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 Arizona Cardinals to help you craft a winning lineup.
Brock Purdy, QB
The results for Brock Purdy in Week 1’s win over the Seahawks were mixed. On one hand, he threw multiple touchdown passes and ran five times. On the other hand, he matched his September 2024 interception total and ranked 17th by way of our true accuracy metric.
For the first game without Deebo Samuel/Brandon Aiyuk, I was cautiously optimistic, but a foot injury cost him last week, and his status is up in the air at the moment. It shouldn’t matter to you.
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Purdy is in the starting QB mix when at full strength, but he’s not the type that I’m jamming into a lineup at less than full strength. Consider that this was a matchup that resulted in his second-lowest completion percentage (54.3%) and one of his three multi-interception games in 2024: this isn’t a situation you need to worry about.
Hold Purdy if you’d like, but the schedule isn’t overly appealing outside of a Panthers matchup in Week 12, and a late bye (Week 14) has him sitting outside of my starting tier at the position in my rest-of-season rankings.
Mac Jones, QB
Brock Purdy appears to be on the wrong side of questionable, and that has Mac Jones penciled in for another start. He was good for 21.8 fantasy points in New Orleans last week, and while this matchup will be tougher to navigate, I’m confident in him as a streamer if you lost your starter.
Jones was clearly comfortable in this system last week, and that’s the first box I need checked from a backup option. In the first half, he fed five different players at least three targets, a sign that he is seeing the entire field and thoughtfully going through his reads.
We saw him thrive for fantasy purposes down the stretch of last season, and he is giving us 16.8 fantasy PPG over his past four starts. That should be viewed as something of a floor against a Cardinals defense that has allowed at least 17 points to a QB in five of their past eight (five of their past seven if you want to dismiss Spencer Rattler as a viable NFL QB in Week 1).
Arizona owns the fifth-lowest opponent aDOT since the beginning of last season, and Jones was more than happy to take those easy-button completions by way of Christian McCaffrey and Jauan Jennings a week ago.
Jones is hovering around QB15 this week and is a must-add for those without their typical starter.
Christian McCaffrey, RB
What’s understood doesn’t need to be explained. Christian McCaffrey is on pace for 425 touches this season, and no one is thinking twice about it. He’s cleared 50 rushing and receiving yards in both contests despite not having a touch pick up more than 25 yards.
The 49ers are 2-0 despite all the injuries, and CMC is their cheat code. He’s got the highest fantasy floor when healthy of any player in professional sports, and I’m not even sure who else you’d put on that tier.
The Cardinals have good-looking defensive metrics up to this point, but sorry if I need to see more than impressive showings against the Saints and Panthers to sell me on a turnaround.
Brian Robinson Jr., RB
Before the trade, the fantasy industry told us what they thought of Brian Robinson Jr. Despite having a clear path to a lead role in a top-10 offense, he was viewed as a middle-round pick with limited upside.
With the 49ers, he’s reinforced as much, turning his 18 opportunities (rushes plus targets) into just 7.6 PPR points. So why not just trade him to the Christian McCaffrey manager and be on your way?
Nobody was excited about him in a lead role when he had it, so where would he rank if CMC were to miss time?
My guess is in the low-end RB2 range, and that’s of limited appeal to me. You know that he holds more value to the team, sweating every McCaffrey touch, so why not try to throw a dart on a Matthew Godon type that could come through on unrealized upside in his situation as it stands?
Or, even better, make a move for a buy-low player with Robinson as a tie-breaking piece to convince that CMC manager that he/she is wise to be better safe than sorry. At the end of the day, I don’t think Robinson holds the type of contingent value that McCaffrey handcuffs of years past have.
Isaac Guerendo, RB
Isaac Guerendo missed time in August with a shoulder injury, but he returned to practice in the middle of the month, shortly before the team traded for Brian Robinson Jr.
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Guerendo didn’t see the field for a single snap in Week 1 despite the pregame concerns surrounding Christian McCaffrey, a clear indicator that he’s more of a Robinson handcuff than a McCaffrey handcuff. In fact, he’s yet to get on the field for a single offensive snap in 2025.
