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 star will disappoint in the fantasy playoffs?
JUSTIN ELEFF
I adore James Robinson, truly. Love everything about the guy. But he’s been threading an impossible needle all year as the running back on a team with an incredibly bad defense, and not to mix sewing metaphors but his seams finally started to show in Week 14. So peek ahead at the schedule, and ... oof. At Baltimore in Week 15, home against the Bears in Week 16. Both are Top 10 at defending fantasy running backs. So thank you, James, but grab a seat. You did all you could.
Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.
DAVID DOREY
These final two critical weeks have me wincing that I rely on Chris Carson in one league. He's had his injury issues along the way and Carlos Hyde there to chip away at the workload. And now he has to finish up the fantasy season playing at Washington with their top defense and then Week 16 hosts the Rams with their Top 5 defense. Maybe they'll end up near the goal line a lot? Maybe not.
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
I don’t see a top-5 type guy that I simply wouldn’t start. But as I look at the matchups, Dalvin Cook, Russell Wilson and DK Metcalf are the players who get flagged for having lesser situations in both Week 15 and Week 16. Minnesota has the Bears and Saints, while the Seahawks have Washington and the Rams. If we’re going to extend this into kickers, then I guess Younghoe Koo would be my No. 1 danger player overall. He’s the highest-scoring kicker right now, but I wouldn’t be excited about putting him on the field for either of Atlanta’s next two games (against the Bucs and at Kansas City).
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.
SAM HENDRICKS
Easy: Zeke Elliott. The stud has been a dud for the last 7 games. Five of those seven he failed to get to double digit fantasy points. Granted he went off on my Vikings in week 11 for 19.4 FP but then again everybody does. Owners are leaving him in their lineups based on hope not logic. Elliott has a thigh injury too and faces San Francisco and a hungry Eagles defense. Now watch him go to town and score 20+ each game....
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.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
I'm a little concerned about Russell Wilson. The Seahawks have made it clear they want to go back to a balanced offense, and Washington and the Rams are two nasty defenses -- I can't imagine any NFL team getting a worse defensive draw the final two weeks. You'd need a very strong alternative to sit Wilson, but it's not uncommon to see fantasy teams stocked well at quarterback (in part because it's generally hard to trade a QB excess). At least keep an open mind here. Make good decisions. Don't be afraid to think.
An FSWA award-winning writer (with nominations in four sports) and podcaster, Scott has been with Yahoo Sports since 2008. On the rare occasions when the computer is turned off, he enjoys word games, poker, music, film, game theory, and a variety of condiments. He lives in suburban Detroit.
ANDY RICHARDSON
To be clear, I would not actually bench Dalvin Cook. But this week he faces a Bears defense that has done a nice job on him not only in the earlier meeting but also in each of the previous three meetings: 47 touches for 140 total yards and 1 touchdown. Three games! He's at New Orleans in Week 16, and that's one of the league's best run defenses. Cook has earned his spot in my lineup, but I'm hoping other players pick up the slack of what seems likely to be a below-average performance for him.
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.