Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus Volume IV

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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.

What is the best advice for drafting in an eight-team league?: “[In] an eight-team league you’re going to have a superstar team on your roster and I think that it’s imperative that you draft running backs and it makes even more sense to draft running backs in a small league because there’s going to be even more good quarterbacks available late. In the first five rounds you should have at least two or three running backs or two or three wide receivers. You pick the player who’s best on the board, regardless of those two positions. To be quite honest with you if I’m in an eight-team league I’m probably not drafting a quarterback until way after round eight because I’ll get Matt Ryan, I’ll get Tony Romo. I’ll get a quarterback like that.”

What is your draft assessment for Buffalo running back C.J. Spiller?: “I do think Spiller is a first-round pick, there’s no doubt about that. He showed last year that when he gets the ball he can be extremely explosive. He probably will be drafted among the first five picks in a lot of leagues. I see him more as a back-end of the first round guy, maybe seventh or eighth, in that area. Lots of upside there. Among the ten running backs who were in that area last year based on fantasy points no one averaged more fantasy points per touch than C.J. Spiller.”

Any injury concerns with some of top-tier running backs like Arian Foster?: “Arian Foster is a veteran. He knows [the] offense…he doesn’t need to do a lot in training camp. He doesn’t even need to play in any pre-season games until maybe Week 3. I wouldn’t really freak out about Arian Foster. The guy has been the best fantasy running back combined over the last three seasons. He’s been phenomenal. Adrian Peterson’s been great, too but let me give you a stat. Over the history of the National Football League, running backs who have rushed for over 2,000 yards in a single-season have seen a 46% decrease in fantasy points the next year on average. That’s ridiculous.”

What caused you to drop Aaron Rodgers below Drew Brees as your top fantasy quarterback?: “I’ve dropped him to two behind Drew Brees…not a huge drop off there but two things have me a little concerned which is why I dropped him down to two. One, [offensive tackle] Bryan Bulaga is out for the year…and that offensive line was not that good last year and number two he loses Jordy Nelson. Brees is a safer play at this point.”