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 veteran with a new team are you most interested in seeing?
SAM HENDRICKS
Aaron Rodgers. I know many fans loathe him for his "antics"...dark places, adventures into self discovery etc. But I think he is/was a great football player. This despite being a lifelong Vikes fan and seeing Rodgers carve us up most Sundays. I would like to see him have a chance to regain some glory before finally retiring. This year with the Steelers I think everyone believes will be his final shot. His last hurrah. In the immortal words of Sergeant Hulka... He is Pittsburgh's "Big Toe". OK I need some football and soon.
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.
SCOTT ENGEL
Justin Fields with the New York Jets. Despite his early struggles in camp the new coaching staff has a lot of apparent confidence in him. The Jets cleared the runway for Fields to be the unquestioned starter. They might let him work through any early struggles with confidence that his talent will ultimately shine. Fields still has a lot of fantasy upside.
Engel is an inaugural member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association's Hall of Fame. He is a 4-time FSWA award winner and a 13-time finalist. He is a sports betting writer at Advance Local and a fantasy writer at RotoBaller.com, Seahawks.com and The Athletic. He is also a host at SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio.
TOM KESSENICH
Geno Smith is the one I'm most interested to watch. I don't think he has significant fantasy value, but there are quality weapons for him to utilize offensively (namely Jeanty and Bowers and to a lesser extent Meyers) so if he can perform at a respectable level that should be enough to raise the Raiders' overall level of play to make them a team worthy of consideration in a tough AFC West.
Kessenich is the Director of High Stakes Contests for SportsHub Games. He runs the NFFC, NFBC and NFBKC and is a fantasy sports Hall of Fame inductee.
HOWARD BENDER
My co-host on SiriusXM has made me hate the Cowboys even more than I ever did, but how can you not get excited about George Pickens this season? Sure, he needs to show the maturity that comes with understanding your role on a team, but with the amount of passing Dallas is expected to do this year, what with the lack of a strong backfield and holes in the defense, Pickens is likely to see a career-high in targets this season. He's playing with the best quarterback he's had in his three years in the NFL and he'll play opposite one of the best in the game in CeeDee Lamb, a situation where he should reap the benefits of softer coverage.
Bender is a longtime veteran of the fantasy sports industry and the 2008 runner-up for People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. He serves as the Head of Content for FantasyAlarm.com, a weekly columnist for the New York Post and is the host of the award-winning Fantasy Alarm Show on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (M-F 6-8pm ET). You can find him on X, IG and Facebook as @rotobuzzguy and on TikTok as @therealrotobuzzguy.
IAN ALLAN
DK Metcalf was never heavily used in Seattle. He's always been more of a big-play guy, rather than seeing a lot of balls sent his way. I'm interested to see if he can succeed in that kind of a role. Aaron Rodgers tends to develop a favorite receiver, then go to that guy a ton. Davante Adams has averaged over 10 targets per week in each of his last five seasons with Rodgers. (Metcalf has never averaged more than 8.3 targets in a season.) I'm not sure that Metcalf is polished enough and crafty enough to thrive in this kind of a role, but I'm interested to watch it unfold.
Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. He is a member of the FSGA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.
JASON WOOD
Cooper Kupp. The general industry consensus is that Kupp is washed and will be little more than a WR4 with some bye week or injury fill-in appeal. I think the rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated, and see plenty of opportunity for 120+ targets as the second piece to the receiving puzzle as Jaxon Smith-Njigba settles into the alpha role.
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.
MIKE NAZAREK
I want to see how the Steelers fit Aaron Rodgers into their run-heavy offense. I think there may be an adjustment period there come September.
Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc, celebrating 30 years online! His company offers a preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a multi-use fantasy drafting program including auction values, weekly in-season newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its website, www.ffmastermind.com. 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 $40K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.
