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: After all the Week 2 injuries, which beneficiary are you most interested in?
SAM HENDRICKS
Jerick McKinnon is my choice as the heir apparent to the Vikings RB position from an injured AP. Adrian Peterson is likely out for months if not the entire regular season. There is some chance of Matt Asiata assuming the role of primary RB but the split is more likely 65/35 in favor of McKinnon. McKinnon has the better YPC and is the rising star. Asiata will definitely be the goal line vulture but over time I believe McKinnon will show why he should, dare I say it, replace Peterson in 2017. Worse things could happen to the Vikes than giving McKinnon his lion share of the carries in a run first offense with a rejuvenated Sam Bradford at QB.
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 25 year fantasy football veteran who 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 is drafting live in the FFPC in Vegas this year. He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.
IAN ALLAN
Looks like Donte Moncrief will be down for about a month with a shoulder injury. That makes me very interested in Phillip Dorsett. I think he’s going to do a lot more and post some very good numbers — especially this week at home against the Chargers. Dorsett could be a top-20 receiver while Moncrief is down. For this week, I see him as more of a top-10 guy.
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
Melvin Gordon will likely be a top answer, although he was already a significant fantasy player. Gordon, however, moves to high-end RB1 levels with the Danny Woodhead injury. This week at Indianapolis Gordon will be a top-3 running back in my rankings. Aside from that obvious one, to me I like Cameron-Artis Payne to turn into a significant fantasy player. Artis-Payne won the Panthers' backup running back job in pre-season, and finished the 2015 season strong, and while he's been inactive the first two weeks that's because he doesn't play special teams. Artis-Payne has a tough draw this week against Minnesota but over the course of the year I think he has high RB2 value on an elite offense and I don't really trust Jonathan Stewart to come back and stay healthy.
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
Fozzy Whittaker will start and produce solid numbers with Jonathan Stewart out a few weeks at least.
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.
JUSTIN ELEFF
The backup I'll go with isn't backing up an injured player, but I think Hunter Henry is pretty likely to see his role in the San Diego offense grow very rapidly, very soon. There just aren't enough guys left on that team who are really effective at getting themselves open near the line of scrimmage; Keenan Allen and Danny Woodhead are done for the year, obviously, and Antonio Gates may be about finished (5.8 yards per catch through two weeks is barely half of his previous career low). I'm not promising anything like stardom for Henry this season, but especially in bigger PPR leagues he's a guy I'd watch closely as the Chargers try to rebuild on the fly.
Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.
ANDY RICHARDSON
I am steering clear of the Vikings and Panthers running back committees (and Jerick McKinnon was on a roster in all of my leagues anyway). But I am intrigued by two players. One is Dexter McCluster, who should fill a specific role in San Diego's offense as the pass catching running back. In a PPR league, I was glad to get him for a fairly low blind bid while people were spending big on the various Carolina backs. The other is Dwayne Washington, who could be headed for a committee with Theo Riddick in Detroit.
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.