Abdullah–you’ll see a trend there. I’m not a big fan of the Lions this week against Arizona.”

What wide receivers do you like in Week 5? “We already talked about Julian Edelman. Start Larry Fitzgerald, Keenan Allen. Mike Evans has not looked good so far this year, I stick with him. Look at the teams the Jaguars have played. The Panthers don’t have a wide receiver. The Dolphins offense is a mess right now and they played the Colts without Andrew Luck so I would still play Mike Evans. Amari Cooper: we already talked about. If you can afford to sit him I would. Pierre Garcon has a bad matchup.”

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