There are too many options with single-play upside on most waiver wires to waste an active roster spot on Guerendo right now. If McCaffrey were to go down, he’d be worthy of an add, but you don’t need to get ahead of a very specific situation.
Brandon Aiyuk, WR
The 49ers are hoping for a mid-October return for Brandon Aiyuk, a former first-round pick who had ranked 11th in the NFL with 2,357 yards from the start of 2022 to the end of 2023.
By getting some clarity on the health front in the first half of August, we were at least able to enter drafts with some sort of plan. Aiyuk is hanging out on your IR slot for the time being, meaning that he is not costing you a roster spot and thus isn’t taking much win equity off of your plate early on.
In a perfect world, his injury recovery would have taken us past the San Francisco bye week, but it doesn’t (Week 14 bye). That said, a fully functional Aiyuk coming down the stretch for an offense that needs an alpha WR in a favorable stretch (Titans, Colts, and Bears in Weeks 15-17) could be the piece that swings your fantasy postseason.
This injury was priced into Aiyuk’s cost at your draft, so there’s no point in trying to trade for him now. But what if his manager starts slow? What if panic mode sets in before we have a definitive return date?
I’m making a mental note of who has Aiyuk rostered and tracking their status, preparing to pounce should the losses pile up. We are nearing the point in the process where a low-ball offer could be mutually beneficial, so keep your head on a swivel!
Jauan Jennings, WR
It was only one game, but I was much more encouraged by what I saw from Jauan Jennings than Ricky Pearsall in the Mac Jones version of this offense.
WR Details, Week 2:
- Jennings: 19.9 PPR points (+23.7% relative to expectation), 10.0 aDOT, 9.6 YAC
- Pearsall: 9.2 PPR points (-10.6% relative to expectation), 15.3 aDOT, 0.0 YAC
You could sell me on the big play upside tilting toward Pearsall, but through two weeks, the Cardinals have allowed the sixth fewest deep completions on the fifth lowest completion percentage.
Now, that’s obviously a stat that is propped up by sub-par competition (Saints and Panthers), but this Arizona defense is trending in the right direction, and the desire to take away those chunk plays is a league-wide trend.
The shoulder seemed to be a non-issue for Jennings last week, and as long as we avoid the “his body is struggling to recover” reports as this week wears on, I have Jennings 10 spots higher than his teammate in my WR ranks and squarely in the flex conversation.
Ricky Pearsall, WR
There’s a lot to like in the profile of Ricky Pearsall, but under Mac Jones last week, Jauan Jennings appeared to be the one receiver worthy of our trust.
Jennings held a 5-4 edge in receptions over Pearsall, but he was +4 in the targets department and projects better due to the quality of the opportunities.
Against the Saints, half of Pearsall’s targets came 15+ yards downfield and didn’t gain any ground after the catch (Jennings: 9.6 yards per catch after the reception). In the right spot, that can be valuable; I’m just not sure this is one of those situations, as opponents have averaged under seven air yards per throw against Arizona since the start of last season (fifth-lowest).
I’ve got Jennings in the top half of my 30s at the position, while Pearsall settles in toward the back end of the 30s at the position, alongside names like Stefon Diggs and Week 2 star Wan’Dale Robinson.
George Kittle, TE
George Kittle was doing George Kittle things until he decided to do less fun George Kittle things in the Week 1 win over the Seahawks.
Early on, he caught all four of his targets and scored on an extension play to the pylon, where he flexed his athleticism and awareness. When he’s right, he’s as good as it gets at the position.
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The problem is that we almost always have to navigate injuries, and that is already the case in 2024.
Kittle has played the full slate of games just once in his eight-year career and is now nursing a hamstring injury that landed him on IR ahead of Week 2, ruling him out through Week 5 at the very least.
What causes Kittle to miss time is the same mindset that makes him an elite option when active. I’m banking on him returning to take on the Buccaneers in Week 6 (for those keeping track at home, this would give him two weeks to work his way into form before National Tight End Day) and offer the type of strong production we’ve come to know and love.