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Every Wednesday 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 (November 19th) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
This is the time of year it seems everybody is looking for depth at running back–best advice for the stretch run? “I’m telling a lot of people if you have Jamaal Charles, get Knile Davis. If you have Arian Foster, get Alfred Blue. You want to make sure you have insurance for your stud running backs right now in case anything goes on in the last few weeks of the season. You don’t want to be stuck with an injured elite running back and not have his backup…it’s so hard to fill the running back position nine times out of 10, when we’re not talking about the elite guys, these kinds of situations fantasy owners want to keep tabs on very, very closely because in the NFL it’s a next-man-up-situation when a guy gets hurt.”
What the best advice can you give owners looking to swing a deal? “I love trading. If you’re not trading, you’re not trying. That’s always been my mantra and hopefully you’ve been paying attention all year and if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve been playing the waiver wire and if you’ve been playing the waiver wire correctly you probably have depth at a position…right now, your depth on your bench should be handcuffed–elite handcuffs for your running backs and that’s about it. I would trade depth right now to load up my starting lineup and I think that’s what people should be doing…go out and try to trade for an elite guy. A few weeks ago I traded for Peyton Manning. I gave up Russell Wilson and Demaryius Thomas. I gave up two good players for arguably the best quarterback in fantasy football. These are the moves you need to make to win your fantasy football league.”
A friend of mine has three skill players on the same team…in general, is that taboo in the fantasy world? “Well, if you have three skill players from the Packers it’s a good way to go [laughing]. If you have Aaron Rodgers, Jordy Nelson and Eddie Lacy or maybe if you have Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray and Dez Bryant…it depends on who you’re talking about. I’m assuming you’re talking about the Cardinals. Carson Palmer played really well when he was healthy…and [Andre] Ellington is one of the 15 best running backs in fantasy football right now and he’s been pretty consistent, as well. To me it really doesn’t matter. I’m not going to load up my whole lineup with guys from the Jaguars–let’s put it that way. But if you’re starting Palmer as a streaming quarterback and you’re starting Ellington as your RB2 every week and Michael Floyd is in-and-out of your lineup based on the match ups, I don’t have a problem with that. Now, with Drew Stanton in there…I don’t know how consistent he’s going to be.”
Do you see owners backing away from players who play on Thursday nights? “Yes, no question about it–especially if they’re a road team. That’s been an issue outside of when you have a road team with a lot of elite players…fantasy fans are worried about starting guys on Thursday night…another way it impacts fantasy players is if you’re injured it gives you a little less time to heal which means you’re more likely to be inactive which means as a fantasy owner you’ve got to find a replacement for some of these players.”
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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.