Ask the Experts

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them:

Which offseason storyline will have the biggest impact on the 2012 season?

LENNY PAPPANO

The Manning-to-Denver headline is likely the most impactful of the offseason. Think of the implications it has not only for Manning's value, but for guys like Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas. Both WRs could finish in the top 20 if things break their way.

Pappano is a veteran of the fantasy sports industry. He founded DraftSharks.com in 1999, then co-founded the World Championship of Fantasy Football in 2002. Pappano is also an original board member of the Fantasy Writers Association. He and his crew at DraftSharks.com have won numerous expert leagues, expert polls and fantasy football awards.

KEVIN NELSON

The biggest offseason storyline heading into camp in my opinion is player availabilities to start the season. Be it players coming off of injuries (AP, Jamaal Charles, Kenny Britt, etc) or possible player suspensions for misconduct (Justin Blackmon, Dez Bryant, Marshawn Lynch). A lot of big name players have a lot of different question marks about their being ready to play week 1 and that will have a huge effect on drafts going forward. And as of right now, it only keeps getting worse thanks to the weekend's recent news of Bryant and Lynch.

FFBLife.com is a company started by fantasy football lovers, for fantasy football lovers. With rankings, forums, latest news and advice, mobile applications, draft tools, social networking and more; Fantasy Football Life solely exists to reach the goal of providing all fantasy football players with everything they need. Nelson is editor-in-chief of FFBLife.com and the Fantasy Football Draft Guide, providing rankings, advice and articles for the company.

MIKE NAZAREK

I was going to say Matt Forte's contract situation, but he finally got his long-term deal on Monday. So, the bounty mess and Drew Brees' contract situation were the biggest. Brees got his deal done, but he'll enter the season without his head coach and some key defensive players. Still, he should overcome most of these things to post another big season. On a sleeper note, free agent RB Cedric Benson remains unsigned, but he could make a big impact if the Raiders eventually sign him and Run-DMC (Darren McFadden) suffers another injury. That is one situation to watch closely moving forward.

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. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached at miken@ffmastermind.com.

IAN ALLAN

Five years from now, the Bounty scandal will be the offseason incident most remembered. The Saints have been heavily penalized — overly penalized, in my opinion — and that should help slow down that offense. They’ve got a bunch of players suspended, their coaching staff has been gutted and they’ve lost draft picks. They also lost Robert Meachem and Carl Nicks via free agency. I expect you’ll see a sharp drop in production from that offense.

Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He's been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at www.fantasyindex.com.

DAVID DOREY

The most important offseason development has to be the Saints problems with a suspended head coach and other staff and players also affected. The recent signing of Drew Brees is a plus but NFL teams are complex organizations and this one was shook to the core. I cannot remember any team with even a fraction of as much upheaval doing well the next season and in the case of the Saints, I will be shocked to see if they can play anything as well as they have. That may not be bad for Brees per se since a worse defense means more need to throw. But overall, it is just going to be a funk on the team and that will likely bleed over to the players with fantasy significance.

Dorey is the co-founder and lead NFL analyst for The Huddle and author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. He has projected and predicted every NFL game and player performance since 1997 and has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, radio and television.

LOUIS TRANQUILLI

The most significant offseason occurrence was the shift of Peyton Manning to the AFC West. Assuming he is healthy the entire division has shifted in Denver's favor and more importantly the value of Denver's WRs has increased exponentially. Manning has been one of the greatest to ever strap on a helmet and now he heads to Denver to throw the ball around. With any kind of decent defensive performance at all Denver will repeat in the AFC West and can be considered a Super Bowl sleeper.

BFDFANTASYfootball.com is now in its 9th season of providing hard core fantasy football advice. Born out of the High Stakes games BFD has featured hundreds of draft reviews for subscribers. Our focus on advice designed to help players understand more of what's going on behind the scenes has made the BFD Coaching Tree one of the must read articles of the year, every year. Subscribers get hardcore advice that is worth using in their leagues.

CORY BONINI

To me, nothing has more impact than how Peyton Manning plays in Denver. He has so much influence on the fantasy prospects of Willis McGahee, Ronnie Hillman, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker and Jacob Tamme. Poor play will have a widespread ripple effect that fantasy owners don't need. McGahee could become a top-10 fantasy back, and the wide receiver duo has so much promise with a healthy, productive Manning at the helm. Tamme could be an awesome value pick. Even Matt Prater's worth improves considerably. All of that doesn't even include Manning's actual value. He has what it takes to be the steal of the draft as a make-or-break QB1.

Since 1996, KFFL.com has been combining its award-winning news service with fantasy analysis. KFFL.com offers services including daily news, draft guides and in-season advice. Now 100 percent free, KFFL.com is your destination for fantasy baseball, football and NASCAR cheat sheets, tips, sleepers and much more. KFFL.com has won more than a dozen expert championships and was listed as "One of the 10 essential sports-related online destinations for fans, athletes and fantasy owners" by Time.com. KFFL.com has provided content to USA Today, Yahoo! Sports, and FOXSports.com among many other organizations.

