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 injury replacement are you intrigued by?
DAVID DOREY
While Dion Lewis is the easy answer here, I'll point at Dalton Schultz as another player worthy of a waiver wire add. The Cowboys lost Blake Jarwin for the year after Week 1 and it seemed that his replacement, Schultz, would have little chance to do much with three vaunted wide receivers there to sponge up the targets. That was wrong. The third-year tight end was a fourth-round pick in 2018 and hasn't done much until becoming the No. 1 tight end for the Cowboys in Week 2 and beyond. His first game starting saw him with ten targets that became nine catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. Granted - the Cowboys passed for 450 yards in the shootout with the Falcons. But Dalton attracted the team-high in targets and those wideouts will always garner plenty of attention from the secondary. And the Cowboys defense looks like it may invite many more shootouts this season.
Dorey co-founded The Huddle.com in 1997. He's ranked every player and projected every game for the last 23 years and is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. David has appeared on numerous radio, television, newspaper and magazines over the last two decades.
IAN ALLAN
I like Mike Davis. I think he’s going to be a full-time kind of back, and I think he’s going to catch a bunch of passes. I like what they’re doing offensively. Could be kind of decent for the next 3-5 games filling in. Devonta Freeman might be more of a long-term starter, but I would feel better about Davis’ next three games than hoping to getting something more from Freeman.
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.
SAM HENDRICKS
I loved Saints wideout TreQuan Smith on Monday night. He stepped into the Michael Thomas role much more than Emanuel Sanders. I admit I drafted Smith in 2018 in dynasty leagues and have desperately been waiting for the third-round pick to do something. He showed flashes of his potential in two great games in his rookie season. I am hoping for more of the same in 2020. Even when Thomas returns if Smith can be a strong WR2 it will go a long way toward giving him a breakout season.
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 won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013 and 2018. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
MIKE NAZAREK
I believe Broncos rookie wideout K.J. Hamler will surprise in a good way for fantasy teams in need for the rest of the season in Denver.
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. He's also won nearly $30K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.
SCOTT SACHS
Unheralded Illinois State's James Robinson has seemingly taken control of the RB room in Jacksonville. He was a preseason No. 4 on the depth chart, but personnel changes due to free agency and injury created an opportunity. Robinson has made a splash, tallying 102 yards with a TD day in Week 2. The Jags have gone from tanking mode to upstart status, but get no respect. Yet they are 2-0 and looking for more, and Robinson is positioned well to be a solid contributor the rest of the season.
Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, offering LIVE Talk & Text consulting. He has multiple league championships including 2 perfect seasons. Scott is a past winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll and a 2-time winner of the Experts Auction League.
ANDY RICHARDSON
I like Mike Davis, even conceding he’s on a timer. The 4-6 week timetable for Christian McCaffrey is 4-6 weeks of Davis putting up (maybe?) 60-70 percent of McCaffrey’s production. That’s a sure weekly starter, even if he’s useless in Week 8. To me that’s better than a committee guy the rest of the way.
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.