For the first time, a Fantasy Index reader is the winner of our annual Experts Poll. Bryce Emmanuel of Houston was able to claw his way to the top of a 20-man field.
Emmanuel was able to edge out two of the blueblood franchises in this competition. Bob Henry of Footballguys finished as the runner-up; in the 35-year history of the competition, he’s the only four-time winner. Jeff Erickson of RotoWire finished 3rd; that company has won the title twice.
Cory Bonini of USA Today Fantasy Sports finished in 4th; his fourth top-4 finish in the last 10 years.
Sam Hendricks (Expert Point Press) and Scott Pianowski (Yahoo) are two of the most feared competitors in this arena. Both have won the competition three times; but neither was a big factor this time, finishing 11th and 12th.
Instead, it was Emmanuel’s year. His best category was tight end, where he was powered by a trifecta of brilliant picks. He was the only one of the contestants who didn’t include Jonnu Smith in top 20. Smith had been the 2nd-best tight end in the league for the final two thirds of the previous season, leading most to slot him in their top 10. But the Dolphins cut him when he was grousing about his contract, with Smith then signing with Pittsburgh (where he wasn’t much of a factor – a huge win for Emmanuel).
At the tight end position, Emmanuel also put the highest grade of anyone on Kyle Pitts (11th), and was among the highest on Colston Loveland (12th).
Emmanuel also scored well at quarterback (2nd), running back (8th) and wide receiver (5th). His worst categories were the two positions that most don’t care as much about – kicker (14th) and defense (last). So a worthy champion.
He is the first to win the Experts Poll after winning his way into the contest through the Fantasy Index Open. For years, we had requests from readers wanting to participate. So 15 years ago, we created the Fantasy Index Open (won in the just-completed season by Brent Miles of Pasco, Wash.), with the top 2 finishers advancing to compete against the industry experts.
Back in 2019, Brack Varnon (also from Houston) finished in 4th the year after winning the Open. Three other readers have finished 5th. But Emmanuel is the first to make it all the way to the top.
| READERS IN EXPERTS POLL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Entry | Place |
| 2012 | Tom Duggan | 14th |
| 2013 | John Moore | 14th |
| 2014 | • Tom Deskovitz | 5th |
| 2014 | Michael Livengood | 6th |
| 2015 | Pete Owers | 15th |
| 2015 | Todd Voorhees | 19th |
| 2016 | Frank Rotella | 8th |
| 2016 | Jason Howe | 18th |
| 2017 | Ryan Murphy | 14th |
| 2017 | Ken Valis | 18th |
| 2018 | Patrick Chance | 7th |
| 2018 | Harold Simons | 14th |
| 2019 | • Brack Varnon | 4th |
| 2019 | Bryan Teegardin | 7th |
| 2020 | Mike Erickson | 16th |
| 2020 | David Wilde | 18th |
| 2021 | • Robert Heater | 5th |
| 2021 | Dave Cohen | 7th |
| 2022 | • Fred Wright | 5th |
| 2022 | David Weissmiller | 7th |
| 2022 | Chris Barden | 20th |
| 2023 | Bill Copestick | 6th |
| 2023 | Ken Holizna | 13th |
| 2024 | John Knebels | 16th |
| 2024 | Mike Piotrowski | 19th |
| 2025 | Bryce Emmanuel | 1st |
| 2025 | Mark Christie | 10th |
The scoring system for the Experts Poll is complex. In short, you take the stats of each player (using PPR scoring) and multiply them against where a player was ranked, using a descending scale of 25 to 6 points. (Years ago, we used to use a 20 to 1 scale, but that made the players in the teens not significant enough).
As an example, if a kicker scored 100 fantasy points and he was the No. 1 kicker on your board, that would score 2,500 points (25 x 100). If you ranked him 2nd, he would count 2,400 (24 x 100). If he were the 20th kicker, that would score 600 (6 x 100). Following that process for the top 20 players ranked at six different positions, everyone scored more than 343,000 points and nobody reached 353,000.
With the complexities of positional values, the “overall” top 20 of each expert wasn’t graded.
| 2025 EXPERTS POLL RESULTS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expert | QB | RB | WR | TE | K | D | Total |
| Bryce Emmanuel | 2 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 20 | 352,938 |
| Bob Henry | 4 | 11 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 5 | 350,822 |
| Jeff Erickson | 9 | 1 | 9 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 350,653 |
| Cory Bonini | 8 | 5 | 11 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 350,353 |
| Jason Wood | 5 | 15 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 12 | 349,654 |
| Brandon Funston | 12 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 349,414 |
| Luke Wilson | 1 | 19 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 6 | 349,304 |
| Tom Kessenich | 15 | 14 | 18 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 349,035 |
| Jody Smith | 20 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 348,626 |
| Mark Christie | 11 | 12 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 347,823 |
| Sam Hendricks | 7 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 347,649 |
| Scott Pianowski | 13 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 17 | 347,334 |
| Andy Richardson | 3 | 20 | 17 | 2 | 15 | 3 | 347,088 |
| Michael Nazarek | 14 | 17 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 15 | 346,826 |
| Lenny Pappano | 17 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 2 | 346,725 |
| Scott Engel | 10 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 346,613 |
| Aaron Bland | 6 | 18 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 346,544 |
| Tony Holm | 19 | 10 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 345,842 |
| Tom Brolley | 16 | 16 | 14 | 6 | 20 | 18 | 344,511 |
| Howard Bender | 18 | 7 | 20 | 10 | 7 | 19 | 343,272 |
—Ian Allan