ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through Super Bowl with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What is the main reason to watch preseason games?

MICHAEL NAZAREK

It may sound obvious, but injuries suffered during these games are the biggest factors for many players battling for starting jobs, or just to the make the roster. So, staying on top of all the injuries that occur is vital to making good decisions when it comes to your fantasy draft.

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 via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

JOSHUA SIMMONS

I believe that what you pay attention to during organized team activities, training camp and preseason games is level of change. The offensive systems and personnel in Detroit, Green Bay, Pittsburgh, Miami and San Diego (to name a few) are relatively similar, therefore the fantasy outlook for players on those teams figures to be in keeping with or slightly better than what we saw last season. Contrast those teams with San Francisco, Buffalo, Atlanta and the Jets -- check out my article from a couple weeks ago regarding Geno Smith & company -- who implemented wholesale changes. Kaepernick, Decker, other players on those teams are stepping into very different roles this time around. As a fantasy owner, you owe it to yourself to observe the landscape of those teams a bit more closely.

Simmons has been a contributor for FantasySharks.com since 2007. His responsibilities include dynasty rankings, weekly projections-driven content and staff representation in various leagues.

SAM HENDRICKS

Injuries and preseason quality playing time with the first stringers. Great stats against the third string still warrants attention but temper that with quality of opponent.

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 20-plus year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates 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. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.

IAN ALLAN

For the unexpected. For all games, I make note of who’s playing with the first and second units, and how they’re performing. And that’s fine. But it seems like in most games, something out of the ordinary will happen. Some deep reserve will make a strong case for a roster spot, or some backup will make it very apparent that he’s ready to excel if put in the starting lineup. I liked the zip in Jerick McKinnon’s game when he appeared briefly against the Steelers.

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.

ALAN SATTERLEE

To me preseason has several useful purposes. For one, and you need to keep some context as these aren’t real games, but nonetheless I want to see players who are picking up momentum. Victor Cruz comes to mind in 2010 (that said he didn’t explode onto the scene until 2011). I also like to see what others are seeing and simply get a better few if anyone’s perceived value is likely spiking from a preseason game (and whether or not I want to adjust accordingly). I think it can be important to see who starts, and who gets rotated in quickly or not also. Lastly, I like to pay particular attention to those in close training camp battles, rookies, and players on new teams. Take the Hall of Fame game on Sunday as an example. There we saw Mike Wallace starting to get integrated with a rushing attempt (-1 yard, but on the third snap of the Vikings first possession was a good sign) and a shorter target for Wallace as well from Bridgewater on the 6th play from scrimmage, plus rookie tight end MyCole Pruitt looked like a potential option down the road at tight end for the Vikings or if Kyle Rudolph were to get injured again.

Satterlee is a co-owner and senior writer for Dynasty Football Warehouse. DFW is comprehensive site covering dynasty, redraft, IDP and Daily formats. DFW has a large writing crew with many people from the DFW community contributing to the insights and discussion. Alan is also the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast.

SCOTT SACHS

Certainly, the rash of injuries that tend to pile up during training camp opens up opportunities for the undrafted free agents or low-round pick-ups to make an NFL roster. A number of these guys can grab the spotlight with their game performance and make an impression on a team's depth chart, or as an audition to get picked up by another team if cut. These guys can emerge as your RB3, RB4, WR4, WR5, TE2, QB3, K2, etc., or be future waiver wire pick-ups. It's a long season, so paying attention now can benefit owners later.

With two perfect seasons to his credit, Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text Consulting & Advice. He was the 2011 winner of Fantasy Index's Experts Auction league, as well as the winner of the 2012 Experts Poll. In 2013, he finished 2nd in the Auction and 3rd in the Draft league; in 2014, 3rd in the Auction league.

DAVID DOREY

By far the most valuable information you can draw from a preseason game is how a backfield may shake out. The established ones won’t run their primary back more than a token few carries but where the depth chart is not certain and if there are new runners by draft or free agency, then preseason games matter a lot.

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.

JAY HARDING

I think the wisest thing to do in the preseason is to watch the games featuring the teams that sport new head coaches and/or offensive coordinators. Yes, it’s true that most of the time the coordinators bring the offensive philosophies and systems that we’ve seen with their former team. However, sometimes for various reasons tweaks are necessary, some of which obviously alter a player's level of production, which is what fantasy football is all about.

Harding, owner of The Fantasy Football Firm has been playing and winning fantasy football since 1987. The Firm specializes in helping fantasy owners win in three key post-draft areas. Senior Partners at The Firm get all three publications: “Effective Team Management”, “Waiver Wire Wisdom” and “The Trade Maker” a combined 57 pages packed with sound, proven and effective strategies focused solely on helping partners win their league championships and to do so more consistently than ever before. On Twitter: @UDONTWINONDDAY.

ANDY RICHARDSON

For me it's to let my eyes help me with my preseason rankings. Best example I can think of from last year was seeing Branden Oliver have a strong performance in a Chargers exhibition game. He impressed me enough that I drafted him in the last round of several different leagues, and so was already on my roster when injuries to other backs elevated him into a leading role in San Diego. Sometimes your eyes get fooled by preseason performances, but I like to see things that box scores alone can't tell you.

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.