NFL Fantasy Preview: San Francisco 49ers

4 years ago - Sportingbase

In a 32-part series leading up to the start of the 2021 National Football League season, we will take a look at each NFL franchise from a fantasy perspective. The 28th team we will review is the San Francisco 49ers.

Expectations were high for the San Francisco 49ers last season after reaching the Super Bowl last year. However a variety of issues caused the 49ers to miss the playoffs, with a record of only six wins and 10 losses.

The foundation for the 49ers is their defense. However last season they only had the 18th most fantasy points among NFL defenses. The 49ers’ key free agent signing on defense was Samson Ebukam of Emmaus, Nigeria. Last season with the Los Angeles Rams, Ebukam had 31 combined tackles, 4.5 sacks and one forced fumble. It will also be interesting to see how San Francisco adjusts with Jordan Willis being suspended six games for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

At tight end, George Kittle is one of the best tight ends in the NFL when healthy. The two-time Pro Bowler missed half he season last year due to two separate injuries to his foot and knee. In the 2018 and 2019 time period, you could make the argument that Kittle was right there with Travis Kelce when it came to the tight end position. He made 173 catches for 2430 yards over that time with 10 touchdowns. However, due to the fact San Francisco does not look like they will contend in the NFC West this year and there are more questions than answers surrounding the offense, Kittle is ranked 14th among NFL tight ends.

At quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo is 24th among quarterbacks. Like Kittle, Garropolo faced injury issues in 2020 as he missed 10 games with a high ankle sprain.

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At wide receiver, the top two options for Garoppolo are Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. Samuel only played five games last year after being injured and testing positive for coronavirus. Aiyuk meanwhile had 60 catches for 748 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie out of Arizona State. Samuel is ranked 30th among wide receivers in fantasy, and Aiyuk is 40th.

At running back, Raheem Mostert and Trey Sermon are expected to share the workload. Mostert had 104 rushes for 521 yards and two touchdowns in 2020, while Sermon was the 49ers’ third pick last season out of Ohio State. Mostert is ranked 25th among NFL running backs, while Sermon should be ranked around 40th.