Ask the Experts

November 02, 2017

Who is the first-half of season fantasy MVP?

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 gets your vote for first-half of the season fantasy MVP?

SAM HENDRICKS

Deshaun Watson hands down. Look at where he was being drafted before the season started -- in most leagues he was NOT being drafted. Many did not expect him to start early on for the Texans. The rookie has nearly 28 fantasy points per game with 1,699 passing yards, 19 passing TDs, 260 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs. MVP. Can you say Championship?

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.

MICHAEL NAZAREK

Due to the big surprise of his performance and the fact you may have drafted him beyond the first few rounds if you draft in early August, I'll go with Kansas City running back Kareem Hunt over Todd Gurley. I own Hunt in one league as my No. 2 RB. I'm currently in first place in that league. That's all that needs to be said!

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.

SCOTT SACHS

It's certainly hard not to nominate Deshaun Watson. Whoever has him on their roster has enjoyed a weekly advantage over their opponents. This past weekend's performance on the road in Seattle should have reconfirmed his early brilliance to any further naysayers left.

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

Especially coming off the ridiculous game, I don’t see how it isn’t Deshaun Watson (even at Seattle, you can’t sit Watson!). No matter your team construction story, this guy is a total difference-maker. In most leagues, he was a late-round flier (which he was for me, including the Fantasy Index Experts’ mock!) or he was perhaps a waiver-wire guy and he has redefined your team. In one league that I am in (total points too), the team that has him there first drafted busts Andrew Luck and Eli Manning but luckily has Watson and leads the league -- that is MVP points. There are going to be stories like that everywhere, people who overpaid for Drew Brees but are now plugging in Watson, got stuck with a bust like Matt Ryan or lost Aaron Rodgers but no worries with all-world Watson. Kareem Hunt could be an MVP choice, but in leagues drafted late his price went fairly high. After that, the fantasy MVP and key storyline has to be these late-round quarterbacks who have turned gold -- Watson, Carson Wentz and Alex Smith.

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.

JUSTIN ELEFF

It was already Deshaun Watson, seeing how he went undrafted in most leagues and lasted a good while even in dynasty drafts, but after what he did in Week 8, facing a less-than-vintage-but-still-very-solid Seattle defense on the road? The MVP trophy isn't good enough. I'm ready to enshrine the guy in fantasy Canton. The last thing Watson has to learn, it appears, is how to win real games (which may just mean he has to "learn" how to keep J.J. Watt healthy). But his fantasy dominance is clear, absolute and apparently not subject to little things like playing good teams away from home. He wins going away.

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

Hands down, Deshaun Watson even though Kareem Hunt is another obvious consideration. As inconceivable as it is, a rookie quarterback went to a bad offense that only threw 15 passing touchdowns last year has already thrown a league-leading 19 scores and rush in two after only 7 games. He’s not setting single-game records, he is breaking all-time records for rookies.

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.

ANDY RICHARDSON

I had such reservations about drafting Todd Gurley early in one league that I did another league the next day just so I could protect myself by drafting somebody else. But Gurley has been awesome, rewarding those of us who were able to look past his disappointing 2016 season and take the plunge. My other pick has to be Zach Ertz. I'm in an FFPC league where tight ends get 1.5 points per reception. I had 4-5 tight ends ranked ahead of him, but all were gone when my pick at the end of the third round came up. So I took Ertz. He's been better than all the rest.

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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