Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus Week 8, Volume I

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Every Wednesday 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 21st) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

See any sleeper wide receiver who could help in the second half of the season? “Doug Baldwin is now a guy who is the number one receiver there for the Seattle Seahawks. He had a big game last week, the first game after the Percy Harvin trade so see if you can go pick him up because that is a player for me that can make an impact, especially in a PPR league moving forward in an offense that’s run-based but they have been throwing the ball a little bit more this season. They may be trying to feature Russell Wilson more because they know they have to pay him a big contract very soon.”

Is Bryce Brown your number one Bills’ waiver target this week in their cluttered backfield? “I gotta be honest with you Brad, I’m not sure. Anthony Dixon is the next guy up on the depth chart so that was the first thing I did [went to] buffalobills.com. He is now the number one guy there so I would assume Dixon is the guy to pick up but this is going to be a committee. Bryce Brown, if you remember a few years ago when he played for Philadelphia, he was really good in the absence of LeSean McCoy. He had a couple huge games and everyone was just frothing at the mouth for him. He’s the bigger upside pickup off the waiver wire but you could also see Dixon being the goalie back, too…that’s going to be one of the more interesting things that fantasy owners are going to want to watch this week in that game against the Jets.”

With the Jets acquiring Percy Harvin–does he help Gino Smith’s value? “Yeah, it absolutely does because it adds another weapon to the passing game but I don’t know that it’s a good move for Percy Harvin’s value because he’s going from Russell Wilson being his quarterback to Gino Smith and the Jets offense is specifically run-based. I think it’s good for Chris Ivory because I think now defenses won’t be able to put an extra defender in the box because now they have to worry about Eric Decker and Harvin but overall, this move doesn’t want to make me pick up Gino Smith off the waiver wire let’s put it that way. But it does help his value.”

Denard Robinson: pick him up or wait and see? “No, I’d pick him up. Anytime a running back has a big game you’re going to pick him up unless he’s a backup running back or the starter comes back the following week. He had a very solid performance and it was really weird seeing a running back wearing [number] 16, right? A big part of the reason why he was so good was the Browns were really bad against the run so I want to see him do it again against the Miami Dolphins who have a better run defense than Cleveland. So, if you’re looking for a flex and you need to play Robinson go ahead and do that but temper expectations. He’s not going for 127 [yards] and a touchdown again. Not against Miami.”

How about grabbing rookie Tre Mason in St. Louis? “Yes and he deserves the buzz. If this guy could ever learn how to pass-block he could be a three-down back at this level. He is explosive and he’s averaging over five yards a carry. He is a bruising type of running back. Zac Stacy, who I was worried about back in the pre-season, is almost out of the offense. He didn’t have a touch last week. It was Mason and  [Benny] Cunningham. Now the matchup this week in Kansas City is not good on paper. The Chiefs are really good against the run, especially at home but I still say Mason needs to be picked up in all leagues. Same situation as Shoelace Robinson: if you need a flex starter this week, Mason can fill in.

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