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 MVP of the Fantasy Super Bowl?
DAVID DOREY
I'll take Travis Etienne, with the Jaguars trying to get to the playoffs and playing at the Texans where they can cover, but they cannot stop the run. Etienne ran for 71 yards on ten carries in the first meeting, with three catches for 31 yards, but that was back when James Robinson was there to share carries, and the Jags had not yet let Etienne handle more than ten carries per game. He's had over 19 in each of the last two games.
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.
SAM HENDRICKS
Travis Kelce. He is so far ahead of every other tight end in projections for this Championship week. Denver gives up a ton of fantasy points to tight ends (they rank in the bottom 5) and Kansas City looks set to explode on the Broncos while fighting for seeding in the AFC playoffs. I have Kelce with 21 fantasy points (8-70-1) while the nearest other tight end is T.J. Hockenson with 15 points. That 6-point swing or more is the difference maker.
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 30-year fantasy football veteran who participated 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.
JASON WOOD
The first player who comes to mind is Travis Etienne, as the matchup is ideal and he’s getting 18-20 touches per week. He was one foot short of a touchdown plunge this week, which would’ve turned a good week into a great one. I’ll throw a bonus pick in as Mike Evans, because it’s a more controversial choice. Tom Brady hasn’t had the confidence in his offensive line to stand in the pocket and set up deep throws, which has drained Evans’ typical upside. But the Buccaneers can win their division by beating the Panthers and Carolina’s secondary is susceptible.
Wood is Senior Editor at Footballguys.com and has been with the company since its start in 2000. For more than 20 years, Footballguys has provided rankings, projections, and analysis to help fantasy managers dominate their leagues.
ANDY RICHARDSON
Gotta be Jarrett Stidham lighting up San Francisco, making Josh McDaniels look like the genius we all know he is. But seriously. I'd be looking at two bigger games with the potential to be higher-scoring, Packers-Vikings and Bills-Bengals. We know the Vikings give up a ton of passing production, and with Green Bay's playoff hopes alive, Aaron Rodgers should be slinging it around to all his various targets, in the mix for 280-plus yards and 2-3 touchdowns (probably his ceiling). Same game, either Dalvin Cook or AJ Dillon (if Aaron Jones misses due to an ankle injury) should be pretty productive as both runner and receiver. And then Bills-Bengals on Monday night is a huge one, that rare good Monday game that will go a long way to determining home-field advantage and a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs. Burrow, Allen, one of the star receivers -- I see big Week 17 performances from these players, assuming weather is OK.
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.