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Ask the Experts

Who is one of your favorite 2024 sleepers?

Whole lot of Shakir going on

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 one of your favorite 2024 sleepers?

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

I don't know if he's late enough to qualify for this question, but I think Khalil Shakir is the best value in the Buffalo receiver room. He's the only Bills wideout who has game experience with Josh Allen, and Shakir was better than Stefon Diggs in the second half of last year. A healthy Shakir should at least get you your investment back, with plenty of room for profit.

Pianowski has been with Yahoo Sports since 2008, covering a variety of sports. 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. Pianowski was inducted into the FSWA Hall of Fame in 2021.

DAVID DOREY

I've stuck Trey Benson on about half of my teams so far, and I love that he is an all-around talent that can play three downs. Granted, James Conner is the primary and likely remains so this year, but Benson will be called up for the four or so games that Conner always misses and all any back can ask for is for opportunity. Conner is in the final year of his contract and is 29 years old. He's hardly the durable type that can play into his 30's and the Cardinals elected to not extend him and draft his replacement this year. At worst, Benson gets a month of subbing for the always-brittle Conner. But he's likely more talented anyway, so later in the year anything is possible.

Dorey co-founded The Huddle.com in 1997. He's ranked every player and projected every game for the last 26 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.

MIKE NAZAREK

DJ Chark in Los Angeles is still a quality player and he's a starter for the Chargers ahead of Quentin Johnston. Anytime you start and your quarterback is Justin Herbert, you have a real chance to make a significant fantasy impact. Best of all, you can get him in round 18 or later in your draft this summer!

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc, celebrating 29 years online! His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its website, www.ffmastermind.com. 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 $36K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

IAN ALLAN

The Bills used their first pick on a wide receiver, and they also signed Curtis Samuel to a decent contract, but I think Khalil Shakir is going to be their leading receiver. He’s been there a couple of a years, and I think he’s ready to play. I think he understands their offense better than their two newcomers, and I like his elusiveness after the catch. I could see him developing into a Tyler Lockett kind of guy. I’ve got a tick next to his name — one of those guys I’m assuming I’ll be selecting onto my team.

Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. Since that time, he’s written and edited most of the content published in the magazines, newsletters and at www.fantasyindex.com. Allan is a member of the FSGA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.

SAM HENDRICKS

Ezekiel Elliott. Love him in the 11th as a sleeper RB3 or Flex. He is gonna get his touches and is only competing with Royce Freeman and Rico Dowdle (who has something like 100 carries in 3 seasons). Last year, in his first stint away from big D, Zeke started the final five games of the season and had a top 10 finish in those games. Clearly there is still something left in the tank at 29. I am betting on him as one of my mid-draft sleepers.

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.

SCOTT SACHS

Michael Wilson certainly qualifies, as there hasn't been much hype in fantasy circles, but there seems to be a lot coming from Camp Cardinal. The 2nd-year receiver has size and speed, averaging a very respectable 14.9 yards per grab as a rookie. He built great rapport with Kyler Murray last year, and the hope is that the game is now slowing down for him entering his sophomore season. Arizona has a bottom-tier defense, so they will be trailing and throwing a lot later in games. Most of the opposing defenses will be focused on Harrison and McBride, so Wilson may be poised for a breakout season. At the very least, he should definitely have some room to roam and is a nice depth pick toward the end of the draft.

With 2 perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, Scott 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.

JASON WOOD

Bo Nix in Superflex leagues could be an absolute cheat code. He’s a system quarterback but Sean Payton wants exactly that, and Nix has the kind of rushing ability that gives him a far higher floor than his ADP acknowledges.

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.

KEN HOLIZNA

Ladd McConkey is in a really good situation. Harbaugh traded up to get him and has had some success at Michigan with a similar type of receiver. Ladd has very little serious competition for targets with Keenan Allen and Mike Williams gone. He has a proven quarterback who can get him the ball. Ladd is going off the board as a 4th receiver between the 9th and 11th round. He looks to be a top-end WR2 with boom potential any given week. He has a similar size and style of Wes Welker who was a quarterback's security blanket for many years.

Holizna is a 29-year fantasy football enthusiast and founder of Faith-Family-Fantasy Football in 2019, a family-friendly, faith-based, G-rated fantasy football platform. Rankings contributor to the 2023 Fantasy Index magazine. Find him on Twitter @holihandicapper

ANDY RICHARDSON

I've drafted Jaylen Wright on several teams, and considering how late he's going, I imagine I'll draft him on several more. The love that much of the fantasy community has for DeVon Achane is crazy to me. It overlooks how much better he and the Dolphins offense were the first half of the season compared to the second, and that they favored a committee (to which they've now added a fourth-round pick). This has the look of a three-man backfield where Wright is the best value and arguably the least likely to get hurt.

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 writes a weekly gambling newsletter, Index Bets, during the NFL season and also previews all the games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays.

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