Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: 2014 What to Watch for, Volume II

Arizona Sports News online

There’s no fantasy football offseason on NFL.com! Be sure to check out NFL.com/Fantasy for in-depth analysis on all the news that will affect your fantasy team in 2014!

Each week during the season NFL Network and NFL.com Fantasy Football Editor 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 with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

What two “big-name” players are past their prime and not worth touching early in drafts this summer? “Chris Johnson is number one. I still think he’s going to be mostly a featured back with the Jets but I would not be shocked if he didn’t rush for a thousand yards. Maybe he gives you somewhere around 950, 980. Gives you six to eight touchdowns but Chris Johnson to me is more name at this point in his career than he is production. You could say the same thing about Frank Gore, for example, who is now going to be 31 and they drafted Carlos Hyde and they have a deep backfield there in San Francisco.”

Speaking of the NFC West, what are you general thoughts on the Arizona Cardinals skill players from a fantasy perspective? “[Larry] Fitzgerald hasn’t had a thousand-yard season in a couple of years now but he did score a lot of touchdowns last season. He’s no longer that elite, number one wide receiver in fantasy. He’s more of a high-end two in my opinion. In standard leagues [Michael] Floyd is a guy who has number three potential. He showed it last year. Had a very strong season. Carson Palmer: he’s a QB two and he’s probably not going to get drafted in a lot of leagues. The player I really, really love in Arizona is Andre Ellington…this guy is going to see like 30 touches a game based on what Bruce Arians is saying. Of course, that’s not realistic but if he gets 18-20 touches a game…they don’t have a lot of competition behind Ellington in that backfield. I know he’s small so I don’t know if he can have a featured role but boy they are talking him up like he is the second coming and I really think he has got RB two potential…high-end RB two potential where he could be somewhere in that 11, 12, 13-range if we’re talking about running back rankings when the season is all said and done.”

Give us your top three fantasy players (standard scoring leagues) heading into training camp? “I’m going to say you probably know the position of all three. That’s running back. Adrian Peterson one, LeSean McCoy two, Jamaal Charles three.”

For more, click here.