RADIO
The season-ending injury to Jimmy Garoppolo triggered a somber mood for the San Francisco 49ers season, especially from a fantasy perspective. C.J. Beathard is by no means a top-32 starting quarterback in the NFL, but he does have some familiarity with this offense in his second year.
Still, the questions remain. Who can you realistically trust on a weekly basis? Will defenses load up the box, forcing Beathard to go deep? Is offensive guru Kyle Shanahan enough to keep San Francisco's key playmakers heavily involved? Find out next time on Dragonball Z!
Kidding...
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We need to examine each player individually to assess his fantasy value now that this 49ers offense is far different than it looked in the preseason.
Fool's Gold
Let's start with Beathard himself. He managed 298 passing yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in his first game as the starter. Aside from the fact that those numbers are not very good by 2018 standards, the quarterback position is so unbelievably stacked this year that we can all safely ignore Beathard as a fantasy contributor. You're not stooping that low when the likes of Joe Flacco and Andy Dalton are having top-15 seasons off the waiver wire. Even Tom Brady is hanging down around QB18 through the early part of the year. It's a beautiful mess. You can gloss right over the current Niners QB until Jimmy G's return in 2019. Having said that, Beathard didn't really hinder the overall offense quite as much as some anticipated.
Now, let's get the negativity out the way. Marquise Goodwin, a massively hyped-up sleeper over the summer, hadn't done much in limited action with Garoppolo to start the year. It certainly didn't help that Goodwin had been banged up along the way. He was already bordering on droppable status prior to the Garoppolo injury, and doesn't really mandate a roster spot as of writing. The upside is still there, sure, but as you will gather by the end of this piece, the positives that remain do not exist at the wide receiver position. Unfortunately the most talked about name is the first casualty. Goodwin is not startable nor a must-own.
Next on the list is fellow receiver Pierre Garcon. Garcon had been fairing a little better than Goodwin thus far, although a lot of that has to do with a clean bill of health. Granted, we're still talking about four games that total 141 yards and zero touchdowns. Garcon's claim to fame has always been his propensity to soak up targets, padding his PPR numbers in the process. He is sneakily second on the team in targets with 21, although that isn't a total surprise. Nevertheless, he too can be comfortably dropped until further notice. It's a shame that this offense could have had two start-worthy receivers who are now essentially a bust but here we are.
That brings us to the positive side of things. The most surprising bright spot of the 49ers offense thus far has been running back Matt Breida. Breida is shockingly third in total rushing yards to start the year, and is RB13 in standard scoring, RB16 in PPR. His worst game of the year did, of course, come around with Beathard at quarterback but he's still seeing a majority of the snaps. That does have value from a fantasy running back perspective. While I don't expect top three, five, or ten production to continue, I do think this is where the Shanahan factor may come into play.
Breida must now be a true workhorse if this offense is going to stay afloat, and Shanahan is smart enough to figure that out. He'll keep his top back involved regardless of who is out there throwing. The volume should continue, and with volume comes high-end RB2 upside. I don't think that makes him a must-start as immediately as week five, but I would imagine there are owners out there who can at least use him as a flex this week. With highly drafted backs like Le'Veon Bell, Leonard Fournette, and Joe Mixon unavailable, you can do far worse than Breida right now. I'd be willing to roll with him over the likes of LeSean McCoy, Kenyan Drake, and Derrick Henry, just to name a few struggling rushers. And before you ask about Alfred Morris, all you need to know about him is that he is firmly No. 2 on the depth chart. He is a bench stash who will only become a factor should Breida go down with an injury.
Last but not least, my new BFF George Kittle. Kittle was another sleeper who had tons of buildup during the off-season. The tight end position is just as wonky as quarterback right now, yet Kittle has managed to churn out solid numbers within a TE context. Coming off a 125-yard performance that included a long 82-yard touchdown, Kittle is third in standard scoring, fourth in PPR. The big play does skew things, but he also leads the team in targets with 28, eight of which came this past Sunday. Sometimes a backup quarterback is a tight end's best friend. They run safer, more reliable routes that a backup may feel more comfortable throwing. You're also going to hear a ton of chatter about how Beathard and Kittle played together in college at Iowa. This is a connection that should continue throughout the course of the year. I believe Kittle has a legit possibility to the finish the year as a top-five tight end and is an automatic, set it and forget it starter for the rest of the way.
So while this team no longer has the same upside it once did under Jimmy Garoppolo, it isn't all doom and gloom. You have two solid performers in Matt Breida and George Kittle at the expense of wide receivers Marquise Goodwin and Pierre Garcon. Besides, that's not to say that Goodwin and Garcon can't develop more chemistry with their new starting QB as the weeks roll along. They just no longer mandate a spot on your bench until we see some more production. I feel for fans of the San Francisco 49ers, but I have hope for my fellow Breida and Kittle owners.
