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Every week 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 (August 1st) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.
What do you make of the Browns’ wide receiver group? “Kenny Britt and Corey Coleman will be drafted in most leagues. Neither one will be drafted as more than a wide receiver four. I wouldn’t expect huge numbers, especially considering the offense and the quarterback situation in Cleveland.”
I’m going to guess the expectations are even lower for the Jets’ receivers? “I’m going to have ask Elliot Harrison because he’s our historian here at NFL Network. I don’t know that a team has entered the season with this bad and inexperienced of a receiving group. You lose Quincy Enunwa. Eric Decker is gone, Brandon Marshall is gone. You’re looking at Robby Anderson and Robby Anderson is going to get drafted now. He’s going to get drafted late but he’s going to get drafted. I don’t know if anybody else is going to get drafted. Maybe ArDarius Stewart in a deeper league.”
Do you expect Jay Cutler to have a bigger season in Miami than Ryan Tannehill would have had? “I don’t know if Cutler’s value is very different from what Tannehill’s would have been. I would have projected Tannehill for maybe a few more touchdowns because I think the Dolphins’ offensive coordinators and Adam Gase would have allowed him to throw the ball a little more often. Because one thing that happens with Cutler is that offensive coordinators in the past have tried to rein him in a little bit. That’s what Gase did in Chicago. He cut down on his turnovers and his completion percentage was the best he ever had. Cutler has a little bit of a ceiling where Tannehill’s ceiling was a little higher.”
What do you make of Kevin White’s value in Chicago? “Kevin White is going to get drafted late, although you’ve heard some issues about his confidence maybe wavering in Chicago. Maybe it’s true, maybe it isn’t but because there is some volume there in terms of targets, White will be drafted. I mean, he was a first-round pick a couple years ago so the talent is there.”
Give us your draft strategy when it comes to kickers and defenses. “Honestly, I don’t even really pay attention because there are leagues I’m in where I’m not required to draft either one and I won’t. If I am required to draft those positions those will be my last two picks. I do think that a good kicker can be helpful. Justin Tucker was great last year. Stephen Gostkowski, before last season, was very good. He typically ranked right up there, in terms of points, with some of the best tight ends but it’s still a position where guys come out of nowhere every single year. Wil Lutz last year with the New Orleans Saints. Defenses, unless you’re getting the Chiefs or the Broncos, the Patriots, the Texans or Vikings…even those defenses aren’t worth more than maybe a late-round pick or a next-to-last round pick. I would prefer to play the match-ups every single week and often times I’m going to end up getting a defense off the waiver wire that gets hot, like the Chiefs last year.”
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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.