Fantasy football: Why you should start Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 3

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo hasn’t lived up to expectations in fantasy football so far. Should you start him this week against the Kansas City Chiefs?

According to Fantasy Pros, the San Francisco 49ers‘ Jimmy Garoppolo was drafted as the No. 12 fantasy football quarterback in drafts over the summer over guys such as the Los Angeles Chargers’ Philip Rivers, Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan.

Garoppolo has not lived up to the expectations fantasy owners have hoped for, currently standing as the 25th best fantasy football quarterback in terms of points scored this season so far.

As a result, many Garoppolo owners are thinking of trading him away or even dropping him. His ownership percentage in Yahoo! leagues has slowly but surely decreased to 89 percent, which is still a very good percentage but is much less than what it was at the beginning of the season.

His fantasy numbers are reflecting his real-life performance. So far this year, Garoppolo has not looked like the “Jimmy GaroppoGOAT” we were used to last season.

In Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, Garoppolo had too much of a gunslinger mentality, trying to fit the ball into incredibly tight windows where the defender was within a yard of his intended receiver. In Week 2, Garoppolo took six sacks because he was holding onto the ball too long since his receivers were not getting open and, more importantly, he missed on a lot of throws.

However, this is the week the 49ers franchise quarterback should be able to turn it around — in both fantasy and real life. The Kansas City Chiefs have the worst pass defense in the league and have given up the most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks.

This game is either going to be a blowout or a shootout, so both situations work for Jimmy G’s fantasy value. If it is a blowout, the 49ers will find themselves in catch-up mode, so the Chiefs will start playing prevent defense, and any football fan knows that prevent defense never works.

If the game turns out to be a Chiefs blowout, which hopefully does not happen, Garoppolo will score his fair share of garbage-time touchdowns.

If the game turns out to be a shootout, it will be through the air, as the Chiefs actually have a solid run defense. It’s just their pass defense that is giving up all of their opponents’ points. With Kansas City star safety Eric Berry looking likely to sit another week, Garoppolo should be able to get the passing game going.

Another thing that should help Garoppolo out on Sunday is the probable return of Marquise Goodwin, the 49ers’ best wide receiver who hurt his quad early in Week 1. The speedy receiver opens up the field and should benefit everybody on the 49ers offense.

Barring a setback, Goodwin should not only be able to help Garoppolo’s fantasy prospects this week, but for the rest of the season.

Don’t drop Jimmy G just yet. His fantasy stock will skyrocket this Sunday.