ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: Which player or players do you expect to have on most of your fantasy teams this season?
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
Doug Baldwin and Spencer Ware are on about 30-40 percent of my rosters to this point. Baldwin's misunderstood in a lot of pockets; regression should start every conversation about him, but it shouldn't end it. He's now locked into a No. 1 wide receiver role, tied to an elite quarterback, and collecting on a fat, validating contract; I expect Baldwin to easily return value around the fourth round. Ware might turn into Kansas City's goal-line preference even if Jamaal Charles stays healthy, and if Charles -- a player with two ACL blowouts -- gets hurt again, Ware has a game-changing upside. Keep in mind Ware was nothing in the passing game last year, but he's caught eight passes this summer, along with three touchdown plunges. KC has an interesting back on the rise here.
Pianowski has been playing fantasy football for 20 years and writing about it for 17. He joined Yahoo! Sports in 2008 and has been blogging 24/7 on RotoArcade.com ever since.
JODY SMITH
Randall Cobb is one guy I find myself almost always taking in the third round. With Jordy Nelson back in the fold, I expect Cobb to bounce back to that 86-catch, 1100-plus yard, 11 touchdown area he's averaged with Nelson in the lineup. Even in a down 2015, Cobb was fifth in the league in red zone targets, so his role there seems secure too. I'm expecting a big rebound this season and think he's a fringe WR1.
Smith the co-owner of Gridironexperts and a member of the FSWA. Jody was named the Most Accurate Fantasy Football Expert by Fantasypros in 2012 and is currently attending Houston Texans training camp.
JUSTIN ELEFF
The first one is easy: Virgil Green, the tight end in Denver. I was alone in dropping him into my top 20 at the position in our magazine, and while he keeps creeping up in Ian's weekly rankings now (on the strength of a preseason that's been much better than even I was anticipating), my leagues remain sound asleep on him. Ordinarily I budget a good number of dollars for my starting tight end in an auction; this weekend I was so confident I could get Green for a late buck (and I did indeed) that I spent those dollars earlier on a top defense, which I almost never do. The second is a very pleasant surprise: David Johnson, right at the top of my running backs heap. So many people are swept up in this Year of the Wide Receiver hype that he keeps falling to me at picks 3, 4, 5 and even 6 overall, partly because those who do take running backs at the top seem more comfortable with the more famous names. As I said in one of our first podcasts of the year, Johnson was the one player in the NFL who impressed me most last year; he makes plays I'm just not confident the older guys at the position can make anymore, and unlike Todd Gurley he isn't saddled with a losing team. I keep pairing Johnson with second-round receivers, and I have yet to look back at the top of any draft and wish I had gone for a different guy instead.
Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.
IAN ALLAN
Will Fuller. He’s just a rookie, but he keeps getting open for long receptions every week. Usually receivers need a year or so to get a feel for the game, and I’m sure Fuller will be better in 2017 and 2018, but he’s fast enough and good enough that I expect he’ll be a factor right out of the box.
Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at www.fantasyindex.com.
ALAN SATTERLEE
Answering this question will depend on draft slot of course, so you can't get some players on every team unless you are around the same draft spot (and even then I would want some diversification). One player however in the 7th-round range I have consistently landed (and plan to continue to draft) is Washington's DeSean Jackson. He makes for a tremendous WR3, both for the draft price and the fantasy impact I think he will have. Coming off a season where Jackson severely under-performed (just 58.7 yards receiving per game -- about 25 percent less than he had in 2014, his first year with Washington) and having missed seven games, Jackson is flying a little under the radar. Washington should have a pass-heavy team and Jackson could be in store for a career season. He's in a contract year, and that's a big deal in this case. Jackson also has made every practice in camp -- reportedly, the first time he's ever done that, so he's healthy and he’s focused (on getting paid, which is fine by me). Jackson has also has had the chance to ramp up his game going against newly added Josh Norman in practice (and Jackson by all accounts has not only gotten better with the competition, but he is consistently beating Norman). After Jackson, another receiver I plan to land a lot of is the Panthers' Devin Funchess, who could potentially be a young Terrell Owens about to break out. Reports of Funchess' stardom in camp have been widely reported, and I believe the hype.
Satterlee is a co-owner and senior writer for Dynasty Football Warehouse. DFW is comprehensive site covering dynasty, redraft, IDP and Daily formats. DFW has a large writing crew with many people from the DFW community contributing to the insights and discussion. Alan is also the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast.
SAM HENDRICKS
Two WRs that could start opposite Super Stars: Sterling Shepard and Eli Rogers. One is a ROY candidate, the other a lottery ticket that I want to have. Shepard will play for the Giants with OBJ getting all the double teams. He is this year's can't miss-must have player! Draft him in the middle rounds and don't look back. Rogers could be the No. 2 opposite Antonio Brown in a high-octane Steeler passing scheme. He was on fire in the preseason and only has Sammie "Dropsies" Coates to beat out. I will snap Eli up in every late-round draft I can. Both provide upside at different times in the draft and at a position I love to stockpile since I am going against the zero-RB crowd and zagging this year!
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 25 year fantasy football veteran who 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 is drafting live in the FFPC in Vegas this year. He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
MICHAEL NAZAREK
I don't target any one specific player in all my drafts, but I can tell you that Matthew Stafford and Antonio Gates are sliding to me in most of them as my backups at quarterback and tight end. Very interesting indeed!
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.
ANDY RICHARDSON
One is Philip Rivers. I think he has a good chance of delivering top-5 quarterback numbers while being available much later in almost every draft. Another is Bilal Powell. I'm not sure Matt Forte can stay healthy all year, and I think Powell will play a lot more even as the No. 2 than most think -- and will be very usable in PPR leagues. Along those same lines, I'm intrigued by Charles Sims, who I expect a lot of Index readers will have on their team. He very quietly put up good all-around numbers last year even with Doug Martin having a huge year. I don't think Martin can go back-to-back, so I like Sims.
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.