Minnesota Golden Gophers
Minnesota's top projected fantasy scorer for the 2026 season is Darius Taylor, a RB projected for 237.2 points (overall rank #9 among every FBS draftable player on the board). Across its top 10 board-ranked players, Minnesota projects for 1015.9 combined fantasy points — 9.7 points above the Big Ten median of 1006.2, ranking #9 of 18 in the conference. Its deepest position group is wide receivers, worth 504.1 combined projected points from 12 rostered players.
The Big Ten is one of the sport's four power conferences. Saturday Night Showdown carries live projections and a full draft board for all 138 FBS programs — power-conference and Group of Five alike.
Projected points and board slot are Saturday Night Showdown's own 2026 season-long projections and value-based draft board, generated before Week 0 kicks off — not stats from games already played, and not an average of real-world draft results.
2026 Projected Fantasy Points
Top 25 Minnesota players on the Saturday Night Showdown draft board, ranked by projected fantasy points.
| # | Player | Pos | Proj Pts | Board Slot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darius Taylor | RB | 237.2 | 1.09 |
| 2 | Drake Lindsey | QB | 178.9 | — |
| 3 | Javon Tracy | WR | 176.3 | 6.10 |
| 4 | Minnesota Defense | DEF | 89.7 | — |
| 5 | Jalen Smith | WR | 70.3 | — |
| 6 | Daniel Jackson | K | 61.9 | — |
| 7 | Max Shikenjanski | QB | 58.8 | — |
| 8 | Noah Jennings | WR | 53.8 | — |
| 9 | TJ Thomas | RB | 45.4 | — |
| 10 | A.J. Turner | RB | 43.6 | — |
| 11 | Beckham Sunderland | K | 41.9 | — |
| 12 | Pierce Walsh | TE | 41.0 | — |
| 13 | Hayden Moore | WR | 36.0 | — |
| 14 | Xavier Ford | RB | 32.8 | — |
| 15 | Brady Palmer | QB | 32.6 | — |
| 16 | Ryan Estrada | RB | 31.4 | — |
| 17 | Perry Thompson | WR | 30.5 | — |
| 18 | Grant Washington | RB | 27.3 | — |
| 19 | Bradley Martino | WR | 25.5 | — |
| 20 | Quayd Hendryx | WR | 25.1 | — |
| 21 | Zion Steptoe | WR | 24.6 | — |
| 22 | Niko Castillo | RB | 22.6 | — |
| 23 | Dylan Wittke | QB | 21.6 | — |
| 24 | Michael Merdinger | QB | 20.4 | — |
| 25 | Braiden Stevens | WR | 19.4 | — |