Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus Week XII, 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 (November 18th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

What are you seeing with Johnny Manziel taking over full-time in Cleveland? “I don’t think much…he’s not somebody I’m going to be running to pick up off the waiver wire to be quite honest with you. [Week 10] he threw the ball over 40 times and had a decent fantasy game, it wasn’t great. It’s a deep position. Maybe he’s a match up-based starter in some deeper leagues but I’m not real sold on him especially because he’s not really running. If he’s going to be a pocket passer Johnny Manziel doesn’t have a lot of value in fantasy.”

What do you make of Carolina’s receivers with the fantasy playoffs approaching? “Is Greg Olson considered a receiver because he is the only guy we trust. Devin Funchess is worth a speculative add. I’m not sure I’m playing him. Cam [Newton] has done it with minimal weapons. Whether it’s [Ted] Ginn one week when he can catch a pass or Funchess one week or maybe [Jerricho] Cotchery one week. It’s mostly Olson and that running game. Once Cam gets inside that red zone, especially near that goal line, he’s got six rushing touchdowns this year.”

I owned Edelman—looking for some options to at least somewhat off-set his loss. “Well, clearly [Danny] Amendola is the first guy you’re going to consider…Kamar Aiken is someone you can pick up. Dorial Green-Beckham is another player you can pick up. So you do have some options out there but you’re not going to be able to replace Julian Edelman. That guy is too good. Even Amendola—if you think he’s going to put up Edelman numbers the rest of the season, I think you’re crazy but at least he is catching passes from Tom Brady and that certainly helps his value.”

Michael Floyd didn’t play Sunday but if he’s healthy, is he trusted and a must-start every week? “He’s been very good. His numbers have been excellent. He certainly has taken over it seems. I think John Brown-he can’t be healthy. Floyd, is he a must-start? Is he a top 30 wide receiver? Right now, yeah. He’s put up great numbers.”