SCOTT SACHS

There have been so many offseason stories about Bounty-gate, contentious holdouts, and contract posturing. Let's add the latest round of arrests for DUIs, assaults, and PEDs to the mix. Now the referees want to strike--LOL! It is clear to me that the supposed "labor peace" between players, owners, agents, officials, the Players' Union, and the Commissioner is in reality an "uneasy truce" at best. The headlines seem to indicate that there are a lot of bad attitudes and hard feelings about the NFL as a business. No one seems very happy about anything--except for Drew Brees, he has 100 million reasons to be happy. It's time for the focus of the NFL's business to turn its attention back to the field. So, strap on the pads, mix up the Gatorade, and let's bring on training camp, preseason games, and the regular season!

Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, offering live personal advice from training camps through the Super Bowl. His 20-plus years of fantasy football experience includes his league’s only perfect season, as well as a wire-to-wire championship in Fantasy Index's 2011 Mock Auction Draft League. Visit "The Coach" at his website: perfectseasonffb.com and follow him on Twitter: at http://twitter.com/#!/ffbcoach.

SAM HENDRICKS

I think the RBs returning from injuries will be the key to this season. Which ones will recover fully or fail to deliver? The RB rankings are a hospital listing of major players in years past: Adrian Peterson, Jamaal Charles, Darren McFadden, DeMarco Murray, Matt Forte, Fred Jackson, Rashard Mendenhall and Jahvid Best. All of these players with the exception of Mendy could have a shot at the top RB in 2012.

Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at www.ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 20-plus year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall (out of 228 competitors) in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). Follow him at his website, www.ffguidebook.com.

PRETZEL MAY

I think the most significant storyline had to be the bounty scandal combined with the Drew Brees contract issue. The bounty scandal cost the Saints their off the field General in Sean Payton and the contract issue almost made them lose their on the field general. Not having those 2 on game day would have been catastrophic for the Saints.

The May brothers have more than 16 years of combined fantasy football experience and are the co-founders of FantasyDraftMaster.com. The cornerstone of FDM is the UberRank which is a revolutionary approach to the traditional fantasy football cheat sheet. FantasyDraftMaster.com also offers insightful and humorous commentary on football happenings as well as recommendations on waiver wire pickups, line up submissions and weekly pick em' pools. For more info, visit www.fantasydraftmaster.com or email us at info@fantasydraftmaster.com.

ALAN SATTERLEE

"Bounty-gate" is no doubt a compelling off-season story-line. No Sean Payton this season and even interim HC Joe Vitt will be suspended six games. In six NFL seasons, Payton has amassed an extremely impressive 62-34 win-loss record (his .646 winning percentage is easily the highest in Saints' team history). However, Drew Brees is like a coach on the field and we think the Saints will actually be less impacted than conventional wisdom might suggest. The big story right now are the latest arrests. Commissioner Roger Goodell is almost certainly going to have an itchy trigger-finger. There are three-high profile arrests that could have major fantasy implications (and not just for those arrested, but for their offensive counterparts and the team's reserves as well): Dez Bryant, Marshawn Lynch and Adrian Peterson. This is Dez Bryant's first arrest but he still could be taught a lesson here by the commissioner. If so, it dings a receiver we think is about to explode. It would also really dampen Tony Romo's stock. It sounds like Adrian Peterson's arrest is much ado about nothing. We're not at all concerned and it doesn't impact his projections. Marshawn Lynch however is likely about to get lit up. We would say at minimum four games and it is not impossible that he suspended for half the season. Move Robert Turbin up on your list. Measuring at 5-foot-10, 220 pounds, Robert Turbin has a physique second only to Alabama's Trent Richardson in this year’s draft. He is a mountain of a man and validated his strength with 28 reps on the bench press at the Combine, tied for best among this year’s RB class. However, it was his 40 time that really surprised. He ran a 4.50 officially, although unofficially he also posted a 4.44. Turbin is a natural receiver and was a heavy contributor in the passing game at Utah State adding 67 receptions (with 11 TDs), including catching balls out of the backfield, from the slot position and occasionally being split out wide. Turbin tore his ACL in 2010 although he recovered for a strong 2011 season running for over 1,500 yards and helping lead Utah State to its first bowl game in 15 years as the WAC Offensive Player of the Year.

Dynasty Rogues is the fantasy football information site run by fantasy football enthusiasts for fantasy football enthusiasts. The site includes a year-round approach to analyzing football information for those in dynasty and redraft leagues. Dynasty Rogues won the 2008 Fantasy Index Experts Poll.

ANDY RICHARDSON

Call it the Cam Newton effect, as Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III entered the league with great fanfare (and in the case of Griffin, who Washington gave up a mint to acquire the rights to, great cost). Those two quarterbacks are expected to be NFL stars fairly quickly, and if that happens, they'll raise the fantasy fortunes of a lot of other players on those teams. I'm very interested to see how they'll do, and if a whole lot of players are being dramatically undervalued in early drafts: Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, Santana Moss, and a lot of other pass catchers and running backs on those teams.

Richardson has been a columnist and contributor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and web site for more than ten years. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections and various site features, and he has run the magazine's annual 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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