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 will be the Fantasy Super Bowl MVP?
MATT SCHAUF
Ezekiel Elliott is not only set up well to deliver strong fantasy numbers Sunday against the Bucs. He has been carrying his owners for weeks. Elliott hasn’t fallen short of 100 total yards since Week 7. He failed to score TDs the past 2 weeks — an EGREGIOUS misstep for your fantasy RB come playoff time. Yet he still racked up 31.2 and 18.8 PPR points in those 2 contests. All Elliott owners should jump into the Salvation Army kettle at the end of this week.
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 NAZAREK
Todd Gurley has carried a lot of teams on his back, but he can't do it alone, so Gurley owners who also drafted James Conner later are more likely to win it all. That is assuming both Gurley (knee) and Conner (ankle) play this coming week; unfortunately it appears that Conner won't, so it will need to be Gurley winning the MVP.
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.
MICHAEL NEASE
A few short months ago many of my readers insisted that my ranking of Christian McCaffrey over Jerick McKinnon was insane. Even without his season-ending injury, McKinnon is not now and has never been anywhere near as talented as McCaffrey. Over the last three weeks we have seen poor results in some games from players like Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Jared Goff, Tom Brady, Saquon Barkley, Antonio Brown, Tyreek Hill, Michael Thomas, Zach Ertz and more. Look around and there is Christian McCaffrey, with games of 31, 28 and 27 over those last three weeks. I have him in a game this week for the FF WebMasters Experts’ League championship. He has been the epitome of consistency all season and I can count on him to produce solid results for me this week once again. He will be my fantasy bowl MVP. All of you that were lucky enough to draft him are glad you did.
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.
SAM HENDRICKS
I would have said James Conner as he was a huge factor this year in the first 13 games of the season. He catapulted many a team into the FF playoffs with his unexpected 270 PPR points. If you were smart enough to have drafted him and not had LeVeon Bell, then you received a huge boost points-wise. However, since he has been absent from week 14 and 15 and possibly from 16 too I am excluding him. No Super Bowl trophy hoisting for him. Instead Patrick Mahomes gets the honor. Drafted much later than the big name quarterbacks, Mahomes has put up 20 or more points every game he played. No stinkers. Not one. Honorable mention goes to Eric Ebron, who as a tight end helped quite a bit for those who waited on the position.
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.
DAVID DOREY
Todd Gurley has to be overly represented in Fantasy Championships which is disappointing since he was the first overall pick in almost every league. It is not really all that common that the No. 1 draft pick ends up as the No. 1 overall player but it happens. And times, like David Johnson being No. 1 and then missing the whole season, happens as well. Second to Gurley has to be Patrick Mahomes who wasn’t drafted as a starting QB in most if any leagues and yet ends up as an incredibly fortuitous draft pick that anyone could have made. It’s been a great year that is ending on an odd note with so many top players hurt (or on TMZ) right when they are need the most.
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
Two of my favorite candidates are in the same game. Nick Chubb is at home against a Bengals defense that really can't stop anyone (shutting down the Raiders, who don't travel well, doesn't count). He should have a huge, as in 120-plus yards and maybe 2 TDs, game this week. But the opposing running back, Joe Mixon, is also a candidate for huge numbers. Should he not have a big game running it, he could have a very good game as a receiver; I could see him going for over 100 total yards and at least 1 TD.
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.