Fantasy Football Stock Watch: NFC West risers and fallers
By Drew DeLuca
Fantasy Football Stock Watch: San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers attempt to return to a Super Bowl was dealt a setback with the offseason foot injury to rising star Deebo Samuel. A broken foot will hamper the wide receiver’s efforts to take a step forward as the alpha receiver many analysts project him to become.
Meanwhile, Brandon Aiyuk was drafted in the first round to fill the shoes left behind by the departed Emmanuel Sanders. With Marquis Goodwin traded (and subsequently sitting out the season), the wide receiving corps looks a bit thin: if Dante Pettis can climb out of the doghouse, he’ll battle red zone favorite Kendrick Bourne, Trent Taylor and Jauan Jennings, taken in Round 7 of this year’s draft, for playing time on a team that wants to run the ball and play defense.
Hopefully, that last sentence helps to draw inferences about the low ceiling for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who arguably shouldn’t even be rostered in shallow 1QB fantasy football leagues. The 49ers won’t have to play catch-up very often and don’t have the horses when they’ll need to.
At the running back position, Raheem Mostert restructured his contract his offseason and should reprise his role as the lead back in a committee that should also create an opportunity for another fantasy-relevant running back to arise from a group that includes Tevin Coleman, a veteran of Kyle Shanahan’s system, Jeff Wilson, Jr., and Jerrick McKinnon, who the 49ers have kept around despite an injury history that reads like a full season of M*A*S*H.
Make no mistake: this is George Kittle’s offense, and after his recent gargantuan contract signing, everyone knows it. With all due respect to Kelce, Kittle should be first tight end drafted in startup dynasty leagues; given the insane, consistent target volume he’ll see in 2020, a strong case can be made for him to be the TE1 in redraft leagues, as well.