Ask the Experts

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly with answers to a new question being posted Thursday morning. How the guest experts responded when we asked them:

Which struggling star will turn things around the rest of the season?

MIKE NAZAREK

I believe RB Matt Forte will turn things around. His upcoming schedule includes Cincy, Cleveland, and Arizona. He's a nice BUY LOW candidate if you can get him at the right price.

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers an online rookie draft kit, preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, fantasy auction & regular drafting programs, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its web site. He has been playing fantasy football since 1988 and is the reigning four-peat champion of the SI.com Experts Fantasy League, a nationally published writer in several fantasy magazines and a columnist for SI.com. For more info go to www.ffmastermind.com. Nazarek can be reached at 702-568-7118 or miken@ffmastermind.com.

LOUIS TRANQUILLI

I don't know if you count Chris Johnson as struggling. But even with his one monster game I do. He is clearly the best player on the Titans roster right now and he's had a tough time getting anything other than decent FF production outside his one huge game. He's on bye this week, then the schedule becomes MUCH softer going forward. I count two one truly tough game coming up to end his season. Miami week # 15. A couple of difficult games, San Francisco and Arizona. The rest should be very productive FF games, with catches and TDs coming in bunches. As a side note, I think the Titans will be going on a major roll when they return as well; assuming they can get some DBs back and healthy.

Tranquilli is the founder and the primary "brains" (if you stretch it) of BFDFANTASYfootball.com. BFD is about delivering the information players want, not fluff, just opinions that matter to fantasy football players. Lou has worked with NFL players and gives a unique perspective because of it. We'll be giving MORE teams away in 2009 to BFD subscribers!

CORY J. BONINI

San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson may be a reasonable choice, but I'm going with Green Bay Packers wideout Greg Jennings. Through five games, Jennings has caught 17 passes for 304 yards. His single touchdown grab is disappointing after scoring 21 total times through the air in the past two years. An encouraging factor is his 17.9 yards-per-reception average. The Packers' offensive line woes should get better with cohesion and more talent (eventually healthy tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher). Aaron Rodgers loves to go deep, and the Packers have already started to make a concerted effort to get Jennings more involved. His schedule in the next month of play is fairly friendly, too (Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys). I expect several big games the rest of the way to help his numbers come closer to last year's breakout season.

KFFL.com offers fantasy football, fantasy baseball and fantasy NASCAR content. We have captured well more than a dozen expert league championships. Founded in 1996, KFFL offers award-winning daily news feeds, preseason draft guides, player rankings, sleepers, busts, weekly newsletters and more. KFFL is completely free! For more information, visit www.kffl.com.

PRETZEL MAY

I think Matt Forte is the most likely to turn things around. His chemistry with Cutler is getting stronger and so is the team around him. He had a couple of strong performances before his bye with a bit of a stinker last week. As Cutler gets more comfortable with the weapons around him the team will be better and start to lean more on there workhorse in the backfield to control the tight games they are in.

The May brothers have more than 16 years of combined fantasy football experience and are the co-founders of FantasyDraftMaster.com. The cornerstone of FDM is the UberRank which is a revolutionary approach to the traditional fantasy football cheat sheet. FantasyDraftMaster.com also offers insightful and humorous commentary on football happenings as well as recommendations on waiver wire pickups, line up submissions and weekly pick em' pools. For more info, visit www.fantasydraftmaster.com or email us at info@fantasydraftmaster.com.

IAN ALLAN

Greg Jennings has scored only one touchdown so far, but I think he'll be OK. I still believe he's Green Bay's best wide receiver, and they've got a lot of softer pass defenses coming up on their schedule. They've got the Browns this week. They're at Tampa Bay in week 9, and the Bucs have given up more long passes than any team. And the three harder teams coming up on the schedule (Minnesota, Dallas, San Francisco) are all a lot better against the run than the pass. I expect Jennings to turn things around nicely.

Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index. He’s been in that role since 1987, generating most of the player rankings and analysis for that publication. His work can be seen in Fantasy Football Index magazine, and also at the company’s website, www.fantasyindex.com.

JEFFREY KAMYS

We see the Bears using Matt Forte more especially when the weather starts to change a bit. For now it looks like they have fallen in love with the throwing ability of Cutler, but at the same time throwing and not running probably cost them the game against the Falcons. Look for the Bears to run more with Forte as the season goes on, which should help his numbers rebound a bit.

Kamys is president of Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports. His company, via the web, offers player news, injury reports, cheat sheets, projections, weekly matchups, statistics, and a customized team tracker. Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports also e-mails preseason newsletters and reports throughout the season. For more info visit www.docstats.com or send email to webmaster@docstats.com.

SAM HENDRICKS

The list is long and distinguished. Some others worthy of contention for the struggling tag include: Tony Romo, C. Portis, B. Westbrook, MB3, B. Edwards, T.O., A. Boldin and Eddie Royal. My turnaround candidate is Clinton Portis. With questions at QB (and Head Coach) Portis may find himself with more opportunities as he tries to carry the team on his shoulders. He is currently 20th for RBs but has started to pull away recently. The remainder of his schedule is medium to tough run defenses. He has the potential for a top 10 finish.

Sam Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Almanac 2009, all available at his website, www.ffguidebook.com, at all major bookstores, and at www.amazon.com. He is a 19-year fantasy football veteran who regularly participates in the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF), National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th overall in the 2008 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC).

ANDY RICHARDSON

Not that he's been a bust, but a dozen tight ends have more receiving yards right now than Jason Witten, which is pretty unexpected for the consensus top tight end. I think that the emergence of Miles Austin will help draw attention away from Witten, plus the Cowboys have some opponents coming up who are either soft defensively or have struggled against tight ends specifically. I like Witten to start reminding people of how good he is over the next month or two.

Richardson has been a columnist and contributor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and web site for the past eight years. His responsibilities include team defense and IDP projections, as well as various site features. He has run the magazine's annual draft and auction leagues since their inception. His A DAY OF FOOTBALL wrap-up column appears Mondays during the NFL season.

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