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 one piece of advice you'd give a friend on the eve of the fantasy playoffs?
DAVID DOREY
Stop playing matchups as much and go with player talent. Late season is when the studs shine. In the early portions of the season, the weekly results get littered with so many one-week wonders. But by the end of the year, almost nothing but familiar big names are at the top of the weekly results. Start your studs and don’t get cute. Now is when they and you make your money.
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.
SCOTT SACHS
Don't get cute. Stay with what's gotten you to this point. Play consistent producers regardless of matchup. Most teams aren't looking to rest players just yet, Rams best example. Injury should be the only reason to bench a starter, e.g. James Conner.
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.
MICHAEL NAZAREK
Trust the studs that got you into the playoffs. In other words, do not bench your best players due to a "tough" matchup only to start a normal bench player. If you do that and you lose because of it, you'll have the entire offseason to wallow in it.
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.
MATT SCHAUF
Line up your defenses for the next 3 weeks now … if you haven’t done so already. And there aren’t many you can just comfortably ride through all 3 weeks.
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.
MICHAEL NEASE
Don’t change what you are doing now. Follow the same weekly regimen in getting ready to submit your playoff lineups that you have been all season. Wiser people than me have said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." 2. Don’t switch players back and forth in your lineup. Unless there is a major injury consideration, your first choice is probably your best one. More often than not, changes result in less points, not more. 3. If you see a good player on the waiver wire, grab him even if you don’t need him. Keeping difference-makers out of the hands of your opponents is a good defensive strategy. 4. Own your own decisions. Don’t expect anyone else to have all the right answers. Study all the data available and make your own decisions. Getting advice is fine, but in the end, this is up to you. Time to stick your neck out! Good luck!
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 @mike-insights.
ALAN SATTERLEE
My advice is to stick with and trust your process. Just because it’s a playoff week, don’t deviate. Don’t “just start with who got you here” per se, but do your normal assessment of recent trends, points allowed by the opposing defense and any weather impacts and set what seems to be your best lineup. Aside from that, winning is fun of course and where it’s at but I’d also and always recommend to keep fantasy football in some perspective and enjoy the games.
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
I'm a big believer in looking ahead to see how I'd feel if the decision doesn't work out. We have a couple of nice examples in Week 14: Pat Mahomes and Kansas City facing Baltimore, the Bears Defense facing the Rams. If I were to bench Mahomes after he carried me all season and it costs me a win, would I be able to live with that choice? Maybe I bench him and it works out -- the guy I start over him fares better. But when push comes to shove, benching Mahomes is a choice I don't think I could make peace with after the fact. With the Bears D, I am currently benching them, out of respect for Sean Payton and the Rams. But I'm waffling. I have Jacksonville facing Tennessee as my other choice. Only if I believe I'll be okay with the potential fallout will I be benching the Bears.
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.