Ask the Experts

November 27, 2025

Which player are you most thankful for?

Gibbs, McCaffrey, Taylor make lists

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 player or players are you most thankful for?

TOM KESSENICH

Easy. Jahmyr Gibbs. First, he's an elite talent so you're just going to get top-level production from him throughout the season. But just as importantly he's fun to watch and this game SHOULD be fun. In our desire to win we often lose sight of the fact this game should be fun and we should be enjoying our weeks and our lineups and the teams we put together. And I LOVE watching Jahmyr Gibbs play football so that's one of the reasons I target him so frequently. Yes he's an elite player but he's also just so much fun to watch and that makes having him on my fantasy teams much more enjoyable on an annual basis.

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

I am thankful for Jonathan Taylor. This guy has become a throwback to the RBs of the late-90s/early 2000s and has carried numerous teams of mine this season. Best of all, I was able to draft him everywhere because everyone left him to me in the second round. Early, middle, late, didn't matter. Those who slept on him are paying the price and those who drafted him are undoubtedly heading to the playoffs.

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

I am thankful for Jaylen Warren. Back in the spring and into the summer, the consensus was that Kaleb Johnson would Pittsburgh’s best back. I instead went with Warren, with him being a good player and having the advantage of experience and more ability in the passing game. I listened to some grousing about the ranking of Warren, who was going later in drafts. But he came through. Johnson may wind up being a good pro, but he’s hardly got on the field this year. I just wish I had taken a similar approach with a couple of the other rookie backs drafted into similar situations – RJ Harvey and Bhayshul Tuten.

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

This is a great time of year to assess the season and give thanks to those players who kept you in the playoff hunt. Atop the list are Rico Dowdle and Quinshon Judkins, who are performing as Top 24 backs but came at hyper discounted prices. We also should give thanks to Jahmyr Gibbs, Christian McCaffrey, De'Von Achane, and Jonathan Taylor for making good on their preseason ADPs. Running backs make or break your season usually, and these gentlemen have helped teams in every league with playoff berths.

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

This is an easy one... Christian McCaffrey. I have him in two dynasty leagues and feared both teams would collapse if he was injured again, but it's been the exact opposite. CMC rules the day! And I am forever thankful for him!

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.

SCOTT SACHS

First, thank you Shedeur Sanders for suddenly making a 3-8 Browns team a must-watch this coming Sunday at home against the 49ers. Next, many players to consider, so I'm limiting my responses to my 2nd place 9-3 team. Thank you Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Davante Adams for anchoring my WRs, plus thanks to Josh Jacobs, my franchise RB. Also, thanks to Emeka Egbuka for the first part of the season, and thanks to TreVeyon Henderson for the second part! Happy Thanksgiving everyone, avoid those fantasy turkeys on Thursday!

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

SCOTT PIANOWSKI

Let’s hear it for Travis Etienne, who was left for dead in the summer but has survived, even thrived, on a messy offense. He’s been especially good of late, checking in as the RB10, RB11, RB6 and RBE7 the last four weeks. I know we’re always dreaming of home runs with our fantasy picks, but don’t overlook the singles and doubles. Keep stacking wins.

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.

ANDY RICHARDSON

I have been burned by a lot of recent first-round picks in my main dynasty league. Recent busts include Jonathon Brooks, Jonathan Mingo (another Panther, hmm), J.K. Dobbins (injuries, but those count too) and N'Keal Harry, ugh. So I am very thankful that this year's selection, Tyler Warren, looks like he's going to be one of the league's difference-making tight ends (this is a TE-premium league) for years to come. As for strictly this year's teams, what can we say about Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who week after week picks up my team whenever anyone else disappoints. Smith-Njigba's remarkable consistency (even in games when the team hasn't passed much) has its fingerprints on every close win this season.

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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The magazine is exactly the same as last year, which is perfect. Boys, we have a chance to repeat in the 33rd year of the NWFFL. I am counting on you to help pull it off. FI has been a league staple for decades, one of my guys has every edition. A few years ago, we devised a clever way to use one of your lists to draft a team for an absent owner, the sob won it all. We love you guys. Peace!

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A little feedback from a long time customer.

Our fantasy pool is entering its 25^th year and I have used multiple books and on-line tools over the years.

I have locked on to Fantasy Index as my go to for the last 5 years and have won the pool 3 of those years and finished no lower than 4^th.

