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 player who changed teams in the offseason are you most interested in for the upcoming year?
ALAN SATTERLEE
I’m interested in seeing the new-look 2018 Chicago Bears in general, and by default a bit how Allen Robinson fares on his new team after four years with Jacksonville. We’ll see how Mitchell Trubisky progresses ultimately, but you would think Robinson will get a chance to play with a quarterback upgrade over what he had from 2014-2016 in Blake Bortles (who averaged under 59 percent in completion percentage those seasons). Robinson has big upside -- after all, he was the 6th-best fantasy wide receiver in 2015, totaling 1,400 yards and 14 TDs. That said, Robinson also will cost a pretty penny with a 4th-round ADP, especially for a player coming off an ACL injury (though the Bears must seem fine given Robinson’s contract). The Bears will be a must-watch this preseason to see Robinson plus their other new parts and how the offense looks under new head coach Matt Nagy.
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.
MATT SCHAUF
I really want to see what 2018 Case Keenum in Denver will look like. Last year’s version was stellar, with upside even beyond the QB15 fantasy finish. It was also significantly out of line with any of Keenum’s previous seasons. Anything close to last year’s performance would not only turn Keenum into a strong late-round value in fantasy drafts. It would also likely help rebound the fantasy value of either Demaryius Thomas or Emmanuel Sanders — and potentially both. And then there’s the overall offense that finished each of the past three years 16th or worse in yards and 19th or worse in scoring. Keenum interests me not only for the sake of his fantasy outlook, but for the Broncos’ overall offensive health.
Schauf is a senior analyst with DraftSharks.com. He has been covering fantasy football since 2002, producing content for outlets such as Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon and Football Diehards before landing with DS. Draft Sharks has been online since 1999 and is a 4-time winner in the FSTA’s annual fantasy football projections accuracy contests.
AARON BLAND
There's been a lot of great player movement, but one that really intrigues me is Jimmy Graham. Aaron Rodgers is healthy again, meaning as many as 40 TD passes are quite literally up for grabs this year. While Graham is on the back end of his career, he's still an amazing athlete that could easily return to the success he saw when paired with Drew Brees. He's coming off a 10-TD season and I have visions of him grabbing jump-ball passes in the end zone over and over again. He'll also line up outside as a receiver more than ever before. Staying healthy is the big concern, but I expect the Packers to give him plenty of rest in between games to keep him fresh.
Bland is a senior contributor for fantasy platform YouRulz.com, which offers in-game substitutions, and has appeared as an expert in numerous fantasy podcasts and magazines. He has been playing fantasy football since he first plucked Fantasy Football Index off the shelf as a teenager in 1992.
SAM HENDRICKS
Jerick McKinnon has to be my favorite this year. I loved the kid with my Vikings but they did not use him to maximum efficiency. Now he is with Kyle Shanahan and his offensive scheme that utilizes feature running backs. The 49ers paid him to be a stud running back. Look for lots of catches out of the backfield and McKinnon to earn his feature back salary this year by rushing/receiving for 1,300 combined yards and 8 TDs. Jimmy Garoppolo helps McKinnon improve his YPC to the positive side of 4.0.
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
I can't wait to see how Allen Robinson returns from his torn ACL and develops chemistry with young quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. It should be exciting to watch!
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
I think Alex Smith is going to be really good in Washington. Jay Gruden knows how to put together a good passing offense. His teams over the last three years have averaged 278 passing yards per game and 27 TD passes per season. They had Kirk Cousins, of course, but I think the numbers are more of a reflection of how they were running their offense. Smith can play and is also a productive runner, putting him in play to maybe finish with top-10 numbers. I expect he’ll outperform a lot of quarterbacks who are selected 3-plus rounds before him.
Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. He and fellow journalism student Bruce Taylor launched the first newsstand fantasy football magazine as a class project at the University of Washington. For more than three decades, Allan has written and edited most of the content published in the magazines, newsletters and at www.fantasyindex.com. An exhaustive researcher, he may be the only person in the country who has watched at least some of every preseason football game played since in the early 1990s. Allan is a member of the FSTA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.
MIKE NEASE
Many players have changed teams since pigskins last sailed through the skies. One I will be keeping an eye on as training camp progresses is Kirk Cousins. Although he has never been a Tom Brady and has never been known for winning big games or leading a team to a Super Bowl, 2018 is a new year and he is with a new team. As a Viking, he will be surrounded with an offense that he should absolutely thrive in. Will he silence his critics and excel? I say buy low now in drafts and take a calculated risk. It should pay you a solid dividend.
Mike Nease is a member of the FSWA and has been playing the game since 1985, while also writing about it since 2001. He is a writer for Big Guy Fantasy Sports. Over the years he has sampled about all the playing scenarios that fantasy football offers, including re-drafter, keeper, dynasty, auction, IDP and salary cap leagues. You can contact Mike at mnease23@yahoo.com anytime and during the football season follow him @mikeinsights.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
Usually I am highly suspicious of a wideout on a new team, but the rules might be different for Allen Robinson. Everything is new in Chicago, or semi-new. The coach is new, Robinson is new, the offensive coordinator is new, Trey Burton is new. The quarterback and the pass-catching back are second-year players. And then we have to consider Robinson on a reconstructed knee, and three years removed from his last strong season. Chicago was dull as dishwater in the John Fox era. That shouldn't be a problem in 2018.
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.
JUSTIN ELEFF
The new-look Bears are obviously compelling, and I'm tempted to go with either Trey Burton or Allen Robinson -- but what I really want to see from that offense is whether Matt Nagy can jump-start Mitchell Trubisky. So instead I'll nominate Brandin Cooks, now on his third team in three seasons despite having ranked (per Pro-Football-Reference) 8th among all wide receivers in his last season in New Orleans, then 7th in his lone season in New England. Granted, Sammy Watkins hardly lit the world on fire in the role Cooks now assumes. But the next step in Jared Goff's evolution figures to be hitting on big plays more often, and there is no better offensive coach than Sean McVay. If Cooks has a busy preseason, something tells me his ADP (currently 20th among wideouts) will prove to be way too low yet again.
Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.
SCOTT SACHS
Now that the Browns employ former Steeler OC Todd Haley, I can't wait to see what Jarvis Landry will do for my revamped Browns. We've all seen what Antonio Brown has done in Haley's offense the last few years. Is it really such a stretch to project Jarvis Landry having a very productive season under his tutelage? Landry has 400 catches in his first 4 years, very similar numbers to Brown in the same period, albeit less TDs. The Browns look like they will finally be competitive this season, provided they get their offensive line pieced together. Regardless if Landry ends up as the No. 1 or 2 option this season -- which will depend on whether or not Josh Gordon ever sees the field -- I'm predicting a minimum of 80-90 catches and 7-9 TDs.
With two perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, Scott Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring live talk and text advice. Scott won the 2011 and 2016 Fantasy Index Experts Auction league, plus he was the winner of the 2012 Fantasy Index Experts Poll.
ANDY RICHARDSON
I'm intrigued by Sammy Watkins. I didn't agree with the Bills dumping him last season, and I know the Rams were hoping to bring him back. Kansas City has other significant targets, but Watkins outproducing Tyreek Hill wouldn't be totally shocking -- or put it this way, he's more likely to outperform where he's being drafted. Hard not to be intrigued by Jimmy Graham in Green Bay, either, although I suspect he'll be like he was in Seattle last year; touchdowns, but not as big a part of the offense elsewhere in the field as you'd like.
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.