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: Who is the 2015 fantasy comeback player of the year?
SAM HENDRICKS
DeAngelo Williams. Given the chance he proved there was still something in the tank. 3rd best RB, 231 PPR FP in basically 10 games if you throw out the 5 were he backed up Le'Veon Bell and the week 17 game where he got hurt. Over 20 points per game is amazing!
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
At quarterback, I would go with Andy Dalton. He was pretty crappy a year ago, and he bounced back to be a top-5 quarterback for a good chunk of the season. At wide receiver and tight end, I see two productive players who missed essentially all of 2014 — Jeremy Maclin and Tyler Eifert. But the best comeback candidates seem to be at running back, where Danny Woodhead, Doug Martin and DeAngelo Williams were lightly regarded in drafts. In PPR scoring, things were so lean at running back that all three of those guys ranked in the top 5 in total points.
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
Carson Palmer gets my vote. After missing ten games last year Palmer came back and delivered big-time in 2015 -- and Palmer was a tremendous value pick as he was the 19th quarterback selected on average but finished as the No. 5 quarterback. With 4,671 passing yards and 35 passing TDs, Palmer set career highs in each category.
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.
MICHAEL NAZAREK
Easily, this has to be Adrian Peterson. He led the league in rushing and was pretty much the only STUD RB who didn't suffer a serious injury that kept him out for a large amount of games.
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.
DAVID DOREY
My comeback player would be Doug Martin who was given up for dead after two bad seasons marred by injury and a bad offense. He nearly became the leader for rushing yards this season and returns to the top 10 running backs for 2016.
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.
JOSHUA SIMMONS
Cam Newton catches my attention, as I contemplate players worthy of this distinction. Cam had established himself as an elite fantasy quarterback, then gutted out a 2014 season that was marred by numerous injuries from the get-go and shaky offensive line play. He finished just inside the top 20 among quarterbacks and according to average draft position data, came into this year generally ranked as the 11th or 12th best quarterback. Newton was drafted close to double-digit round territory, which of course is now revealed to be absurd given the MVP caliber production fantasy owners have enjoyed all season. Baked into said ADP was the hand wringing over whom Cam was going to have success throwing the ball to beyond tight end Greg Olsen. But he certainly found a way, didn't he, highlighted by 10 receiving touchdowns on Ted Ginn's part. Anyway, hats off to Cam Newton, my pick for Fantasy Comeback Player of the Year.
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.
ANDY RICHARDSON
The Jets tandem of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Brandon Marshall comes to mind. The Texans and Titans gave Fitzpatrick away last year. The Bears couldn't rid themselves of Marshall cheaply enough. And they gave you weekly production far above where they were drafted (in Fitzpatrick's case, not drafted at all). I suppose Doug Martin is the better choice, but the Jets deserve recognition in a year with plent of solid candidates.
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.