30 Day Countdown: Day 8- UWDP Pac-12 Fantasy Draft

One week from the time this is published you will be sitting at your desk pretending to work while you check the time approximately every 2 minutes until you can bolt out the door. Then you’ll get home and maybe be distracted for a little while but come bedtime it’s clear that you’ll be getting no sleep as you wait in anticipation of the season opener against Auburn. Or at least that’s what I’ll be doing.

Earlier this week 5 of your favorite writers plus myself took part in a Pac-12 fantasy draft for the second year in a row. College fantasy is tough with the inconsistent bye weeks and the tremendous variation in strengths of schedule early in the year. Starting your stud quarterback against an FCS team may only yield you 10 points because his team runs the ball down the other team’s throat and then gets pulled at halftime. But such is life. Check out the teams below and vote for which squad looks the strongest.

Team #1- Andrew Berg

Reason for Optimism

It starts at the top and the Bay Area RB duo combined for over 3,000 yards last year. Love was 1st and Laird was 3rd in fantasy points per game among returners at the running back position. Throw in a very talented sophomore in Eno Benjamin and this looks like it’s going to be a dominant running back group.

Reason for Panic

There’s not an elite WR in this group although Shun Brown had a pretty good year with nearly 11 fantasy points per game last year. You could also maybe nitpick the quarterbacks but Wilkins was 2nd in fantasy points among returning QBs in the conference behind Khalil Tate although just 4th in points per game. This looks like a really solid and well rounded squad though.

Team #2- Rob Foxcurran

Reason for Optimism

Khalil Tate is a pretty darn good starting place. He led the conference in fantasy points per game last year and he has the potential to put up 50+ point weeks against opponents that can’t keep up with him blazing speed in the open field.

Reason for Panic

Going QB out the gate and then WR with 3 of the next 5 picks means Jeff is very thin at running back. Tony Brooks-James has the potential to have a big year at Oregon but if he doesn’t or if he gets hurt then every other running back on the roster is projected as a backup.

Team #3- Jeff Gorman

Reason for Optimism

Rob protected himself at the QB position by drafting the duo of Herbert and Huntley who were 2nd and 3rd respectively among returning gunslingers. And that duo of Gaskin and Ahmed should be pretty darn good as well.

Reason for Panic

Caleb Wilson is likely the best TE in the conference and ranked 5th among all returning non-QBs in fantasy points per game. However, he’s coming off an injury, has a new QB, and will be playing in an entirely new scheme. Also, there’s no RB depth here whatsoever and relying entirely on one team for your running game production is dicey when they aren’t running the triple option.

Team #4- Gabey Lucas

Reason for Optimism

The duo of JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Kanawai Noa provide a steady foundation at the wide receiver position. They ranked 2nd and 5th respectively among returning receivers in fantasy points per game last year.

Reason for Panic

Where do I start? Taking Costello in the 1st may have been an all-time reach as he averaged just 12.1 fantasy points per game last season (9th among returners). There also isn’t a starting RB in the bunch which means it will take some injuries to those starters to provide an open path to contention. Can you tell that Gabey was traumatized by the Stanford passing game against UW with her first 5 picks?

Team #5- Max Vrooman

Reason for Optimism

I went into the draft with the goal of attacking the RB position. The math says in a Pac-12 fantasy league that there are probably no more than 15 truly relevant players and 28 spots to fill. I came away with at least 3 if not 4 of those 15 guys with Moss, Carr, Williams, and Pierce.

Reason for Panic

Going RB, RB, RB means the WR position suffered. Both Winfree and McClatcher are coming off of injuries so there’s a potential the entire position group falters. MacIntyre led my WRs on this team in fantasy points last year but was just 17th in the conference among returners. Also the D/ST combo of Oregon and Wazzu isn’t exactly the greatest.

Team #6- Chris “The Gekko” Landon

Reason for Optimism

First of all, Chris actually had to be on auto-draft because he was on a business trip in Tokyo (cue Rhaego complaining in the comments). Despite that he was able to put together a pretty nice draft. He’s loaded at the WR position with the best one in the conference (Harry- 18.9 FP/G) as well as four other players who averaged at least 8 FP/G. He also got the consensus best defense and best kicker in the conference.

Reason for Panic

It’s hard to find much of a fault with this roster except for some concerns over RB depth. However, J.J Taylor falling to the 7th round means Chris at least has 2 starting backs with Taylor plus McMillan who is unproven but should have opportunity for Colorado. Also, taking Browning in the 1st round may endear him to the readers but was a bit of a stretch unless Jake returns to 2016 form.

P.S: Note that he didn’t take a single player from Cal. The times they are a changin’.