The San Francisco 49ers will face the Detroit Lions in Week 17. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every 49ers skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 17 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Brock Purdy, QB
Brock Purdy has thrown for 300 yards and multiple scores in two of his past three games, though asking him to do that against the Lions is a bit of a tall request.
We know this Detroit defense is banged up, but they were impressive in shutting down the Bears last week. Of course, this is a different animal, but even if you think they have some decline, there’s not a cliff awaiting.
Purdy’s struggles in the short passing game have been pronounced since Christian McCaffrey was lost for the season. He has a career completion percentage on passes thrown under 10 yards of 71.8%, but over the past two weeks, we are looking at 61.7%.
Purdy’s profile doesn’t come with much upside, and there is a risk, given the matchup. He’s sitting just outside of my top 12 this week — I’d rather go with Tua Tagovailoa in Cleveland or Bo Nix in the premier spot against the Bengals.
Isaac Guerendo, RB
A hamstring injury cost Isaac Guerendo last week and could well end his season, given that the team has nothing left to play for.
That said, we’ve seen teams make questionable health decisions like this in the past, and if we get sparkling health reports, you’d almost be obligated to Flex this role from a process standpoint.
San Francisco’s bell-cow role, percentage of RB touches:
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- Weeks 1-2, Jordan Mason: 87.5%
- Weeks 10-11, Christian McCaffrey: 89.3%
- Weeks 14-15, Guerendo (minus Q4 of Week 14): 94.4%
- Week 16, Patrick Taylor Jr.: 81.8%%
Patrick Taylor didn’t have much of a chance to impress last week, making it even more likely that the feature role would be Guerendo’s if he is fit enough for it.
Keep tabs. I’m benching Guerendo right now and pivoting should things flip.
Patrick Taylor Jr., RB
Patrick Taylor Jr. took over for Isaac Guerendo last week in Miami and was, you guessed it, a fully featured back.
Well, sort of. He got every running back carry for San Francisco, but that only amounted to eight carries and a 44.4% share of San Francisco’s total number of attempts.
I think we can pretty safely back away from this backfield and feel good about it. The 49ers don’t have anything left to play for, and we don’t have much in the way of clarity on Guerendo’s hamstring, making this an impossible situation to project with confidence as they prepare to face the second-best run defense by success rate, in the league.
The starting 49ers RB will be a low-end Flex option for me, no matter who it is. I don’t think this team has much success in this spot. If they do, I expect it to come in exotic packages that involve Deebo Samuel Sr. in space or Brock Purdy on the move, neither of which helps this running game in a major way.
Deebo Samuel Sr., WR
Deebo Samuel Sr. has produced 15% below PPR expectations this season, the lowest rate of his otherwise very efficient career. His points per target (1.57) also sits at a career low and his expected points per game are down 6.4% from a season ago.
There are no two ways about it — 2024 has been a tough season for anyone who drafted Samuel. That said, if you’ve patchworked things together up to this point, we are finally getting the usage that we thought we’d get from the jump.
Week 16’s loss in Miami was his first game with 5+ targets and 5+ rush attempts since Week 1, and it might just stick given the injuries on the offensive side of the ball for San Francisco. He’s run the ball 12 times over his past three games, up from one attempt (for minus one yard) in his previous three games.
Better late than never, but never late is better.
Samuel turns 29 in less than a month and has more wear and tear at this age than more traditional receivers. I’m Flexing him this week, but his 2025 value is a giant question mark given his trajectory, not to mention the status of Brandon Aiyuk.
Jauan Jennings, WR
The 49ers made Week 16 the George Kittle and Deebo Samuel Sr. show, which I think has a decent chance to sustain this week. Thus, Jennings’ stock is at serious risk.
Last weekend in Miami, he earned just 16.2% of the targets, and with a low per-target upside role, that sort of decline in usage is a red flag. The fact that a slow day at the office came in a game where the 49ers were playing from behind also worries me, as that is expected to be the case with the Lions coming to town.
I think you can get away with playing Jennings this week, understanding that Samuel is going to be moved all over the place and that Brock Purdy is likely to throw another 35-40 passes, but I’d caution against thinking that there is much in the way of upside in this profile.
George Kittle, TE
The 49ers’ offense is caving in on itself a bit, but that means that their remaining stars get the type of usage we need. Deebo Samuel Sr. is coming off of his first five-target, five-carry game since Week 1, and George Kittle had his first game of 2024 in which he had at least eight targets AND 100 yards.
This is a concentrated offense at a high level, and even if you think Brock Purdy is ordinary, the raw talent of the two players he is funneling the ball to make them assets you can trust.
I very much worry about the scoring equity of this offense, and that is why I’m avoiding them in those exotic prime-time sorts of DFS slates when possible (Detroit is the best red-zone defense in terms of opponent completion percentage), but for season-long, Kittle is a great bet to finish among the top three at the position in targets, and that means you’re starting him.
