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Ask the Experts

Who are the best bye-week fill-ins?

Coleman among desperation options

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: With byes starting this week, who are the best fill-ins, probably available on waivers in most leagues?

DAVID DOREY

There are plenty of fantasy running backs out this week -- Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, Dameon Pierce and D'Andre Swift. Obviously, smaller leagues could have Ken Walker of the Seahawks on their waiver wire. Mike Boone in Denver and Jerick McKinnon in Kansas City could be options in many leagues. Even Joshua Kelley of the Chargers is an option since he's ascended to being the No. 2 back.

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.

SAM HENDRICKS

I will give you one at every position. Cooper Rush gets probably one last game to showcase his talent. More fantasy points from yards (260) than TDs, for sure. Tevin Coleman had 67 yards from scrimmage in his first game back and 2 TDs. He backs up Jeff Wilson but could be set up for success. Darius Slayton: Who else is there? Taysom Hill: Ignore his crazy Week 5. He could have good numbers any week as a QB/TE/Flex play and with injuries the Saints may call his number more than you think. Kicker, Cameron Dicker, Defense Indianapolis.

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 30-year fantasy football veteran who participated 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.

IAN ALLAN

Not so much Week 6 but rather playing the long game. I am not giving up on Cole Kmet just yet. I think he’s a good tight end. As that passing game comes to life (keep feeling around; I think there might be a faint pulse there) I think he could be a serviceable depth tight end, catching 4-5 passes per week. The offense isn’t good enough for him to be a superstar, but I don’t think it’s out of the question that he might be one of the top dozen tight ends in the second half of the season. Makes a lot of sense as a second tight end in a traditional league.

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.

JASON WOOD

With the Lions (Jamaal Williams, D'Andre Swift), Texans (Dameon Pierce), Raiders (Josh Jacobs), and Titans (Derrick Henry) on bye, the key pain point is the running back position. Unfortunately, it's also a historically bad year for running backs season-to-date, making a replacement that's still on waivers hard to find. However, Ken Walker was available in about 50 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and is an ideal waiver option with Rashaad Penny out for the year. Walker has the talent and draft capital to be the Seahawks' every down back. Eno Benjamin is more widely available and looked great against a stout Eagles defense this week.

Wood is Senior Editor at Footballguys.com and has been with the company since its start in 2000. For more than 20 years, Footballguys has provided rankings, projections, and analysis to help fantasy managers dominate their leagues.

SCOTT SACHS

Jaylen Warren is certainly going to be getting more carries, and Mike Tomlin said as much this week. In his senior year at Oklahoma State, Warren rushed for over 1,200 yards with 11 TDs, so he does have a bit of a track record. Carolina fill-in quarterback P.J. Walker may only get a game or two, but the Panthers play the Rams and Buccaneers these next 2 weeks. As they figure to be trailing in both games, Walker will most likely be taking to the air early and often. Bucs backup tight end Cade Otton brought in 6 of 7 targets last week. Tampa Bay has 3 very average defensive opponents the next 3 weeks and incumbent Cameron Brate is not making anyone forget about Gronk so far.

With 2 perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text Advice. He is a 3-time Winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Auction League, as well as a previous Winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll.

ANDY RICHARDSON

The Colts have been singing a positive tune on Jonathan Taylor, but are we sure he doesn't have a high ankle sprain? No practice last week, and no practice Wednesday. If he's out, the Colts will probably use a committee, but watching the game against the Broncos last Thursday, Deon Jackson was the best running back on the field. His outlook would be helped considerably if Nyheim Hines (concussion) is also out, but as it is I'm picking up Jackson on the cheap with the thought that just maybe he'll be the main runner for the Colts in Week 6, and maybe longer if the Taylor injury is serious.

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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