Interesting to see how much more accurate you were at the end of the year compared to other books my competitors used.

Having it in a format that allows me to work the forecasts to match our scoring system and then receive updates as the season approaches is invaluable. Whoever your sources are for the forecasts are the best. Hang on to them. Thanks for the help!!

Peter M. London, Ontario, Canada

I did receive the updated draft ranking from you guys in plenty of time for my draft that night. My draft report gave me an A+ and predicted me to go 14-0 and win my league! I just want to say thank you for the excellent customer service that your company provided me. When I first started playing fantasy football more than 15 years ago, I used to buy as many fantasy football magazines as I could find. It wasnʼt long before I only purchased Fantasy Football Index each year. It is by far the most comprehensive, well written fantasy football magazine on the market. Also, I almost always rank in the top three in my fantasy football leagues, and won my league last year. Thank you to you and all of your great team. You have a customer for life!

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Thank you for all the updates etc. In the last 14 or 15 years, we have placed in the top three 9 times winning it all 4 times. I have been a customer of yours for many years. Our success is partially due to luck, but I think your magazine with all of the good stuff has been a real contributing factor. Keep up the good work. Will be a customer until the time I can't read anymore.

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I just wanted to send everyone at Fantasy Football Index an apology. Since 2003 (Ricky Williams cover), I've protected my source of information and have gone out of my way to hide Fantasy Football Index from my leagues prying eyes. I've won championships in leagues and money playing Daily Fantasy and your Training Camp updates are the highlight of my summer and a recurring order for me every single season. I just wanted to Thank You and everyone there (customer service, the writers, janitors, secretaries and assistants) for your hard work and dedication.

You are appreciated and valued part of my Fantasy Football Operations department even if i never speak your name in fear that others in my league will discover the wondrous bounty of knowledge contained in your pages…

From the bottom of a champion's heart,

Dave M. Elma, N.Y.

I wanted to send a quick note and thank you for your great magazine! The information you provide, has allowed me to win my league 3 years in a row!

The payoff in the league is not bad, six hundred dollars to be exact, but it is those all important bragging rights that really make it fun!

I epically enjoyed this last issue because you included all the covers for the past 30 years, I did not buy 87, and 88, but all the rest I have purchased.

All I have to do is read and then plug and play, thanks again for doing all the work so I don't have to, except for cash the check of course! Lol.

I will be continue to purchase your magazine, and recommend it to others, although I don't like to give away my secret!

I typically don't write emails to magazines, but after 3 wins in a row, and others which I did not list, I felt like you would like to know.

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Darrell W. Holt, Mich.

I wanted to let you know I finished my season going 16-0 winning my league, breaking every record in our 19 year history along the way. A special thank you to FI for the insightful knowledge as it provided me much help along the way.

Ryan M. Lynnwood, Wash.

You guys do a great job. I got laughed at by a few people at the draft but they're not laughing now. I'm leading the league in record (8-1) and PF thus far.

John W. Aylett, Va.

And a side note… we've got a re-draft 16-team, 20 players drafted league (drafting water boys by the 17^th round) that I've won 2 years in a row. Nobody's ever done that in 21 years… using your cheat sheet. it's an old school league that used to draft out of piles of magazines.

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This is my ninth year competing with my two very savey adult children and their 11 regulars to make it a 14 team draft with a $200 bid limit. Your SuperFanatic package has put me into the 6 team play- offs 4 out of the 8 years and there is no way I could compete with these guys without my cheat sheets! They still have no idea how I can be so lucky every year :-) Cheaters do prosper!!!!

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I have used your product for the past 18 years or so… Every now and then I will be tempted and look at what other magazines have to offer, quickly realizing no one comes close.

In addition to the magazine, I started buying the weekly updates years ago when my dad taught me a lesson. The draft came and dad was sitting in the 12 hole for his pick. He told me he felt very comfortable about who he was going to select but would not tell me who his prized gem was to be. I was doubtful. The pick? Priest Holmes (his first dynamite year). I remember telling my dad, "that is a decent pick but they plan to pull him at the goal line." Ever the teacher, dad explained he had purchased the Fantasy Football Index update and read Holmes would get the goal line carries. "Update?", I asked. That was 2002 and Holmes had 21 rushing TDs and Dad won the title! Lesson learned.

By the way, I have made the title game for the last 5 years in a row. Thanks for the detailed, hard work and an great product!

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