Fabiano's Fantasy Focus Week 1, Volume II

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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 [September 4th] with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer with the regular season now in full swing.

If still available, grab Justin Blackmon immediately: “Pick up Justin Blackmon. Stash him on your roster if you can. You know what, if you end up dropping him after a couple weeks because there is a hot free agent on the waiver wire, so be it. But I can tell you right now, when Justin Blackmon comes back…after he misses the first four games, he will be the hottest pickup on the waiver wire and he will be owned in 100% of leagues so I think it’s a good idea for people to get ahead of the curve there.”

What team’s cluttered backfield should fantasy owners be monitoring carefully?  “Well, certainly in New Orleans. You’ll want to see what happens with Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram. We all know what Darren Sproles’ role is and Darren Sproles is a very good PPR machine. A very good option in those leagues. More of a flex in standard leagues because you’re not going to get a point for a reception but see what happens between Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram. Is this the year that Mark Ingram sort of breaks out? I don’t expect that to be the case. I expect it to be a shared situation there with Thomas and Ingram but we’ll see what happens.”

Anybody else in a similar situation? “The other situation I would look at, honestly, is in Houston. They’re talking about brining Arian Foster in a little bit slowly. So see what the split of carries is between Arian Foster and Ben Tate. I still start Arian Foster, even if he’s just your flex. I’m still starting him. But that’s going to be something very interesting from a fantasy perspective to see who sees more touches. To me, I would guess it’s going to be Arian Foster but if it’s not that’s cause for concern because he’s clearly the much better back.”

To hear the entire interview, click here.

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