JODY SMITH
Justin Fields in New York. From a fantasy perspective, Fields has been a good option because of his rushing ability. However, from a real NFL viewpoint, he hasn't been as good. Can Fields, playing for a defensive-minded coach, play well enough to keep that job? Also, I have concerns about the talent level. Only once has Fields supported a top-12 fantasy wideout, and that was in a season where Fields missed three games and D.J. Moore had a pair of 100-yard outings from Andy Dalton. If Fields can stay healthy and perform even modestly as a passer, he's got top-10 fantasy ability.
Smith is the editor-in-chief at FullTime Fantasy who is known for compiling some of fantasy football’s most accurate rankings. He has over 15 years of experience in the industry, which includes a stint on the sidelines covering the Houston Texans.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI
I'm eager to see what Stefon Diggs has left in New England. I think most of us are bullish on sophomore quarterback Drake Maye, and it was a shrewd move to bring back play-caller Josh McDaniels. But it's still very unclear which New England receivers, if any, we can trust. I see a wide range of outcomes with Diggs, which is why it's so important to monitor him closely this summer.
Pianowski has been with Yahoo Sports since 2008, covering a variety of sports. 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. Pianowski was inducted into the FSWA Hall of Fame in 2021.
SCOTT SACHS
The Seattle passing game has been blown up. Say goodbye to Geno Smith, Metcalf & Lockett, plus the very unproductive Noah Fant. Who's going to get the ball to JSN? Who's going to grab all those vacated targets? Enter Sam Darnold, fresh off resurrecting his career in Minnesota (35 TDs!), now trying to pull off his best Baker Mayfield imitation for the Seahawks. Also, say hello to "washed" Cooper Kupp. Yes, that Cooper Kupp, the former top WR in the game who absolutely disappeared at times last year, especially during last year's fantasy playoffs. Darnold and Kupp have a whole lot to prove to be reliable fantasy producers this season, and for Seattle to be a serious contender in the NFC West.
With 2 perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, Scott Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, featuring LIVE Talk & Text Advice. He is a 3-time winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Auction League, as well as a previous winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll. Follow on X: a href="https://x.com/ffbcoach" target=_new>https://x.com/ffbcoach
KEN HOLIZNA
From a strictly personal preference, I am looking forward to seeing Aaron Rodgers playing for my Pittsburgh Steelers! If you would have told me a couple of years ago that Steelers would have Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields plus a National Championship winning quarterback (Will Howard) playing for them in the span of a little over a year I would have told you that you are crazy. But that's what happened and it's been a disastrous bust so far, and I don't see it getting better anytime soon. It would be nice to see Discount-Double-Check redeem his reputation that he tainted with the Jets, but I don't hold out much hope for anything better than average 41-year-old QB play at best. The other player just from a spectator standpoint is Geno Smith being back with his old Coach Pete Carroll. The most fantasy relevant player on a new team could be, and should be, George Pickens. The only worry I have is that when the Steelers give up on a wide receiver it usually spells doom for their career.
Holizna is a 29-year fantasy football enthusiast and founder of Faith-Family-Fantasy Football in 2019, a family-friendly, faith-based, G-rated fantasy football platform. Rankings contributor to the 2023 Fantasy Index magazine. Find him on Twitter @holihandicapper
ANDY RICHARDSON
There are a lot of alpha wide receivers with new teams, and I'm very interested to see how almost all of them work out. The three I'll mention are Stefon Diggs in New England, Deebo Samuel in Washington and Davante Adams with the Rams. Adams has always put up big numbers; can he do the same with an aging Stafford and as (perhaps) the No. 2 to Puka Nacua? Deebo looked like one of the league's most dynamic wide receivers just a couple of years ago but pretty washed last year; can playing with Jayden Daniels revitalize him? And Diggs working with an emerging young quarterback as the certain No. 1 in the passing game is interesting, assuming he's put last year's ACL injury behind him. I've been drafting these guys here and there and seeing my corps skew old, so I'm looking forward to how it turns out.
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 writes a weekly gambling newsletter, Index Bets, during the NFL season and also previews all the games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays.