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Ask the Experts

Which incoming rookie are you most interested in this season?

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: Which incoming rookie are you most interested in for the upcoming fantasy season?

SAM HENDRICKS

Leonard Fournette is my choice for rookie of the year. He can and will have an immediate impact. T.J. Yeldon and Chris Ivory are no threat based on last year's performances. The Jags are going to use their No. 4 overall pick a ton. If he can become a three-down back (I think he can), then 1,500 combined yards is a possibility. With a little improvement in the offensive line and a better running back in the backfield, Jacksonville could be on the road to a winning record.

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 won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.

JUSTIN ELEFF

Has to be a running back -- this is a jumbled crop of pass-catchers, with no obvious immediate standout QB -- and as much as I like Marlon Mack and some of the other mid-round RBs, I have far more confidence that both Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon will play outsized roles for their respective teams right away. So the pick is Mixon, which I know is unpalatable, but the pick is Mixon BECAUSE it's unpalatable. The same factor that caused a true first-round talent to drop to the second round in April is likely to push Mixon down several rounds in fantasy, too, and at a certain point he will clearly be the best player left to you. Hold your nose and take him. Think of him as some other guy entirely if that helps, and trust me: Bo Dixon is going to do some very exciting things on the field in 2017.

Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.

DAVID DOREY

I am most interested in Christian McCaffrey since he was vastly talented in college but comes to a team that has not used the running back position as much in recent years. Cam Newton has stolen most of the rushing scores while rarely throwing to backs. Both are slated to change – if it happens. The Panthers showed their commitment to change when they drafted McCaffrey with their 1.08 pick but it is rare for such a mature offense (4 years with OC Mike Shula) to change as dramatically.

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

Deshaun Watson has a fairly good chance of unseating Tom Savage to start immediately for the Houston Texans. That is one interesting battle to watch this summer.

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 newly re-designed 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. He's also won in excess of $20K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

IAN ALLAN

The running backs, I think, look the most promising, and I’ve got Leonard Fournette leading the way. He doesn’t catch the ball as well as the other top rookie running back prospects, but he’s a big, violent back who runs hard — he runs angry. He ran a 4.51 at the combine, which is unusually fast for a back weighing 241 pounds. He could be like a freight train. The Jaguars have had a pass-dominated offense in recent years, but I think they want to build around Fournette now, making things easier on Blake Bortles. Possible top-10 back.

Allan is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame. A co-founder of Fantasy Football Index in 1987, he generates most of the writing, player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine and also at www.fantasyindex.com.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

I'm generally the wrong guy to ask on rookies. I think the 2014 receiver class set us up for all the wrong conclusions going forward. It sounds like most of the quarterbacks are in redshirt seasons of some respect. Rookie tight ends are often a sucker play. That leaves us with running backs, and even that could be a little messy - I love Christian McCaffrey, but wanted him anywhere but Carolina. Maybe Joe Williams will push Carlos Hyde, sooner rather than later, in San Francisco. At least the price is right.

Pianowski has been playing fantasy football for 20 years and writing about it for 17. He joined Yahoo! Sports in 2008 and has been blogging 24/7 on RotoArcade.com ever since.

JODY SMITH

Probably Leonard Fournette. It's the obvious, easy answer, but he has next to no legitimate competition in front of him for carries. Tom Coughlin knows that he needs to change Jacksonville's culture, and that should start with establishing a 20-carry featured back to take some pressure off of the beleaguered Blake Bortles. Ezekiel Elliott's success last year will make Fournette far too expensive in most drafts, but I think he's got the skills to be an excellent runner and he's underrated as a pass catcher.

Smith the co-owner of Gridironexperts and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association. Jody was named the Most Accurate Fantasy Football Expert by Fantasypros in 2012.

SCOTT SACHS

I'm a big fan of O.J. Howard. If Tampa Bay is poised to contend, it will be contingent on Jameis Winston taking a next step in his development. There is nothing like a big tight end for a young quarterback to rely on when a plays break down, to exploit a mismatch heading down the seam, or to stay in and block when necessary. In this age of specialization, it is becoming rare to have a tight end that can both catch and block, but Howard can do it all, plus give the Bucs another primary red zone target. Cameron Brate is the incumbent, and he had a solid season, but Howard has homerun potential on every catch. Two other rookies I'm keeping an eye on as well are Cleveland's David Njoku and Evan Engram of the Giants.

With two perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text Advice. He won the 2011 and 2016 Experts Auction League and also the 2012 Fantasy Index Experts Poll.

ALAN SATTERLEE

I am so excited to see the big four rookie running backs in their new uniforms (Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon and Dalvin Cook). Hard to pick just one. I think Fournette is instantly a top-shelf and elite NFL back, so look forward to confirming that hopefully. Mixon is probably the rookie I am most "interested" in, to see how his talent transfers to the NFL -- hard not to like the upside. Hailing from Charlotte, and a Panthers' fan, also super pumped to see McCaffrey added to the offense.

Satterlee is the Fantasy Football Insider for the Charlotte Observer and is syndicated in a few other newspapers in the southeast. Satterlee first started playing fantasy football in 1990.

ANDY RICHARDSON

Strange to say but maybe Cooper Kupp. Not that I'm particularly optimistic about the Rams passing game or anything, but I'm definitely uninterested in the veteran receivers on that team, underachievers Tavon Austin and Robert Woods. If ever a team was ripe for sending a ton of passes to an incoming rookie, it's the Rams. Like everyone else, I'm intrigued by the rookie running backs, but I fear that most of those players will be selected much earlier than I'd want to draft them. Kupp and also new Panthers wideout Curtis Samuel seem like potential early-season contributors on teams that need a receiver to step up.

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.

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