Ask the Experts

ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly, with answers to a new question being posted every Thursday morning.

How the guest experts responded when we asked them:

Which Titans running back -- Chris Brown, LenDale White, Chris Henry -- do you like best in 2007?

BRIAN SWAW

I will step out on the limb here and say this is LeDale White’s job to lose and he will be the most productive RB for the Titans in 2007. The Titans spent a 2nd round pick on White in 2006 and it is well know White has had some weight issues in the past and reported late to the Titans OTAs. With that somewhat behind him White has impressed the Titans coaching staff early in training camp and has been running with the first team offense. White is being given every chance to win the starting RB job and it is his to lose. I know the Titans resigned Chris Brown but I view the signing as an insurance policy in case White wasn’t ready to take over for departed Travis Henry. The Titans will not replace White at the goal line, at 6’1 235lbs White scored 24 TDs at USC in 2005 with his bruising running style and is viewed as more of a power back then speedster. Brown is a capable back up that has never been able to carry a full load due to his long history of injuries and rookie speedster Chris Henry can’t be viewed as more than a 3rd down back in his first season.

Swaw is senior writer and owner of GameTimeDecisions.net and the co-host of two fantasy football radio shows for ESPN AM 1000 in Chicago -- Fantasy Football Island and Fantasy Expert. He has been a keynote speaker for the FSTA and several fantasy football conventions with the likes of John Clayton, Chris Mortensen, Sean Salisbury and Mark Schlereth. For more info, visit www.gametimedecisions.net.

NICHOLAS MINNIX

Henry could be the latest player to impress at pre-draft workouts, only to flame out when he gets on the field. Brown seems to be a safer choice. That's not saying much, but he has the most experience and has averaged 4.2 yards per carry during his career. He doesn't have as much upside as the other two do. White, perhaps by default, has the most upside merely because Tennessee is likely to give him plenty of opportunities. His attitude is poor, but the chances he'll likely receive make him the most promising of the three. I'd advise to avoid the situation completely, though.

KFFL offers football as well as baseball content and has captured over a dozen expert league championships. Founded in 1996, this company offers daily news, preseason draft guides, player rankings, sleepers, busts, weekly newsletters and more. KFFL also provides fantasy content to various organizations including SportsTicker and Yahoo! Sports. For more information, visit www.kffl.com.

TOM KESSENICH

How about none of the above? Seriously, this one is a mess. I'm not sure White has the mental toughness and drive to be a top-flight starting RB; Brown's durability issues are well documented and Henry may be a year away at least from being a reliable option. Of the three, I would give a slight edge to White only because the coaching staff badly wants him to be the starter. But I'm not convinced he'll keep the job and it wouldn't surprise me if all three RBs started at some point this season. My advice? Avoid this backfield unless the value is truly too good to ignore.

Kessenich is the managing editor of Fantasy Sports Magazine, which began publishing in 1989. Editor Greg Ambrosius is the founder of the National Fantasy Football Championship, the industry's first multi-city, high-stakes event with a $100,000 grand prize. Ambrosius also founded the Fantasy Sports Trade Conference and was the FSTA president from 2002-2006. For more information on the NFFC, go to www.fantasyfootballchampionship.com.

IAN ALLAN

Chris Henry looked a lot better than either of those guys on Saturday night. He ran hard, and he broke some tackles. Obviously, he’s raw as hell. He hardly played at Arizona, and he usually wasn’t productive when did. He averaged under 3 yards per carry in his first two years, and he was at only 3.5 yards per attempt in each of his final two seasons. He started only 14 games. But the measurables are certainly there. Jeff Fisher has been in the league for a long time, and he obviously thinks Henry can play, because the team used a second-round draft pick on him. Things could change here, of course. Henry’s nice game against Washington came in the second half, when all of the first- and second-team guys were done for the evening. Brown and White didn’t get much room in the first half. But they didn’t show me anything, so as of right now, Henry is the Tennessee running back that I would be willing to gamble on about 35 running backs into a fantasy draft.

Allan is the senior writer for Fantasy Football Index magazine. He’s also one of the main content contributors for that company’s website, www.fantasyindex.com. His IAN ALLAN’S MAILBAG column is posted on Tuesdays and Fridays.

NATHAN ZEGURA

Frankly, I think I want to avoid the Tennessee RB situation altogether. Brown and White can’t stay healthy and there is no reason to believe that Chris Henry, who struggled in College, will all of a sudden be a big-time NFL back. Let someone else worry about these guys and build yourself a solid team devoid of huge question marks.

The Fantasy Consultant (www.thefantasyconsultant.com) is a fully dedicated fantasy football resource run by a former McKinsey and Co. consultant. TFC’s standard service offers detailed player previews, position previews identifying break out, busts and sleepers, weekly and full-season player projections/rankings customized to your scoring system, daily in-season emails and much more. The Premium service includes direct email access to The Fantasy Consultant for all of your lineup, trade, waiver, keeper and draft questions.

CARL WEATHERFORD

Probably Chris Brown though I’m certain all three will virtually cancel each other out. I’m leaning towards Brown because it appears the Titans are leaning his way. He has more experience than the other two backs – his familiarity is needed with a young QB and unproven at best wide-receiving group.

