San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel’s fantasy football outlook could drastically improve if the team trades fellow wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but as of Aug. 23, that hasn’t happened yet.
If you do land Samuel and you’re looking for fantasy team name ideas, might I suggest “Finding Deebo,” “Son of Samuel,” or “Deebo’s Nutz”?
Regardless, I’ll check out his fantasy value and tell you below if he’s worth a draft pick.
Deebo Samuel’s Fantasy Profile for the 2024 NFL Season
Stacking a quarterback with one of their receivers is always a fun fantasy football strategy, and that’s more than doable with Samuel and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy.
As mentioned, Samuel’s value is in an interesting spot. If Aiyuk is traded, his value should go even higher than his current WR13 status.
According to TruMedia, Aiyuk ran 438 routes in 2023 and caught 75 passes on 105 targets for 1,342 yards and seven yards. Of his 75 catches, 61 went for first downs. If he is traded, Samuel will be the undisputed No. 1 target in San Francisco’s offense, with Ricky Pearsall, Christian McCaffrey, and George Kittle also seeing targets.
Last season, Samuel caught 60 passes of 89 targets for 892 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games.
All of this production came with Purdy attempting just 444 passes through 16 games. This was among the lowest attempts by an NFL quarterback. For context, his 444 attempts were less than Russell Wilson (15 games), Justin Herbert (13 games), and others.
Samuel did suffer a hairline fracture in his right shoulder in Week 6, which kept him out until Week 10. Still, he finished as the WR14 in PPR leagues and averaged 17 points per game, which was the 11th-best among wide receivers. This came with two games of 1.1 points or less.
After the 49ers’ bye week, Samuel was the WR2, only behind CeeDee Lamb. Before the bye (from Week 1 to 8), Samuel was the WR48. It was truly a tale of two halves of the season.
Similarly, the 49ers have a Week 9 bye week this coming season.
Is Samuel a Good Fantasy Pick?
Samuel was incredible over the second half of the 2024 season, and whether Aiyuk is on the roster or not, I’m taking him.
A full season of Samuel last year would’ve been an even better production than his WR14 finish, and that was with Aiyuk having an incredible season. I expect Pearsall to be involved this year, too, but Samuel’s ADP is perfectly fine at WR13.
Last season, from Week 10 on, Samuel averaged about six targets per game but also had two games with multiple touchdowns.
In July, there were reports that the 49ers could pass the ball even more this season. And with another weapon like Pearsall in the mix, an uptick in Purdy’s attempts makes sense.
Draft Samuel with confidence. If Aiyuk gets traded, get ready for a massive season.