Eric Sorenson
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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 23rd) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
A little late on this but what do you make of the Jags getting backfield help in Carlos Hyde? “Jacksonville I think is just trying to insure themselves and they are hopeful Leonard Fournette can come back but if he can’t, Hyde will be the guy. Reports right now suggest Fournette will be back after their bye week in Week 10. Now, once he comes back Carlos Hyde, I believe, is a handcuff and somebody you can stash. At some point he could be waiver wire fodder but Fournette has not been durable so you have to concern yourself with that. The big winner in that deal, of course, is Nick Chubb who’s now the starter in Cleveland.”
What’s Chubb’s upside moving forward as the featured back? “He’s going to see more than his fair share of touches with the Browns and could be a league winner, actually and a very good RB2 moving forward. He does have a tough matchup this week but with four teams on a bye you probably have to start him.”
What does the Amari Cooper mean for the rest of Oakland’s wide receivers? “More targets for Jordy Nelson. Maybe Martavius Bryant becomes fantasy relevant. Jared Cook, although he’s been completely unreliable, may see more targets.”
If I’m looking to stream defenses, which offenses make the most sense to matchup against? “The Cardinals are a team to stream against. The 49ers are a great team to stream against. Jacksonville is a good team to stream against. You’ve got the Eagles this week in London. The Bills are also a great team to stream against. The Cowboys when they’re playing on the road. Look at the numbers. Look at what the Redskins did to them last week. They had a very solid fantasy performance.”
Do you see a lag in fantasy production when teams travel and play in London? “No, not really. Last week…Philip Rivers put up a nice stat line. Dion Lewis put up a nice stat line. This week you’ve got the Eagles and the Jaguars. I’m playing the matchups, looking at the numbers, playing the trends the same way I would if they were playing here in the states.”
Are you buying Kerryon Johnson through the first half of the season? “I hope they keep giving him the ball. Remember, last week Theo Riddick was inactive so keep tabs on him because he’s kind of their pass-catching running back but I just hope Matt Petricia keeps giving him 18-20 touches a game because he’s that good. He’s the best running back they have on their roster. He proved it last week. Now, the matchup was good. The Dolphins defense against the run is terrible. So this week he’s got a little tougher test against the Seattle Seahawks coming off a bye. But, with four teams on bye, at worst he’s a flex starter. If he continues to see volume, he could be a very useful option down the stretch as you get closer to your fantasy post-season.”
Marlon Mack is coming off a huge week. Big things ahead for the Colts’ running back? “The Bills made him look like Edgerrin James. It was ridiculous. He had a career game and the matchup was right. They gave him most of the touches out of that backfield which is kind of what we were hoping for because it was a bit crowded. We were all hoping that this was the case with Marlon Mack moving forward. This week, against the Raiders, makes Mack an RB2/flex player. No doubt about that. We’ll see if that volume continues but we do know one thing, Andrew Luck is playing well so Mack should see a decrease in terms of the number of stacked fronts that he’s going to face. That offense could be pretty explosive and Marlon Mack could be useful down the stretch.”
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