Cal Football: Five Former Golden Bears Among Top NFL Fantasy Picks

Can you name the former Golden Bears players who were mentioned in all six of the fantasy rankings we cited? Which one ranked highest?

Sports websites are filled with information about fanatasy football these days, a reflection of the popularity of fantasy football leagues.

For those who need a little help in selecting their fantasy teams, the major sports sites provide fantasy rankings for the top receivers, running backs and quarterbacks.

They all rank Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey as the No. 1-ranked fantasy choice. However, five former Cal players are mentioned in every fantasy ranking: Keenan Allen, Aaron Rodgers, Marvin Jones Jr., Jared Goff and DeSean Jackson.

We looked at six NFL fantasy rankings, and noted where each of the five ex-Cal players ranked. In every case, Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen is the highest rated Cal alumnus. You might have expected Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to lead the way among former Golden Bears.   But such is not the case, in large part because running backs and wide receivers provide more fanatsy production.  But Rodgers is not even the highest rated former Cal quarterback on some ranking boards.

We combined the six rankings and calculated an average ranking of the five former Cal players.

Here are the six rankings we used:

--Two from Sports Illustrated -- Michael Fabiano's top 200 and SI's Fulltime Fantasy top 200.

--Three from CBS Sports fantasy writers-- Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard and Heath Cummings.

--One from ESPN.com -- Mike Clay.

Here is how the five former Cal players ranked when averaged across the six rankings (with overall average ranking in parentheses).

1. Keenan Allen, wide receiver, Los Angeles Chargers (58th overall)

2. Marvin Jones Jr., wide receiver, Detroit Lions (85th overall)

3. Aaron Rodgers, quarterback, Green Bay Packers (122nd overall)

4. DeSean Jackson, wide receiver, Philadelphia Eagles (123rd overall)

5. Jared Goff, quarterback, Los Angeles Rams (144th overall)

NOTES: 

--Allen is the highest ranked ex-Cal player in all six six rankings.

--Allen has an average ranking of 26th among wide receivers.

--Jones is ranked second among the Cal alumni in all but one of the six sites. (SI Fulltime Fantasy has Rodgers second and Jones third.)

--Jones ranks 37th among wide receivers.

--Jackson ranks 51st among wide receivers.

--Rodgers has an average ranking of 13th among quarterbacks.

--Goff has an average ranking of 17th among quarterbacks.

--Goff is ranked ahead of Rodgers in two of the six rankings.

--No former Cal player is ranked among the top 40 in any of the six rankings.

--Five ex-Cal players are mentioned in all six rankings, and no other former Golden Bears player is ranked in any of them.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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