Fabiano’s Fantasy Focus: 2019 Off-Season, Volume II

Arizona Sports News online

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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 (May 2nd) with the Fantasy Sports Writer’s Association Hall of Famer.

What is your read on David Johnson heading into 2019? “I liked David last year and he still ended up being a Top 10 fantasy running back. He was just really inconsistent and I don’t know that the Cardinals and that offensive staff utilized him as they should have been. I think Kliff Kingsbury is smart enough to do that. He’s an offensive-minded coach so I think David will bounce back and be more of a reliable fantasy contributor. He’s probably going to be a late second-round pick because the position at the top is just so deep. He’ll likely be mixed in with a lot of the elite wide receivers coming off the board in the second round.”

Where does N’Keal Harry fit in New England’s offense? “I like that. It’s a good landing spot. Rob Gronkowski is retired. We don’t know what’s happening with Demaryius Thomas coming off the injury. Josh Gordon is a big question mark. I think Julian Edelman will clearly be the first Patriots’ player drafted in fantasy leagues but N’Keal Harry could be number two.” 

How about Larry Fitzgerald? “Larry, he’s a Hall of Famer. He’s one of the best wide receivers to ever play the position but at this point, when you consider, I think Christian Kirk is probably the better fantasy option among Cardinals wide receivers. Larry is probably right in there at two.”

What do you make of the Raiders backfield this year? “I do like the rookie Josh Jacobs that they drafted out of Alabama, especially with Isaiah Crowell going down for the season. They did bring back Doug Martin but Jacobs will probably be the first rookie drafted in re-drafts and dynasty drafts.”   

Arizona loaded up on wide receivers in the draft. Do any of them hold immediate value?  “You’ve got Andy Isabella who potentially could come in and make an immediate impact. He’s worth a late-round flier. Hakeem Butler, the fantasy twitter world was all over this dude and as he kept falling in the draft, a lot of folks out there were disappointed. He landed in a good spot from a dynasty perspective because Larry Fitz is not going to play forever but in re-drafts I think Butler is the guy who probably will either be a late-round pick or not drafted at all. There’s a lot of mouths to feed [in Arizona] but the good thing here, with the offense that the Cardinals have built, I think they’re the most improved offense in terms of who they drafted in the league…it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch that offense next season.” 

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