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: What is the ideal system for fantasy football playoffs?

DAVID DOREY

I would have said, assuming a 12-team league, the standard four teams go and play in Weeks 15 and 16. But considering the deep and significant injuries that happen and how that changes teams, I am more in favor of six teams going. Where the top two teams get a bye and teams 3-6 play in Week 14. It allows more teams to get hot at the end and win and rewards overall team management more.

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.

ALAN SATTERLEE

To me, the best design is a total points league with a weekly champion and then an annual champion, 2nd place and 3rd place payout and recognition. We’ve been playing this way in my original league for nearly 30 years -- it was Fanduel/DraftKings before they existed I suppose. I also play in head-to-head leagues. To me, in that setup only four teams should go to the playoffs -- three division winners and one wild card team (I also play in a league where six of twelve teams go to the playoffs and that is too cheap in my opinion). Then it’s the playoff round in Week 15 and the fantasy super bowl in Week 16. Whomever wins or loses those weeks, wins or loses in head to head, those are the breaks.

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

I like the six-team playoff system. That way almost everyone is still in contention for a wild-card spot on the final weekend, but at the same time, the best teams are rewarded with a first-round bye — a considerable advantage. We go with three weeks of playoffs, with the wild-card round, the semis, and the championship game played in Week 16. That leaves us with just 13 weeks of the regular season, so we play double-headers on the final weekend (allowing each team to play everyone in its conference twice, and each of the other eight teams once).

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've played in a variety of playoffs and I must confess that I have become a convert to 4 teams, playoffs in Weeks 15-16. Admittedly, I was a longtime advocate of Week 17 championships, but with the recent trend of coaches whimsy about playing or benching their stars Week 17 depending on their personal philosophy once their playoff berth is assured, my outlook has changed. I had a colleague who was of the opinion that a cumulative two-week point total of the top 4 teams during Weeks 15-16 was a more accurate barometer to determine a champion. While that may indeed be the case, my opinion is that it is not nearly as much fun or exciting as having it come down to a final game.

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.

JUSTIN ELEFF

No matter the size of the league, the playoffs should only include four teams squaring off in Weeks 15 and 16. (If you REALLY want to know how I do it, the one and only league I've ever founded is split into two divisions; division champs are seeds 1 and 2, wild cards are the two best non-division champs regardless of division, seed 1 gets to choose which wild card it plays in Week 15.) The bottom line is that there is a tremendous amount of luck in fantasy football, and that holds true no matter how your league and its scoring system are configured. Season-long excellence should factor into which teams are even allowed to cash in on that luck; the idea that the eighth-best team in a ten-team league could cash just renders too much of what we do all year meaningless.

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

SAM HENDRICKS

One thing for sure: the perfect fantasy football playoff system does NOT include Week 17. I prefer 4 teams out of 12 making the playoffs. More than that and you take significance away from the regular-season games. Finally while I love H2H I think the best teams win in a cumulative points format where teams play over a two- or three-week period. So the best approach is a 13-week regular season with 4 of 12 teams making the playoffs and then playing in a three-week (weeks 14-16) cumulative points format with perhaps some points advantage to start the playoffs based on seeding or total points scored during the regular season.

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.

ANDY RICHARDSON

I like the way the FFPC and Fantasy Championship do it. Four playoff teams, where two spots go to the best records and two spots go to the highest point totals. That way the head-to-head component is important, just like in the actual NFL, but if you're unlucky with schedule, you can STILL make the playoffs if you're one of the highest-scoring teams. It takes the sting out of a tough loss or two when you happen to have one of the week's highest scores. Another of my leagues puts six teams out of 12 in the playoffs and gives the top 2 seeds a bye in Week 14. I think that's pretty good too, since those top teams get the advantage of advancing straight to the final four, but it also puts a couple of extra teams in the playoffs (they just have an additional hoop to jump through).

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.