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 exerpts from our most recent conversation with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
What draft strategies do you see heading into this season: “You always have to check out your scoring system, obviously. If your scoring system is heavy on quarterbacks than quarterbacks are going to go earlier than they should. But the position is so deep this year, it’s ridiculous…there’s so many good options at that position. The cornerstone of your draft strategy should be based on the fact that you wait on a quarterback. Go after running backs early. Go after wide receivers. You can legitimately wait until the 8th-round and get Matt Ryan. If you wanted to a little earlier to the 6th-round you could probably get Robert Griffin or Andrew Luck.”
The player you’ve been asked most about this off-season: “There’s been a bunch. Definitely Robert Griffin III because of the fact he’s coming off of a major knee reconstruction. Tom Brady, too because his passing game has been all but decimated during the off-season. People are also asking about Arian Foster because he injured his calf in OTA’s and he hasn’t done anything since then. People want to know if he’s still one of the top two picks in fantasy.”
How much does the possible absence of Von Miller hurt Denver’s D: “They have a really good defense from a fantasy perspective. The loss of Elvis Dumervil hurts quite a bit…but I still think this is a Top 10 [fantasy] defense. I have them ranked in the Top 6. The one thing people have to remember are defenses are [unique every year]. They can really change from one season to the next. The team that was number one in fantasy points one year is almost never the team that leads the [league] in fantasy points the next year. The Bears were so great last year. There’s no way they’ll do that again this year.”
What “sleeper” running back should people keep their eye on: “I think that could be [Miami’s] Lamar Miller. Everything is in line for Lamar Miller to have success this year. He’s the number one guy with Reggie Bush in Detroit. He has the easiest schedule based on fantasy points at the running back position this year. He’s worked out with Frank Gore in the off season and Gore compared him to Clinton Portis and that’s one heck of a comparison.”
There’s quality depth late at tight end: “I can get Jason Witten in a standard league in round six, round seven. Same with Tony Gonzalez.”
