Fabiano's Fantasy Focus Week 5, Volume I

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Each week NFL Network and NFL.com Fantasy Football Editor Michael Fabiano joins Pros2Preps.com’s Brad Cesmat to share his insight on building your fantasy team for success.

Here are some hilights from our most recent conversation (October 2) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer heading into Week 5.

A month into the season, are there some players you’re ready to give up on? “Out of the big names? No. I’m not giving up on these players. Listen, you drafted them in the first or second round, you can’t just throw them out onto the waiver wire because I guarantee you right now if you drop the big names they are going to be picked up real quick. They are going to be gone.”

Do you see Ray Rice breaking out of his early-season slump anytime soon? “This week against the Miami Dolphins I think Ray Rice has a good game. The Miami Dolphins have struggled to stop the run, that was obvious on Monday night against Darren Sproles and the Saints. These are the types of players you have to hold onto.”

What other struggling running backs have good match ups in Week 5? “There’s honestly some players who have been disappointments who have really good match ups [this week]. David Wilson, for example, against the Eagles. That’s a good matchup. Maurice Jones-Drew, one of the biggest disappointments in fantasy at running back, he’s playing St. Louis. Speaking of St. Louis, Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead great matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars but we don’t know who’s playing….we don’t know what’s going on there. Is Isaiah Pead going to be the guy? We’re not really sure?”

If you’re looking to make a roster move, from an overall depth standpoint, what position makes sense? “You can go out…Terrelle Pryor is another example. I love him this week against the Chargers even though they’re going to probably playing in their pajamas, that game starts at 11:35 on the east coast. That’s a late start and that games on NFL Network so check that out. Phillip Rivers, he has a good matchup this week against the Raiders and he has been one of the three best quarterbacks in fantasy and he wasn’t even drafted in a lot of leagues. So, at the quarterback position, there’s more flexibility for changing players in and out. That doesn’t mean you’re dropping Colin Kaepernick who hasn’t been as good as advertised but there are better options. At running back…it’s going to be hard to replace those players that are struggling.”

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