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Ask the Experts

Who are you most thankful for?

Kelce, Kyler and Kareem

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: Happy Thanksgiving! Which player are you most thankful for this season?

SAM HENDRICKS

Aaron Rodgers and Travis Kelce. Rodgers because his bounce back year has been a game changer if you waited on QB and got him late. Kelce because he has dominated the TE position (mainly because of injuries to Kittle and Ertz) so much. Those two alone could be winning you your fantasy league with a few games before the playoffs. Also thankful Dalvin Cook has not been injured. Hope I did not jinx myself I have Cook in a ton of leagues in he has an easy schedule with no cold weather games ahead.

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 and 2018. Follow him at his web site, www.ffguidebook.com.

DAVID DOREY

Most thankful for James Robinson, the current No. 4 fantasy running back and a player that was mostly found on the waiver wire right after the Jaguars dumped Leonard Fournette at the last minute and promoted a guy that was never drafted. He's saved my bacon and is one of the greatest examples why the waiver wire is your friend and that your team can be upgraded between when you draft it and when they play in Week 1.

Dorey co-founded The Huddle.com in 1997. He's ranked every player and projected every game for the last 23 years and is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. David has appeared on numerous radio, television, newspaper and magazines over the last two decades.

IAN ALLAN

Kyler Murray has been fun to watch. He’s tiny, but he can really run. I don’t think we’ve seen a quarterback quite like him. If he can stay healthy, he could become the first quarterback to finish with 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards. (He might also throw 30 TDs while running for double-digit scores.)

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 the early 1990s. Allan is a member of the FSTA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.

JUSTIN ELEFF

I very much want to name James Robinson, the Little Running Back Who Could, or Chase Claypool, who is already the player I dreamed he might become when I first saw his SPARQ numbers. But reflecting on all I am thankful for in my real life reminds me to speak up about what is constantly great — so reliable, both in presence and in ability to amaze, that I am too often guilty of letting my appreciation go unstated. No more. For twenty-seven months now Patrick Mahomes has been the immovable center of my fantasy football life. The greatest real player, sure. The greatest Mississippi Queen, ever. My favorite weeks are when he plays a late game — SNF, MNF — and I wake up Sunday morning thinking “we just gotta keep this close; Patrick will win it.” But what I mean to say here is that my gratitude does not hinge on whether he does, in fact, win it. Waking up believing is enough.

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

As a Browns fan, and with all the challenges that 2020 has dumped upon us, I'm thankful for Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. With the exception of Chubb's 4-week hiatus due to injury/bye week, he and Hunt have combined for consistent production in yards, receptions, and TDs for most of the season. In fact, the Houston game was the first time since 1966 that the Browns had two 100-yard rushers in the same game. While the rest of the Browns have underperformed, Chubb and Hunt have the Browns thinking playoffs. Playoffs?! Yes, the Browns are going to be playing meaningful games in December for the first time since forever, and they play the Jets during Fantasy Super Bowl on December 27th. Have a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving everyone!

Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, offering LIVE Talk & Text consulting. He has multiple league championships including 2 perfect seasons. Scott is a past winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll and a 2-time winner of the Experts Auction League.

ANDY RICHARDSON

Two that stand out for me are Terry McLaurin and Justin Herbert. McLaurin produces at a pretty good clip week after week, despite (or perhaps because of) being Washington's only credible receiving threat, and while catching passes a lot of the way from a pretty lousy collection on passers in a stodgy, unimaginative offense. I also considered Calvin Ridley here, an Index pick who's really paid off. With Herbert, there's proof that you can wait on a quarterback and still get elite production, from a guy not even drafted in most leagues. He's been amazing, putting up big numbers week after week in lost causes, and with a coach that probably would have left him buried behind Tyrod Taylor most of the season but for a medical screwup. Glad to have him on several teams.

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.

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