The fantasy football landscape shifts each week, bringing fresh opportunities and unexpected challenges that separate the prepared from the pretenders. Savvy managers know that last week’s performance tells only part of the story, and diving deeper into the underlying metrics reveals the accurate picture.
This week presents some intriguing decisions. Here’s insight about key San Francisco 49ers players heading into their matchup with the Seattle Seahawks to help you craft a winning lineup.
Brock Purdy, QB
There have been two players drafted in 2000 or later to average 8.0 yards per pass with a 6% TD rate through their first four seasons: Patrick Mahomes (2x League MVP, 3x Super Bowl MVP) and Russell Wilson (10 Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl Champion).
Brock Purdy is going to join that list (currently: 8.7 and 6.3%), and until he started dancing around on Sunday night, it’s almost like no one cared.
His playmaking was on full display in the win over the Bears, and while you can nitpick the choreography of his celebrations, the larger point is that he has plenty to celebrate, and that’s kind of been the norm.
This season, Brandon Aiyuk has been a zero, and none of his active WR/TE have stayed healthy. It hasn’t mattered: Purdy has at least three touchdown passes in four of his six games back, and his Niners have won every one of those games.
In 2023, he threw for 4,280 yards and 31 TDs. Last season, he ran for five scores. In December, his full-season pace was near 500 rushing yards. Do all of those things in a single season, and how different is he than 2024 MVP Josh Allen (3,731 passing yards, 40 total TDs, and 531 rushing yards)?
MORE: Free Fantasy Start/Sit Lineup Optimizer
Football snobs can have the “impact of Kyle Shanahan” discussion. This isn’t the time (do it in the offseason, this tandem is too busy winning games) or the place for that. I couldn’t care less who gets the credit: Purdy is a locked-in option in all formats, and if he’s not paid the respect of a Tier 2 QB in your draft, punish them and win a title in 2026.
Easy game.
Christian McCaffrey, RB
This season has been about as bad as it gets for rushing efficiency.
Christian McCaffrey has 10 rushing scores.
Brock Purdy missed nearly two months.
McCaffrey has caught 96 passes.
Cockroaches can survive nuclear warfare, healthcare businesses can survive a recession, and McCaffrey’s fantasy stock can survive any surrounding environment.
He’ll turn 30 in June, and that’s going to be mentioned, but his turning 29 last June was viewed as an issue. CMC has played 16+ games in three of the past four seasons: you’ve profited if you’ve taken “the chance” on him.
Is there anything that screams regression?
Not really outside of the fact that it’s just tough to be really good for really long. He’ll be another hot-button player this draft season, but unless things change in the structure around him, I see no reason to fade.
Jauan Jennings, WR
If you were watching on Sunday night, you likely saw Jauan Jennings cash in the winning score from 38 yards out (his fifth straight game with a TD) and wondered aloud where he had been for the first 58 minutes of the game.
Having a QB like Brock Purdy at the controls is both a blessing and a curse. I value his efficiency more than you do, and that is why Jennings is going to grade better for me, but a QB that functions the way he does means not (usually) forcing the ball into tough spots.
Instead, this is a beautiful offense that exploits defensive holes. That sounds great for all involved, but it also means that when a tough matchup presents itself, the player that the opponent wants to take away is at serious risk: Purdy will just move on and find plus-expected-value looks elsewhere.
Jennings has been a victim of that lately, with under 55 receiving yards in five of his past six; he’s just running hot in the TD department. He’s posted a sub-20% target share in three straight games: I’ll be entering next season with controlled pessimism. This feels a lot like what we saw from Jordan Addison in his first two seasons in terms of inevitable scoring regression.
He’s averaged well over two yards per route run in five straight and looks fully engaged. The Eagles are repeat champions of the NFC East, and while that’s good for them, it could result in some management over these final two weeks.
I’d still be comfortable going this direction because we know he can make a single play that pays off your trust. Brown has a catch, gaining more than 20 yards in five straight, and has 7+ TD receptions in four consecutive seasons.
READ MORE: Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Football Week 18 Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Playoff Edition
He’s not an elite option, but he’s the clear WR1 in an offense that I trust to put points on the board.
Ricky Pearsall, WR
We saw Ricky Pearsall return from this continued knee/ankle issue on Sunday night and do what he does against the Bears: five catches for 80 yards.
This kid is a big-play threat in the most efficient offense around, and that makes him more than a Rashid Shaheed type who relies on a big play. Kyle Shanahan is a master at scheming around the strengths of his players, and let’s not forget that he spent Round 1 draft capital on Pearsall just two years ago.
We know that George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey are going to soak up plenty of usage in this system, and they should. But with Brandon Aiyuk on his way out of town and Jauan Jennings ready to hit the open market, it’s not hard to see Pearsall exploding in 2026.
His health certainly needs to be considered, and I still want to see some route development before ranking him as a weekly starter. However, it’s possible that he performs well after a player like Luther Burden this summer and delivers similar production when all is said and done.
I said ‘possible’. I’ll have Burden higher, but in terms of production vs ADP, I think it has a real chance to be a conversation.
George Kittle, TE
George Kittle plays a physical brand of football, and while that’s a large part of what we like, DNP’s are never far away.
The ankle injury he suffered in Week 16 kept him out of action over the weekend, marking his sixth missed game of the season.
MORE: Free Fantasy Waiver Wire Tool
He’s seen his target-per-route rate improve in three straight seasons, and the dialing back of his aDOT this season has allowed him to make the most of his targets (52 catches on 62 looks this season).
Does he have the ceiling in 2026 of a Brock Bowers or Trey McBride? I’d say no, but that’s the entire list of TEs that I have ranked in a tier of options at the position ahead of Kittle.
We know that Brock Purdy makes his money on efficiency, and while this receiver room should be more effective next year than it was this year, there is no reason to think that he won’t post a fifth straight season with 6+ touchdowns (and I’d bet on his fifth career 1,000-yard season).