Weatherford is owner/editor of www.coachbox.com, a fantasy football news and advice community online since 1997. Weatherford was author of the directory and technical editor for IDG Book’s Fantasy Sports Online For Dummies. He has been participating in magazine and expert panels since 1997 and has played fantasy football for over 20 years.

STEVEN LASSAN

Even though he's battled weight issues and has been in Jeff Fisher's doghouse, I like LenDale White to be the best fantasy option. It is important to consider with all three backs that is likely to be a running back by committee and none of the three would really have a top 15-20 fantasy running back rating. Chris Brown has been injured a good chunk of time in his Titans career, while Henry is simply too raw at this point. White has the most talent out of any of the backs on the roster and it is only a matter of time before he puts it all together and gets the most carries in the Titans committee look.

Lassan is a senior staff writer for Pro Fantasy Sports. For more info, visit the websites www.profantasysports.com and www.fswa.org.

JEFFREY KAMYS

This is going to be a committee this year it appears, so as far as fantasy goes, you may want to stay away. If we had to pick a candidate at this point we would probably go with White as he appears to have some TD potential, but Henry is likely to platoon with him. Time may not be on Brown's side, while he is a capable guy, the team may be growing weary of his durability problems. One problem with Titans RBs, is going to be the presence of Vince Young, you can be sure that Young is going to vulture a ton of those redzone rush TDs.

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 e-mail to webmaster@docstats.com.

SCOTT ENDSLEY

The fact that there is not a definitive answer indicates none are worth significant fantasy roster consideration. LenDale White has the best “upside potential” and a breakout is possible but he needs to get the chance, so long-term we like White at this point. Of course we’ve seen even less of Henry at the NFL level. But for this season, as of right now if you must take a Tennessee RB we’d have to go Brown, simply because he’s #1 on the depth chart – but for long…???

Endsley is co-owner and a senior fantasy football consultant for FantasyDraftEdge.com. For more info, go to www.fantasydraftedge.com.

PATRICK GLEESING

Jeff Fisher is an excellent coach. He has proven in the past that he can accomplish great things with very little; and he has never had less. Norm Chow has had great success as well, but, on the college level. Chris Brown runs upright and gets hurt. Chris Henry is a rookie with size, but, questionable ability and in need of NFL conditioning. LenDale White has yet to show any commitment to his job, nor does he display a competitor's attitude. The offensive line is terrible and this is the most important factor. Another is that the old, artificial surface in L.P. Field seems to be the cause for an inordinate number of debilitating turf toe cases. My advice is to stay away and monitor how they do in the first games. Pushed to choose I'd have to go with White who has worked himself into shape in training camp, and owes Chow; he may play harder out of respect for him. If you're desperate, Brown will start and may give you early scores. Henry is probably the future, but will need to prove this.

Gleesing is the owner and senior writer for fantasyfootballdrafthub.com. He can be reached at patrick@fantasyfootballdrafthub.com. For more info, visit his website at www.fantasyfootballdrafthub.com.

DAVID DOREY

At this early date it continues to be a three-man race but the trio has to be viewed at LenDale White not having what it takes to become a force in the NFL and who was likely overdrafted by the Titans thanks to playing in a prolific USC offense. Chris Brown was just called back for the year because the Titans suddenly realized that the running backs were not looking good and there was no depth and hey – he already knows the offense. But Brown is not in the future plans and he’s not much more than an average back who can never remain healthy. That leaves Chris Henry as the under-utilized rookie back who feuded with his coaches, was suspended, had a handful of good games and more often lackluster ones but that has all the physical characteristics of a great back (he could definitely play on a TV show). But Henry is the only one of the three that hasn’t already proven who he will be in the NFL so he’s the swing for the fence to go for in Tennessee. He actually looked good going against the opposing second string last Sunday.

Dorey is the co-founder of TheHuddle.com and the lead NFL analyst. He has been projecting players and predicting games since 1997 and has also authored the book Fantasy Football: The Next Level which is available at all major bookstores and at Amazon.com. Dorey won the Fantasy Football Index Experts Poll in 2005.

MIKE NAZAREK

I believe RB Chris Brown will start most of the season and perform the best from this group. I'll reserve the rest of my comments on this interesting question for my premium subscribers.

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc. His company offers an online rookie draft kit, preseason draft guide, customizable cheat sheets, a fantasy auction drafting program, weekly in-season fantasy newsletters, injury reports and free NFL news (updated daily) at its website. He is also 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.

ANDY RICHARDSON

I hate to read too much into one preseason game, but even though it came against backups, Chris Henry was the only one of the three who looked like he could run his way out of a wet paper bag last week. Brown is an insurance policy, and with the Titans probably going nowhere this season, I don't think they'll use him. I don't know what to say about White beyond I'm not buying the happy talk that he's finally getting it and realized he made mistakes a year ago and all that. I don't think he can play, college numbers to the contrary. Henry, in contrast, looked like he had speed, power, and desire running the ball in the first exhibition, and he's the Tennessee back I'll be using my late-round pick on.

Richardson has been a columnist and contributor to the Fantasy Football Index magazine and web site for the past six 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. Other writing credits have included FFToday.com and football coverage for newspapers in Colorado and Florida. For more information go to www.fantasyindex.com.

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