Fantasy football: Early stock watch for 49ers roster in 2018
By Peter Panacy
Running Back Carlos Hyde
Pending free-agent running back Carlos Hyde’s fantasy football value is tough to gauge, as it’s almost entirely dependent on where he goes this offseason.
It’s not likely the 49ers bring him back for 2018, which makes fellow Niners runner, Matt Breida, a possible late-round addition to your squad.
Depending, of course, what San Francisco does for this position during the offseason.
Hyde still hasn’t bested 1,000 rushing yards in a season after breaking into the NFL in 2014. That’ll deter some owners regardless where he goes. But it’s important to point out he led the Niners in all-purpose yards (1,288) and touchdowns (eight) last season.
This led to Hyde racking up 233.8 fantasy points last season, per ESPN leagues, which was good enough for eighth among all tailbacks. So if you didn’t wind up with some of last year’s big names — a la Alvin Kamara, Todd Gurley, Le’Veon Bell or Kareem Hunt — you could have done worse than have Hyde on your roster.
Hyde’s value will eventually be determined by where he winds up in 2018. This year’s NFL Draft class is pretty deep at running back, which could hurt Hyde’s free-agent value a bit. And if he winds up splitting duties somewhere, that won’t help matters much either.
But if he winds up going to a power-run scheme and doing so in a featured role, he’d be worth a mid-round look.