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Experts Poll

Paul Charchian wins Fantasy Index Experts Poll

Paul Charchian of LeagueSafe.com used a well-rounded entry to win the 29th annual Fantasy Index Experts Poll, outperforming 19 other industry analysts.

We grade the forecasts of the experts at six different positions, and Charchian ranked in the top third in all of them. He won the most valuable position (running backs) and finished between 4th and 6th in the other five categories.

Charchian made a bunch of aggressive selections and hit on most of them. He was the only expert to rank Lamar Jackson as a top-10 quarterback and was higher than everyone else on Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb, while he was the lowest on Todd Gurley and James Conner.

It was enough to lift him past Michael Nease of Big Guy Fantasy Sports, who finished 2nd. Tony Holm of Fantasy Sharks edged Brack Varnon for the bronze.

Charchian was the senior member of the field. He first entered the industry in the ‘80s with the “Fantasy Football Weekly” publication – printed in the Minneapolis area and sent out via U.S. mail. He is the President of the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association. He is a member of the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame.

Charchian has participated in our poll six times previously. He has never before placed higher than 9th, but his win here was more decisive than how this competition typically plays out. We score this competition two different ways, and he won both formats by a wide margin – he had the best picks this year.

The top 11 finishers in this competition earn berths in the “Mock Draft” league that will appear in the 2020 version of the magazine. As the 11th-place finisher, Bob Henry just snuck into that league, with 12th-place David Dorey (TheHuddle.com) just missing the cut.

As the first-place finisher, Charchian wins the right to choose where he’ll draft in that league. If there’s a player that he has his heart set on, he can take the No. 1 spot and be sure to get him.

EXPERTS POLL, OVERALL (official scoring)
AnalystQBRBWRTEPKDefPoints
Paul Charchian415654336,631
Michael Nease21711212335,999
Tony Holm514211311333,911
Brack Varnon37147121333,348
Chris Liss118431114331,706
Alan Satterlee810641612330,883
Bryan Teegardin6111221517330,667
Lenny Pappano99719213330,192
Michael Nazarek121313869329,649
Sam Hendricks7191010318329,087
Bob Henry1161751919328,470
David Dorey1539141810328,406
Scott Pianowski104199416328,395
Mike Clay1821811145327,202
Aaron Bland13121513208326,247
Cory Bonini14181115720325,881
John Hansen1715817173325,862
Jeff Ratcliffe165201696325,498
Jesse Pantuosco20616181015324,913
Jody Smith192032087323,142

For entertainment purposes, we also grade the picks using an alternate scoring grid. In this one, we place a floor at each position. In this one, we assume that you can’t do worse than the best backup player at each position (in a 12-team league). So that’s the 13th-best QB, TE, K and Defense, and the 25th-best RB and WR. The players at those position get credit for only how much better they are than those baseline players.

In this alternative scoring system, Charchian still comes out on top. Chris Liss (Rotowire.com) and Lenny Pappano (DraftSharks.com) move up from 5th and 8th into the top 3.

Two experts who did well in the official scoring plummet in the revised format. Michael Nease drops from 2nd all the way down to 15th, and Alan Satterlee falls from 6th to 12th.

The two biggest upward moves in this system were a pair of analyst who’ve won this competition multiple times in the past. Bob Henry (Footballguys) and Scott Pianowski (Yahoo) each moved up 6 spots.

EXPERTS POLL, OVERALL (alternate scoring)
AnalystQBRBWRTEPKDefPoints
Paul Charchian211028560,194
Chris Liss4271181158,936
Lenny Pappano6821321257,618
Brack Varnon13911410157,339
Bob Henry11515861857,224
Tony Holm8124615457,170
Scott Pianowski7419311556,819
Michael Nazarek91012107856,658
David Dorey155316121356,370
Bryan Teegardin31316551956,334
Mike Clay113171714656,247
Alan Satterlee121159211055,987
Sam Hendricks51891131755,504
Jeff Ratcliffe106201911955,188
Michael Nease16191717354,999
John Hansen1414141513254,882
Jesse Pantuosco1871818161653,775
Aaron Bland20161312201453,167
Cory Bonini171781492053,053
Jody Smith19206204752,885

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index