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: Who is the fantasy comeback player of the year?
DAVID DOREY
For my money, hands down it is Jordy Nelson and not because I grabbed him cheaply in my dynasty league in 2015 (but I did). To have come from missing the entire season to leading the NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns is much like Adrian Peterson who blew his knee up and then came back to a record setting year. Sadly he is injured now for the playoffs but Nelson had been unstoppable.
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.
MICHAEL NAZAREK
DeMarco Murray. He went from barely 1,000 total yards and 7 scores as an Eagle in 2015 to becoming a top-5 running back with nearly 1,700 total yards and 12 scores as a Titan in 2016.
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.
IAN ALLAN
Two players comes to mind: Melvin Gordon and Jordy Nelson. Both were coming off career-threatening injuries, and both put together great seasons. Relative to where they were selected, they were two of the best values in most fantasy leagues, I’m thinking.
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.
SAM HENDRICKS
Jimmy Graham. After a slow start to the fantasy season (4-53 in the first two games), he really finished strong (57-800 and 6 TDs in weeks 3-16) to average 4 catches and 60+ yards and .5 TD per game. This is all after a knee injury that often limits players in their first year back. Add in the fact that he was being drafted as a TE15 in some drafts and Graham earned the comeback award in 2016. Honorable mention to Melvin Gordon.
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.
ANDY RICHARDSON
Usually comeback awards go to players who were hurt the previous year. But how about a comeback from looking like an absolute bust to becoming a fantasy star? Melvin Gordon sure looked like a dud as a rookie, and I'd pretty much written him off; the next Montee Ball. But he was a fantasy star this year, up until getting hurt anyway. If we want to stick to injured players, I'll say Jimmy Graham -- remarkable he could come back from a knee injury which often ends careers to be a difference-maker at tight end.
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.