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 your favorite nobody who's become somebody in the 2020 season?
DAVID DOREY
James Robinson has to be one of the greatest "who?" players in the history of fantasy football. He was picked up as a free agent in all leagues when the Jaguars suddenly released Leonard Fournette and promoted into being a starter despite never being drafted this year. He's been a Top-5 running back all year, much to the chagrin of everyone who drafted Fournette expecting just what Robinson is providing. He is on pace for over 1,600 total yards and 13 touchdowns. Gotta pay attention at all times!
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.
MICHAEL NAZAREK
This player hasn't had a big season, but he's performed when I needed him the most: Rams RB Malcolm Brown. Many weeks when Christian McCaffrey was out, Brown started for me and produced solid numbers most of the time. That's all you can ask for from an inconsistent No. 4 RB. He's scored 5 times in 2020. Not bad at all!
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.
IAN ALLAN
The Giants are considered a lesser team, but they’ve been playing hard all year. They got blown out by the 49ers in September, but they’ve been in all of their other games. And now it seems like they’ve stumbled onto a running back. Wayne Gallman has scored touchdowns in four straight games. He’s averaged 50 rushing and 14 receiving yards in his last four games, with 5 TDs. At a position where the talent gets thin in a hurry, he’s a starter-quality back right now.
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.
SCOTT SACHS
Marquez Valdes-Scantling, "The Law Firm", had a very good Week 1 then sequestered himself from further fantasy production. Under cross-examination, the facts came out that he was a waste of a roster spot and should be relegated to the bench. His appeal for clemency was granted with a stay of execution in Weeks 9-10, with an ultimate verdict of guilty...of being a threat to score on any given play. MVS should be a model fantasy citizen going forward. Case closed, court adjourned.
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.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
When the Giants lost Saquon Barkley, they sounded the alarm for Devonta Freeman. They could have just looked down the end of the bench for Wayne Gallman, who's taken over in recent weeks. Gallman sees double-digit touches every Sunday, and he's scored a touchdown in four straight games. The Giants have turned into this year's Dolphins, a scrappy team with a turnaround culture. With Philadelphia floundering, New York has an outside chance to steal this crazy division. Gallman can be a part of that.
An FSWA award-winning writer (with nominations in four sports) and podcaster, Scott has been with Yahoo Sports since 2008. On the rare occasions when the computer is turned off, he enjoys word games, poker, music, film, game theory, and a variety of condiments. He lives in suburban Detroit.
ANDY RICHARDSON
In my head it was going to be JaMycal Hasty; unfortunately Kyle Shanahan preferred the low-impact, low-yards-per-carry performance of Jerick McKinnon right up until Hasty broke his collarbone. So instead I'm going with Jakobi Meyers, who's had an awesome month, with a couple of good games, a huge game against the Jets, and then last week throwing a touchdown pass. Meyers may not be able to sustain it (his quarterback doesn't throw touchdowns, which is kind of a negative) but he's been a nice option at a time I needed it. And in my dynasty league, he's eased the sting of my selecting N'Keal Harry early in last year's rookie draft considerably. If I'm being totally honest, it's James Robinson in a runaway. And although Justin Herbert isn't a "nobody" as a 6th-overall pick, few expected him to be a fantasy starter this season -- instead he's been an absolute star.
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.