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 (September 16th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
What’s the impact of Dez Bryant’s injury from a fantasy perspective in Dallas? “Well, Terrance Williams is going to be one of the most popular pickups off the waiver wire this week in all leagues because we expect him to see more targets because Dez is going to be out for anywhere between four and eight weeks…I expect to see more targets for Jason Witten which we saw in Week 1, but keep in mind he’s scored two touchdowns in 12 career games in Philadelphia–his numbers have not been great there. I also like Lance Dunbar as a PPR add in some leagues where you’re going to get points for catches. This is a guy who had eight catches for 70 yards, that’s a nice performance for a fantasy player if you’re getting points for those catches. He’s available in a lot of leagues on NFL.com. Cole Beasley is also worth a look in PPR leagues…as for Romo, when you lose your number one option and one of the best wide receivers in the entire league it’s gunna hurt…but Romo is good enough to make up for that.”
Too soon to start Marcus Mariota over Peyton Manning? “I am worried about Peyton Manning. I am not ready to start Marcus Mariota over him just yet, let’s put it that way. Great game last week for Mariota–probably the best rookie debut of any quarterback in a long, long time, maybe ever. Part of it was the Buccaneers’ defense. They were awful. That was a bad defense right there so this week is the litmus test. He’s going to Cleveland. I know the Browns aren’t known as a great defensive team but last year they only gave up 11 touchdown passes at home and they forced 10 interceptions. So, I would sit Mariota this week. I’d still play Manning over him but I have Manning outside of my Top 10 this week…it’s a bit sad to see what’s going on with Peyton right now because this is not one game. You go back six games including the playoffs last year–his numbers have not been good at all.”
Romo or Carson Palmer this week? “I like both guys. I really do. I think Palmer is going to have a very solid stat line–I’m still going Romo, though. But I do like both quarterbacks.”
Who are some players you like as Week 2 starts? “I like Palmer. I like Matt Ryan and [Sam] Bradford. I like Cam Newton this week. Tom Brady has a bad matchup on paper but he has 16 touchdown passes in his last five games in Buffalo so that’s pretty good…at the running back position, forget about what [Justin] Forsett didn’t do last week, play him against the Raiders. Chris Ivory is a good RB 2 flex, so is Doug Martin this week.”
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