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Ask the Experts

Which fast starter will cool off?

Sell-high candidates include Indy Jones, Chargers WRs

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 fast starter will cool off the rest of the way?

SCOTT ENGEL

Quentin Johnston. I believe he will settle in as a boom or bust performer on a regular basis. I would consider trading him right now. The Chargers will start to run the ball more effectively soon and Keenan Allen and Ladd McConkey are the reliable targets. Johnston is a pure big-play target that will carry inconsistency.

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.

KEN HOLIZNA

I am not a big believer in quarterbacks who were drafted high resurrecting their careers after failing with the team that drafted them. Of course we all can name a handful of exceptions who went on to become great, even Super Bowl winning QBs. As much as I don't like to say this because I was at the 2019 NFL draft in Nashville, TN when the Giants surprisingly selected Daniel Jones with the 6th overall pick. The day before the draft I had a casual conversation with him about the late blooming rumors that the Giants were selecting him in the first round. He played it off very casually. Well we know how that chapter in NFL history ended, with a (24-44-1) record and a midseason release. Daniel Jones now finds himself as the starter for the Indianapolis Colts. Like most QBs who come into situations like this it is a matter of time before the clock strikes 12 and he turns back into a pumpkin. He does not have the talent around him to keep this charade going. His setup is a lot like it was in New York: great RB, pedestrian receivers. I don't know when it is going to happen but it could be as early as October since it is pumpkin season.

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

TOM KESSENICH

I think Keenan Allen will start to fade as the season moves on. Older WRs tend to historically fade as the season goes on. He's a fine player, but Ladd McConkey should become a more consistent option in the Chargers' offense while Allen loses out on his weekly touchdown volume he's currently receiving. Enjoy the WR1 production now because it will not continue.

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.

IAN ALLAN

J.K. Dobbins is averaging 74 rushing yards, with a touchdown in every game. I expect we'll see him cooling off. The Broncos the last two years have scored the vast majority of their touchdowns on pass plays. I expect we'll see that creeping back in. And I expect they'll be mixing in RJ Harvey more, going to more of a platoon backfield. (Dobbins also has an extensive injury history, so reasonable to wonder how many of the final 14 games he'll miss.)

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.

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

The Chargers were shrewd to reacquire Keenan Allen this summer. He’s been in their building for over a decade, already has rapport with Justin Herbert. But nobody expected a 19-194-3 push out of the gate, especially when you consider that Allen has never been a dynamic touchdown scorer through his career. He can hold WR3 relevance most of the year, I suppose, but now in his age-33 season, this current WR7 tag is screaming for a correction.

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

Indy's Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor have started out hot. Daniel Dimes so far pulling off his best Sam Darnold impersonation, but I'm not buying it yet. The Colts receivers have talent, but Jones has such a shaky track record, I need to see more. Jonathan Taylor has been lights out, but I'm always worry about the injury bug with him. His heavy utilization, while super productive thus far, may not be sustainable over the long season.

With 2 perfect seasons and multiple league championships to his credit, 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: https://x.com/ffbcoach

JASON WOOD

I have a hard time believing Daniel Jones will remain an elite fantasy quarterback. He's QB3 in our rankings through three weeks, and the underlying metrics support the performance. He's completing more than 70% of his passes and is leading the league with 9.3 yards per attempt. He also has zero turnovers through three games. While I fully recognize the idea that Jones' performance in New York may have been hamstrung by a poorly-run and coached organization, we still have a large enough statistical body of evidence to believe Jones will have meaningful regression and run cold sometime soon.

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

I'm not giving up my negative feelings about two guys I've been down on for a while. One is Jaylen Warren in Pittsburgh, who's had three straight 13-18 point weeks in PPR leagues. He's just not that good, best suited to be a third-down guy, and eventually Pittsburgh will either give Kaleb Johnson a shot or bring someone else in. And so far so good with Christian McCaffrey, who's tearing it up as a receiver, with 25 catches. But with everyone on that roster getting injured and McCaffrey looking pretty marginal running the ball thus far (3.4 per attempt), I'd be interested in selling him while his value is as high as it's going to be this year.

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.

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