ASK THE EXPERTS appears weekly from training camp through the Super Bowl. This is the last question of the season. How the guest experts responded when we asked them: What is your preliminary top 10 (PPR) for the 2022 season?

MIKE NAZAREK

  1. Jonathan Taylor shockingly rushed for 1,800+ yards, scored 20 times, and caught 40 passes for another 360 yards. Most importantly, he has no real injury issues, so that makes him the top running back for 2022.
  2. Austin Ekeler totaled 1,558 yards of offense with 70 catches and a whopping 20 TDs. He will remain the go-to guy in this offense, making him a worthy pick as the No. 2 overall fantasy choice.
  3. Derrick Henry. Yes, Henry just turned 28, but his foot injury gave him a rest from the weekly pounding he normally takes, so look for him to return to form with another big season in 2022. Remember, this is the same guy that ran for more than 2,000 yards and scored 17 times in 2020.
  4. Joe Mixon totaled more than 1,500 yards with 42 catches and scored 16 times in 2021. He stayed healthy except for sitting out Week 18, and the team seems dedicated to sticking with him over the long term.
  5. Cooper Kupp. He is by far the lead wide receiver for fantasy, coming off the triple crown season where his stat line was a gaudy 145-1,947-16. That line will be difficult to repeat, but assuming the Rodgers/Adams combo could break up, Kupp is clearly the safest pick to make here and he could be taken as early as No. 3 overall.
  6. Javonte Williams. Ah, the first big surprise on this list, no? He totaled 1,200+ yards with 7 scores and 43 catches playing in a 50/50 role with Melvin Gordon in 2021. Gordon is a free agent and all but gone; the Broncos will turn to Williams to carry the load in 2022. How does this sound for his projections… 268-1,180-7 with a catch line of 53-380-2? Believe it!
  7. Davante Adams would clearly be ranked high if he re-signed a new long-term deal with Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers was locked into a return, but that is not the case. I slot him in here assuming that the Packers should get Rodgers back and are likely to franchise Adams. If that is the case, then Adams could, in fact, be a top-5 overall pick.
  8. Christian McCaffrey. We all know CMC's talent, making him an elite running back when healthy, but he only played in part of 7 games in 2021 after playing in only 3 in 2020. If you think this is too high, I would understand if you pass on him. That said, if he plays in 17 games in 2022, do not be surprised if he returns to the top of the heap again.
  9. Justin Jefferson showed his rookie season was no fluke, producing an impressive 108-1,616-10 stat line, ranking him as the No. 4 wide receiver. I see no reason why his success won't continue in 2022, as Kirk Cousins is expected to return for at least one more season.
  10. Najee Harris totaled nearly 1,700 yards with 10 scores and 74 catches in his rookie season. His talent isn't an issue, but with Big Ben retired, he will be a marked man in 2022, so to expect a repeat of those numbers might be asking for too much.

Nazarek is the CEO of Fantasy Football Mastermind Inc, celebrating 25 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 web site, 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 nearly $30K in recent seasons of the FFPC High Stakes Main Event. Nazarek can be reached via email at miken@ffmastermind.com.

IAN ALLAN

I’m operating under the assumption that we’re picking today. That being the case, I would play it conservatively. That is, I’m not certain Davante Adams will be back in Green Bay (and with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback), so I’ve got him graded conservatively. Alvin Kamara could be facing some kind of league suspension and has a new coaching staff, so he didn’t make the cut. Dalvin Cook has a new coaching staff, contributing to him also being just outside. I’m assuming we’re in one of those leagues where very good quarterbacks are available in the second and third rounds, so I didn’t include any players at that position. Nor does my list include Travis Kelce (age) or Darren Waller (new coaching staff). Ultimately, I settled on five running backs and five wide receivers.

Jonathan Taylor, Cooper Kupp, Najee Harris, Austin Ekeler, Christian McCaffrey, JaMarr Chase, Davante Adams, Justin Jefferson, Derrick Henry, Deebo Samuel.

Allan co-founded Fantasy Football Index in 1987. He and fellow journalism student Bruce Taylor launched the first newsstand fantasy football magazine as a class project at the University of Washington. For more than three decades, Allan has written and edited most of the content published in the magazines, newsletters and at www.fantasyindex.com. An exhaustive researcher, he may be the only person in the country who has watched at least some of every preseason football game played since the early 1990s. Allan is a member of the FSTA Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame and the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.

