Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus Volume VI

Arizona Sports News online

Sign up for your very own FREE and customizable fantasy football league on NFL.com today!

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 with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer as training camp battles heat up.

Expecting big, possibly really big fantasy numbers from Dez Bryant this season: “Tony Romo came in [against the Raiders] and looked pretty good. Boy, does he have that rapport with Dez Bryant. Watch out for him this season. He was a breakout guy for me last year. I think he could potentially surpass Calvin Johnson as the top wide receiver in fantasy football this season. That’s definitely a possibility.”

What advice to do you have for rookie or relatively inexperienced drafters?: “People who are just starting to play, don’t look at fantasy points as the be-all, end-all for ranking players. You have to look at relative value. If you take Aaron Rodgers in the first-round well, based on his fantasy points he’s surely worth a first-round pick. But, if I can get Tony Romo in round eight who threw for almost 5,000 yards last season, what’s the better value? Rodgers in round one or Romo in round eight? I would argue it’s Romo in round eight and I would argue it’s not even close. Also, focus on running backs and wide receivers early and often. I would have at least three running backs and/or three wide receivers in [your] first five picks depending on who’s available.”

Don’t reach for a defense: “People see defenses and they take them too soon. Don’t take a defense until one of the last couple rounds. I would say the next-to-last round take a defense because defenses are interchangeable a lot of times. The Bears were great last year. This year I have the Seahawks ranked number one. The Broncos have a good defense. The Patriots have a good defense from a fantasy perspective. You can play the match ups with defenses. Who’s playing the Jets [that] week? Maybe you can play that defense, right?”

What’s the latest on Jamaal Charles’ injury?: “He’s missing practice but the Chiefs are calling him day-to-day. It looks like he missed a significant injury and let me be the first to say thank God because we’ve had enough big injuries over the first few weeks of training camp and pre-season between Dennis Pitta and Jeremy Macklin…so right now I wouldn’t worry about [Charles]. If the Chiefs decide to hold him out for the remainder of the pre-season I wouldn’t worry about that too much.”

To hear the rest of the interview click here.