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Ask the Experts

Who is the best draft value?

Conner, vet WRs (Sanu, Fitz) earn mentions

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: Who is the best value in fantasy drafts this year?

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

Sometimes James Conner slides into the middle of the second round, which is a giveaway. I'd consider him at No. 5 overall. The talk of Pittsburgh using a committee was always a red herring (preseason usage cleared things up), he's off an RB7 season despite missing three games, and he's in remarkable shape. A monster season from Conner is likely, and some glorious profit. (Austin Hooper is my middle-round answer.)

Pianowski has been playing fantasy football for over 20 years and writing about it for 18. He joined Yahoo! Sports in 2008 and has been blogging 24/7 on RotoArcade.com ever since.

MICHAEL NAZAREK

I think Larry Fitzgerald can still be a serviceable fantasy starter in larger leagues, and you can get him as your No. 4 or 5 wide receiver in drafts this summer. That is CRAZY value.

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 mobile-friendly 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. He's also won in excess of $20K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

ALAN SATTERLEE

I’ll give a shout out for Darwin Thompson, though I am not sure he can be had as cheaply anymore (and it likely depends on how dialed-in your draft league-mates are). I got Thompson in the 15th round of the Fanex draft just two weeks ago but those days are probably long over. I’ll go at quarterback though actually -- I am liking Jared Goff more and more. Goff is being somewhat drafted in the whatever quarterbacks range yet he is fantasy elite. We all remember Goff having a tough close to the season last year especially after Cooper Kupp went down and then also after Todd Gurley got hurt (albeit leading the Rams to the Super Bowl) but people seem to forget the epic production he was putting up before that. From Weeks 1-11 last year, Goff averaged 322 passing yards and 2.6 touchdowns per game as the No. 2 quarterback behind only Patrick Mahomes. Goff has tremendous weapons and an exceptional offensive coach. I expect more uber-big numbers. You have to love Goff’s receivers -- Kupp, Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks and not to mention Josh Reynolds as they form a lethal foursome combo. I also think Gerald Everett will continue to develop at tight end (and he’s a nice talent also) plus Darrell Henderson is going to have some big receiving plays as well.

Satterlee is the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast. Satterlee first started playing fantasy football in 1990.

IAN ALLAN

Both of the Carolina wide receivers, I think, are undervalued. DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel. They both began last season as reserves. Now they’re definitely starters and the key pass catchers in an offense that I think will be very good. They’re going to catch a bunch of passes, and they’ll both also be used regularly on end-arounds, adding a few more yards. Cam Newton has the foot issue, but they’re saying he’ll be fine for the opener.

Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. He and fellow journalism student Bruce Taylor launched the first newsstand fantasy football magazine as a class project at the University of Washington. For more than three decades, Allan has written and edited most of the content published in the magazines, newsletters and at www.fantasyindex.com. An exhaustive researcher, he may be the only person in the country who has watched at least some of every preseason football game played since the early 1990s. Allan is a member of the FSTA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.

MICHAEL NEASE

At 27 now, Devonta Freeman began his career on a high note, but the last two years he has missed 16 games, including 14 in 2018. He seems like a high-risk player going into 2019, sort of an injury waiting to happen. With Tevin Coleman gone, the RB2 position appears to be going too Ito Smith, Last year he only averaged 3.5 yards/carry and his longest gain was only 19 yards. If something should sideline Freeman, I look for an unheralded rookie Quadree Ollison to step up and carry the load, with Smith playing mostly as a change of pace back and on third downs. Ollison could be a decent pickup late in your draft.

Nease is a member of the FSWA and has been playing the game since 1985, while also writing about it since 2001. He is a writer for Big Guy Fantasy Sports. Over the years he has sampled about all the playing scenarios that fantasy football offers, including re-drafter, keeper, dynasty, auction, IDP and salary cap leagues. You can contact Mike at mnease23@yahoo.com anytime and during the football season follow him @mike-insights.

JUSTIN ELEFF

Mohamed Sanu is not special, but to this point, at least in my leagues, he’s been absolutely free. Last weekend I took him in the “draft” portion of an auction — when every remaining team was down to $1 per needed player, so nominating a guy meant winning him automatically. What did my $1 buy? It isn’t just that Sanu is locked in as the WR3 for one of the league’s best passing teams, so he’ll do a little something no matter what. He’s also a double-handcuff, ready to step in for either Julio Jones or Calvin Ridley if necessary and produce like a legitimate fantasy starter for as long as the better guy is out. I’m not saying Sanu wins the league for me ... but it’s certainly possible he could be in the lineup when I do win the league. Tough to beat that for free.

Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.

DAVID DOREY

David Montgomery has risen on draft boards most of the summer and he is still a tremendous value with his mid-fourth round ADP. His schedule and offensive line are both above average and the Bears selected him specifically to become the next dual-threat workhorse that HC Matt Nagy employed when he was in 2016 and 2017. He made Spencer Ware a star with 1,00 yards in 2016 and then Kareem Hunt blew up as a rookie under Nagy coming from the same third round and exact same size as Montgomery. There’s simply no chance that you’ll ever draft Montgomery this cheaply again.

Dorey has been dealing out all the rankings and projections for The Huddle since 1997 and wrote up a preview of every game for the last 21 years. His specialty is schedule strength and he’s been in countless magazines, podcasts, and radio shows. He is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level.

ANDY RICHARDSON

A few weeks ago the answer was Matt Breida, but that's all over with -- now he's being overdrafted as people wise up. So I'm going to throw out a couple of guys I'm selecting pretty late. One is Noah Fant. Seems pretty clear he's going to be Denver's starting tight end and catch a whole bunch of short passes from Joe Flacco. The second is Adam Humphries. Investing in the Tennessee passing game is unappealing to say the least, but we're not talking about Corey Davis -- we're talking about a slot receiver who should be peppered with passes by a lesser quarterback who will opt for the safe, easy short throws whenever he can. And Humphries is basically free in the fantasy drafts, as in 17th or 18th round (I don't let him fall any further than that, so maybe even that's too early).

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.

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