Ask the Experts

September 21, 2017

Who will benefit from early-season injuries?

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 will be a beneficiary of Week 2's biggest injuries?

MICHAEL NAZAREK

Veteran tight end Ed Dickson is finally relevant again. With Greg Olsen (foot) out, Dickson will draw plenty of targets from Cam Newton. He may not blow up, but he will be a serviceable fantasy player for owners in 12-team leagues over the next few months.

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.

DAVID DOREY

With Rob Kelley injuring his rib, have to like Samaje Perine to get meaningful work and a chance to produce fantasy stats. The next three weeks contain home stands against the Raiders and 49ers that should offer a good chance of yardage and score. It is a chance to carve out an ongoing role even when Kelley returns.

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.

SAM HENDRICKS

Corey Coleman is out for at least 8 weeks with a broken hand. Rashard Higgins stepped in during the Week 2 matchup and caught seven balls for just under 100 yards (topping his season totals from 15 games last year!). He has rocketed from practice squad to the Browns No. 1 wide receiver at the moment based on his good chemistry with whomever is at their helm. If you need some waiver wire help at wide receiver or a flex spot, pick him up.

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.

IAN ALLAN

Looks like John Brown is going to sit out again this week, so I have some interest in J.J. Nelson on Monday night. Nelson has played pretty well in both of Arizona’s games so far, and he’s going against a Dallas secondary that struggled at Denver. In that offense, the Cardinals want to drive the ball downfield, and Nelson is their best receiver on those kind of routes (when Brown isn’t available).

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 SACHS

I have long been impressed with Derrick Henry as a great handcuff for DeMarco Murray with potential to eventually be the starter some day. Has that day finally come? The Titans took a significant step forward in their quest to win the AFC South on the strong back of Henry's rushing performance in relief of DeMarco Murray, which sparked Tennessee's 31-point 2nd-half outburst. Henry rushed for just shy of 100 yards with 1 TD, and arguably might have scored 1-2 more, but the Titans screwed around in two additional red zone visits with a TE run, and later their fullback vulturing a score in garbage time. Murray's tender hammie is going to need some rest, so plugging in Henry as your starter sure looks like a safe bet.

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

The player I am watching most is the status of Rob Kelley. No doubt Chris Thompson is the back to have there right now and his role as a pass-catcher isn’t going away anytime soon. Thompson has looked like a playmaker through two games averaging 12.5 yards per touch (on six rushing attempts and seven receptions). However, and while he didn’t light the world on fire filling in for Kelly last week as the main bread-and-butter back, Samaje Perine remains a very attractive fantasy target in my book. Ultimately, I see him as the main back in Washington and a back who can put up consistent RB2 numbers eventually. Perine has big upside -- he actually owns the FBS record with 427 rushing yards in a game, set as a true freshman at Oklahoma in 2014 -- and he is good around the end zone (Perine had 51 touchdowns in three years at OU).

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

Geronimo Allison is the No. 4 in Green Bay, but with both Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson banged-up (thanks for last week's zero, Jordy), he might figure into the top 3. Nelson practiced on Wednesday, but Cobb didn't, and very possible one of those guys needs to sit out this week (in a winnable game against Cincinnati). Allison could pay off handsomely this week.

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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