ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: Who is the first-half fantasy MVP?
MICHAEL NAZAREK
That's a no-brainer... Atlanta Falcons RB Devonta Freeman. No one expected him to produce like a true STUD, but that is what he is now, and moving forward!
Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is a four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a former columnist for SI.com. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.
SCOTT SACHS
Tom Brady is certainly the most dependable QB starter so far. Consistency is really the key in my opinion. It doesn't seem to matter on the receiving corps either, everyone who's active that particular week gets thrown to. Other guys have had better days here and there, to be sure, but week in and week out, Brady has been the steadiest high producer so far. Runner-up is certainly Carson Palmer. The Cardinals are the real deal as long as they continue to keep him upright.
With two perfect seasons to his credit, Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text Consulting & Advice. He was the 2011 winner of Fantasy Index's Experts Auction league, as well as the winner of the 2012 Experts Poll. In 2013, he finished 2nd in the Auction and 3rd in the Draft league; in 2014, 3rd in the Auction league.
JOSHUA SIMMONS
Tom Brady, Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins are very, very good at what they do and will no doubt garner some votes. But for my part the first-half fantasy MVP is Devonta Freeman -- and it ain't even close. He's leading the NFL in carries, rushing yards, touchdowns and happens to also be on pace for 80 catches, 706 receiving yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns. If you spent that late round flyer on Freeman or snatched him up via waivers, chances are decent that your team is the toast of your league. Much of his sterling value lies in the obvious competitive advantage over alternative running backs, to date. Sounds cliché but having Freeman in lineups really has been the equivalent of two quality players where technically only one is starting. Oh, and kudos to Scott Pianowski last week on the Vernon Davis, Broncos matchmaking. Good on ya.
Simmons has been a contributor for FantasySharks.com since 2007. His responsibilities include dynasty rankings, weekly projections-driven content and staff representation in various leagues.
SAM HENDRICKS
Devonta Freeman. The Falcons RB has averaged 88.6 yards (4.7 YPC) and 1.1 TDs through eight games. Add in his 40 catches, 353 receiving yards and a TD and you have the top RB in PPR leagues. The fact that you drafted him in the 10th round or later is gravy. MVP by a mile. Honorable mention goes to Larry Fitzgerald, Carson Palmer and Gary Barnidge.
Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 20-plus year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
DAVID DOREY
Hands down the MVP from the first half of 2015 is Devonta Freeman, who is very well represented at the top of almost every league standings. The delta between him and the next best back (usually Mark Ingram) is around seven points PER GAME. He probably was only a fifth- or sixth-round pick and his payback has been extreme.
Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.
JAY HARDING
Tom Brady and Todd Gurley are pretty obvious choices and well deserving too. That said, I'm casting my vote for Devonta Freeman. Most fantasy analysts had the rookie boy Tevin Coleman winning the job in Atlanta, that I'm sure contributed to the first half Mr. Freeman has had and it's pretty remarkable too. He has a combined 1,062 yards including four 100+ rushing games and a total of 10 TDs. I'm fairly confident that his ADP next year will be a bit higher than it was in 2015.
Harding, owner of The Fantasy Football Firm has been playing and winning fantasy football since 1987. The Firm specializes in helping fantasy owners win in three key post-draft areas. Senior Partners at The Firm get all three publications: “Effective Team Management”, “Waiver Wire Wisdom” and “The Trade Maker” a combined 57 pages packed with sound, proven and effective strategies focused solely on helping partners win their league championships and to do so more consistently than ever before. On Twitter: @UDONTWINONDDAY.
ANDY RICHARDSON
A case can be made for Philip Rivers, who is putting up huge numbers week after week. The lineup advantage of having Rob Gronkowski while some of us are throwing slop at the wall with Dwayne Allen, Richard Rodgers and Kyle Rudolph, desperately hoping for a touchdown, is significant; Gronk is incredible. But I think a couple of Falcons, Devonta Freeman and Julio Jones (though he had a couple of down weeks) stand out. Jones was so great for 3-4 games, Freeman so good each week, that it's hard to have a losing record if you're starting either of those guys.
Richardson has been a contributing writer and editor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and www.fantasyindex.com since 2002. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual experts draft and auction leagues since their inception. He previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.