After three years and three consecutive national championships, the SEC has one heck of a resume to hang their hat on. However, all that bling serves as a shield toward a pretty awkward couple of issues: the league only runs two deep at the top right now and fantasy players tail off in a hurry down south of the Mason Dixon. Attrition caused its own mess, so …now what? Now we have a couple of guys who are impact players, a few guys who could be, and then a heck of a lot of hope.
Big arm, big body, big-time coach - yes, Arkansas' Ryan Mallett looks like the real fantasy deal (Icon SMI)
At least we have trophies…
QUARTERBACK
1. Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
2. Cam Newton, Auburn
3. John Brantley, Florida
4. Jeremiah Masoli, Ole Miss
Let’s start with the obvious: Ryan Mallett is as close to a fantasy QB beast the SEC is likely to get for the near future. He has a system designed to maximize his talents, he has a quality crop of WRs, and he’ll get the opportunities. After that …. yikes. Sure, Stephen Garcia is still floating around, and Greg McElroy is a great real-life QB, but they have systemic issues – McElroy isn’t in an offense that lets him pass enough, and Garcia is going to be yanked out of at least 3-4 games (plus is still playing behind a swinging gate of an offensive line).
Instead, we’re left with what systems are likely to produce. Newton, Brantley, and Masoli are all untested in SEC play, excepting Newton’s garbage time as a Gator his freshman year. However, they’re all in systems that can maximize their talents (and to be brutally frank, I flipped their order a few times writing this). For now, I trust Newton more than either of the two guys ranked below him. Brantley has all the tools, but after what happened to Florida’s offense under Steve Addazio last year, I’m a bit gunshy. Masoli by all rights should be going to an offense that will let him run – Matt Jones in 2004 as a good example of Masoli’s potential – but there’s the simple matter of, well, not trusting that Houston Nutt has any idea how to coach QBs. At all. Couple that with Ole Miss breaking in three new guys on the line and there are some red flags here, even with Masoli’s production last season.
Don’t get me wrong – Newton, Brantley, and Masoli all have a chance to be the best fantasy QB in the SEC. But in the absence of any history, we’re left to fall back on what we’ve seen guys like them do, and the production potential of those three guys doesn’t outweigh what we already know about Mallett.
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