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: Happy Thanksgiving! Which player or player are you most thankful for this season?
SAM HENDRICKS
Since it is Thanksgiving. I will give you a few: Baker Mayfield, because getting a QB4 who was drafted as a QB19 is a miracle. That is a 13-point bonus. Nearly 11 points more than expected. And my girlfriend loves him so we can root for the same thing on Sundays! Brian Robinson with an ADP of RB30. As such he has outscored his ADP by 100 fantasy points. That's close to 9 points a game. Truly great and grateful. Chuba Hubbard is the pumpkin pie for dessert, RB12 for RB42. Terry McLaurin and Jaxon Smith-Njigba drafted WR 28 and 35 yet at 5th and 7th in the wide receiver standings. And finally Brock Bowers TE1 drafted TE11. Gobble til you wobble!
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 PIANOWSKI
Chuba Hubbard showed his chops last year but was inexpensive in draft season, perhaps because the fantasy market overdosed on injury optimism tied to Jonathon Brooks. Low and behold, Hubbard is really an impact player, even when the offense has occasionally sputtered around him. He's been a consistent producer and a major steal from his summer ADP.
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.
JASON WOOD
As a lifelong Eagles fan, the easy answer is Saquon Barkley. He was always annoying to play against but now he's found a new level of dominance running behind the Eagles stellar offensive line. Putting my fandom aside, and putting my fantasy analyst hat back on, I’ll highlight David Montgomery, who seemingly always delivers despite being absurdly discounted in drafts all summer.
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.
IAN ALLAN
Ja’Marr Chase. The cover of Fantasy Football Index has almost been a reverse barometer over the years, with way more guys missing than hitting. Christian McCaffrey, as an example, played in only three games in 2020. LeVeon Bell in 2016 was suspended for the first three weeks. So I am thankful that Chase (our cover guy this year) has been bagging plenty of touchdowns.
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.
MIKE NAZAREK
Despite missing 3-plus games each, both Texans RB Joe Mixon and WR Nico Collins get my hearty thanks for keeping my teams in the race in my High Stakes leagues. But the most thanks goes to Bijan Robinson and Courtland Sutton for improving their performances as the season progressed. That said, I need all four players to keep producing well if I'm to win any serious cash. LOL.
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.
KEN HOLIZNA
This Thanksgiving, as an older football fan, I'm thankful for players like Derrick Henry, who continues to get better with age, just like me. My draft strategy reflected this. I focused on undervalued RBs in latter rounds (Barkley, Jacobs) and aging but productive veterans (Kamara, Mixon, Montgomery), a decision that has paid off. Another blessing was targeting Ja'Marr Chase in the first round over higher ranked WR’s (Jefferson, Lamb, St.Brown) which has proved to be a wise choice. Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy your family, friends and football!!
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
DAVID DOREY
That's an easy question -- Saquon! I had him pegged in the summer as a great running back finally running behind a great offensive line. He was my No. 1 fantasy player and well represented on every fantasy team that could reach him. His explosion against the Rams on Sunday night was a thing of beauty and he's finally in a system that lets him shine. Raise a turkey leg to the No. 1 fantasy draft pick next summer.
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.
SCOTT SACHS
I'm thankful for the top producers on my main cash league team where I'm currently in 1st place with an 11-1 record, two wins ahead of the No. 2 team. It's an Auction, Superflex, PPR, and IDP format. My current stand-out players include Jared Goff, Bo Nix, Tua, Josh Jacobs, Aaron Jones, Amon-Ra, McLaurin, Kupp, JSN, Flowers, Taysom Hill, Budda Baker, Micah Parsons. I had stashed Jordan Mason and Taysom Hill as my final two drafted players. Mason was great beginning of the year, and Taysom Hill had the TE game of the year 2 weeks ago which helped me to the highest score of the season that week. Thanksgiving is a huge fantasy football holiday for me, as I'll have players in all 3 games. Wishing everyone at Fantasy Index, the other experts, and all subscribers and contributors a wonderful Thanksgiving!
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.
ANDY RICHARDSON
I am thankful for having the foresight to draft projected backup running backs early enough to make sure I had them. The strongest example of this is Bucky Irving. I had Rachaad White in a couple of leagues, but Irving was a certain enough No. 2 that I made sure to grab him. He has absolutely saved a couple of teams of mine; in one league, I've been starting him and White every week, with success. For that matter, another Buc, Baker Mayfield, saved me in a league where I selected him as a No. 2 quarterback (since my No. 1 has been the mostly disappointing Patrick Mahomes). Thank you, Bucs.
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.