JUSTIN ELEFF

  1. Jonathan Taylor
  2. Cooper Kupp
  3. Justin Jefferson
  4. JaMarr Chase
  5. Christian McCaffrey, with full knowledge that this is very wrong but you tell me in which direction
  6. Deebo Samuel, and note that he belongs higher (4th, say) if any site gives him dual RB/WR eligibility
  7. Derrick Henry
  8. Austin Ekeler
  9. Javonte Williams
  10. Davante Adams or Tyreek Hill

XYZ. I haven’t forgotten Najee Harris. But I also haven’t forgotten Trent Richardson.

Eleff hosts the Fantasy Index Podcast, available in the iTunes Store now. He has worked for Fantasy Index off and on all century.

SAM HENDRICKS

  1. Jonathan Taylor
  2. Dalvin Cook
  3. Derrick Henry
  4. Austin Ekeler
  5. Cooper Kupp
  6. Davante Adams
  7. Christian McCaffrey
  8. Najee Harris
  9. Justin Jefferson
  10. Tyreek Hill

Hendricks is the author of Fantasy Football Guidebook, Fantasy Football Tips and Fantasy Football Basics, all available at ExtraPointPress.com, at all major bookstores, and at Amazon and BN.com. He is a 25-year fantasy football veteran who participates in the National Fantasy Football Championship (NFFC) and finished 7th and 16th overall in the 2008 and 2009 Fantasy Football Players Championship (FFPC). He won the Fantasy Index Open in 2013 and 2018.

DAVID DOREY

  1. Jonathan Taylor
  2. Derrick Henry
  3. Christian McCaffrey
  4. Najee Harris
  5. Cooper Kupp
  6. Austin Ekeler
  7. Davante Adams
  8. Joe Mixon
  9. Travis Kelce
  10. JaMarr Chase

Dorey co-founded The Huddle.com in 1997. He's ranked every player and projected every game for the last 23 years and is the author of Fantasy Football: The Next Level. David has appeared on numerous radio, television, newspaper and magazines over the last two decades.

PAUL CHARCHIAN

  1. Jonathan Taylor
  2. Austin Ekeler
  3. Derrick Henry
  4. Cooper Kupp
  5. Najee Harris
  6. Davante Adams
  7. Travis Kelce
  8. JaMarr Chase
  9. Justin Jefferson
  10. Deebo Samuel
  11. Javonte Williams
  12. Dalvin Cook

Charchian is the CEO at GuillotineLeagues.com. Guillotine Leagues are a new way to play in which the lowest-scoring team each week gets chopped from the league, and all the players go to the waiver wire. Charchian was inducted into the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

SCOTT SACHS

  1. Jonathan Taylor
  2. Derrick Henry
  3. Cooper Kupp
  4. Davante Adams
  5. JaMarr Chase
  6. Christian McCaffrey
  7. Deebo Samuel
  8. Patrick Mahomes
  9. Justin Herbert
  10. Nick Chubb

Sachs runs Perfect Season Fantasy Football, offering LIVE Talk & Text consulting. He has multiple league championships including 2 perfect seasons. Scott is a past winner of the Fantasy Index Experts Poll and a 2-time winner of the Experts Auction League.

ANDY RICHARDSON

It can be daunting to have a top-5 pick and use it on a running back. These guys get hurt all the time, and more often than not they disappoint. But landing full-time, feature backs is increasingly difficult; there's just more depth of elite wide receivers. (And top wideouts can disappoint a year later too -- Michael Thomas, Stefon Diggs.) I think if you're picking in the top 6-7, you have to take the runner (with a single exception) and cross your fingers that he stays healthy. There are a couple of great wideouts I'll take that early, but there will be a lot of really good wideouts in Round 2, also. As a result, my top 10 should look something like this.

  1. Jonathan Taylor
  2. Derrick Henry
  3. Cooper Kupp
  4. Austin Ekeler
  5. Najee Harris
  6. Javonte Williams
  7. Dalvin Cook
  8. Deebo Samuel
  9. D'Andre Swift
  10. Christian McCaffrey

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 previews all the NFL games on Saturdays and writes a wrap-up column on Mondays during the NFL season.