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Bryce Emmanuel wins 35th annual Experts Poll

For first time, winner comes from outside the industry

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
YearEntryPlace
2012Tom Duggan14th
2013John Moore14th
2014• Tom Deskovitz5th
2014Michael Livengood6th
2015Pete Owers15th
2015Todd Voorhees19th
2016Frank Rotella8th
2016Jason Howe18th
2017Ryan Murphy14th
2017Ken Valis18th
2018Patrick Chance7th
2018Harold Simons14th
2019• Brack Varnon4th
2019Bryan Teegardin7th
2020Mike Erickson16th
2020David Wilde18th
2021• Robert Heater5th
2021Dave Cohen7th
2022• Fred Wright5th
2022David Weissmiller7th
2022Chris Barden20th
2023Bill Copestick6th
2023Ken Holizna13th
2024John Knebels16th
2024Mike Piotrowski19th
2025Bryce Emmanuel1st
2025Mark Christie10th

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
ExpertQBRBWRTEKDTotal
Bryce Emmanuel28511420352,938
Bob Henry411162025350,822
Jeff Erickson9191744350,653
Cory Bonini85111831350,353
Jason Wood515481312349,654
Brandon Funston12311398349,414
Luke Wilson119616186349,304
Tom Kessenich151418917349,035
Jody Smith20221569348,626
Mark Christie11121551010347,823
Sam Hendricks797191213347,649
Scott Pianowski13412141117347,334
Andy Richardson320172153347,088
Michael Nazarek1417312815346,826
Lenny Pappano17687192346,725
Scott Engel10131331616346,613
Aaron Bland61810111714346,544
Tony Holm1910194511345,842
Tom Brolley16161462018344,511
Howard Bender1872010719343,272

—Ian Allan

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