Full story at detnews.com:

Barry Sanders is up-front in stating his opinion about where to start building a team.

Start up front, on the offensive line, Sanders says.

“I think, every year, when you look in the playoffs and Super Bowl, that fact is made even more obvious. You always have to shore up your line of scrimmage.”

No question, Barry Sanders knows football. And being a runner, one thing he understands more than anything else is that the offensive line is the most important part of an offense.

You can have the best passer in football, Peyton Manning; but if he played behind an offensive line like Oakland, his team and his statistics would not be half what they are. Anyone who understands football knows that without a solid offensive line, the offense has little chance to perform at its peak.

In fact, it’s one of the things fantasy owners tend to overlook. Hey, you can have the best quarterback-wide receiver tandem in the league, but that won’t matter if the quarterback spends most of the season picking himself off the ground and brushing divots out of his facemask.

Anyone can say that Edgerrin James will perform well because he is one of the elites at his position; but take a few minutes to check out the Cardinals offensive line. If they don’t open up holes for James, he’ll have another season where he averages 3.4 yards per carry and only scores 6 touchdowns — a poor season by his standards. After all, during the three seasons prior to his exit out of Indianapolis he averaged more than 1400 yards and 11 touchdowns.

So remember, this is your fantasy tip of the day: research a team’s offensive line before you predict a player’s numbers for the upcoming season.

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