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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 with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer as the pre-season schedule kicks into high gear.
Larry Fitzgerald will return to his dominating self in Arizona: “Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald are going to connect right away. With the offense they’re going to run, with Bruce Arians who likes to throw the ball vertical, Fitz is going to bounce back in a huge way this season. A huge way. Both for the Cardinals and for fantasy owners.”
What advice would you give to fantasy commissioners heading into the season? “Be fair but don’t be overbearing because commissioners have to approve trades. My thought is that, if someone wants to make a trade because they believe a player’s value is about to rise. But that player isn’t as valuable as the player being traded, let the team make the move. You don’t trade Peyton Manning for Devery Henderson. You don’t do that. That’s not a trade you’re going to let go through. But I’ll give you an example. A few years back Brandon Lloyd and Arian Foster both broke out and led their respective positions in fantasy points. If I had said if I wanted to trade Andre Johnson and Chris Johnson for Arian Foster and Brandon Lloyd that year in the beginning of the season, people would have said I’m not letting that trade go through, it’s not a fair trade. But at the end of the year the Foster and Lloyd duo had more fantasy points than Johnson and Johnson. We can’t predict the future correctly 100% of the time. Now with that being said, you can’t let shady trades go through, a Peyton Manning for the fourth-string receiver for the Cleveland Browns.
Know your league before you join: “Know who you’re playing with. Make sure that the people in the league have been happy with the commissioner in the past. You don’t want to get into a drama situation. Fantasy football is not a soap opera. It’s supposed to be fun. If you’re in a public league, NFL.com is going to be the commissioner of a public league, so you’re never going to run into any problems like that. But if you’re in a private league with people you don’t know out on the world wide web I say play the league out. I think the worst thing in the world is to join a league and not pay attention. I would rather play with people I know, people I trust.”
Stay away from Chargers skill players: “The Chargers are a mess. Malcolm Floyd, at least he didn’t tear his ACL, but he may not even be ready for week one so you’re looking at Keenan Allen, who suddenly has some deep sleeper appeal and Vincent Brown who has some deep sleeper appeal as your two starting wide receivers. Not a lot of experience there and Antonio Gates who is 33 and I hate to say it but past his prime and hasn’t been that good the last few years from a fantasy perspective which also has a domino effect and hurts Philip Rivers who I wouldn’t draft as anything more than a low end [backup] at this point.”
To hear the rest of the interview click here.
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Eric Sorenson
A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.