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: With six teams on byes, who is the best desperation fill-in likely to be available in many fantasy leagues?
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
Buffalo is screaming for a wideout to step forward; rookie Zay Jones has been a massive bust, and Jordan Matthews hasn't come through, either. Enter Deonte Thompson, who went for 107 yards in his Bills debut, just a handful of days after joining the team. Thompson might not be a special player, but in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Oakland presents a plus matchup in Week 8.
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.
ALAN SATTERLEE
I don’t know if either of these guys are on the waiver wire (depends on how deep you go), but I’ll spotlight JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marlon Mack. Smith-Schuster has an attractive match-up at Detroit on Sunday Night Football this week (assuming he is cleared from his concussion), and his role should only grow with Martavis Bryant to be inactive (newsflash Martavius -- your team WON the game last week and the week before that!). Smith-Schuster is just WR47 on the year, but he opened the season with no targets in Week 1 and he’s WR37 since Week 2 so he’s squarely on the starting fantasy map. I’ll also spotlight Marlon Mack. Finally, Indianapolis got him more touches this past week as on a team lacking playmakers he is surely one (averaging 4.9 yards per carry and 10.6 yards per reception). At least for the first time Mack had more snaps than Frank Gore last week.
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.
IAN ALLAN
Torrey Smith is having a lousy year, averaging only 30 yards per game. He’s been under 10 yards in three of his last four games, and I’ll bet he’s sitting on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues. But if you’re stuck looking for a starting wide receiver for Week 8, I think he could be the best guy to plug in. He is a starting receiver, and every once in a while he’ll hit on a long touchdown. He caught a 57-yard touchdown against Arizona a few weeks ago. The Eagles are putting the ball in the end zone, and this week they’re at home against a really suspect San Francisco defense. Some chance, I think that Smith hits on an impact play against his former team.
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.
JUSTIN ELEFF
Deep breath, and ... Josh McCown has played reasonably well the last couple of weeks, and but for one questionable call and one furious rally (from fellow scrapheap vet Matt Moore) might have had the tankapalooza Jets sitting at 5-2. At that point we would have been hearing about McCown getting a stray MVP vote or two. Instead he looks like a decent fill-in for Week 8, in a home game showdown with last season's MVP, Matt Ryan. Granted, Ryan and the Falcons have looked awfully sluggish of late, so there is no guarantee that McCown will have to throw a ton to keep pace. Granted, also, McCown is not actually good. But those who have been starting the Week 8 bye QBs (including Goff, Hundley and this scary October version of Mariota) are not looking for great things anyway. McCown should be fine.
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 have a lot of Packer, Ram and Cardinal skill guys, so I'm definitely turning over rocks just to field lineups this week. Among the lucky adds are DeAndre Washington, who should split carries in Oakland this week with Marshawn Lynch suspended, and Jermaine Kearse, pleasantly available in a couple of leagues to start at home against the Falcons on Sunday. It's also a week to consider Corey Clement (I realize - bottom of the barrel) but even a handful of touches as Philadelphia's No. 3 running back this week against San Francisco's lousy defense might help. I'm even considering Ravens wideout Chris Moore, who could play significant snaps tonight with Maclin and Wallace banged-up. Desperate times.
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.