Fantasy football: Power ranking 49ers’ 5 best options in 2019
By Peter Panacy
The San Francisco 49ers have some decent fantasy football options in play for 2019, but owners may only be looking at a handful of top-tier choices. Here are five you will want to consider, power rankings style.
A year ago, you might have been enticed to grab one of a few fantasy football options from the San Francisco 49ers.
After all, the Niners featured an up-and-coming quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, who helped head coach Kyle Shanahan — one of the league’s top offensive geniuses — to a five-game win streak to close out 2017.
But Garoppolo tore his ACL in Week 3, breaking the hearts of Jimmy G owners around fantasy and putting a dagger in any hopes San Francisco had for a 2018 playoff run.
If there was a positive, tight end George Kittle ended up being a total steal, frequently going late in fantasy drafts before setting a single-season receiving yards record by a tight end.
Heading into 2019, now, fantasy football owners might be a bit more cautiously optimistic. There are reasons to suggest the 49ers will be much better, offensively, than they were a year ago. Yet there are also more weapons, more ball distribution and so on. Those are things fantasy football owners hate, because distributed touches often mean lesser fantasy stats for individual players.
That said, which players are the ones Niners fans should try targeting this season? There are a few.
But here are five 49ers-centric owners should look at the most, power rankings style.
No. 5: Running Back Matt Breida
A year ago, running back Matt Breida was the prime beneficiary of projected No. 1 tailback Jerick McKinnon‘s season-ending ACL tear.
Breida was banged up for much of the year, too. But that didn’t stop him from rushing for 814 yards and an average of 5.3 yards per carry, which was good for fourth best among NFL qualifiers last season.
McKinnon’s return, along with the free-agent addition of running back Tevin Coleman, will serve to keep Breida’s overall value lower. And Breida isn’t totally a pass-catching back like his counterparts, which also limits value in points-per-reception (PPR) leagues.
That said, it wouldn’t be shocking if Shanahan eases McKinnon back into the fray, giving a player like Breida the primary rushing snaps.
With an average draft position (ADP) of 13.09 in 12-team formats, per Fantasy Football Calculator, Breida is a bargain steal for a bye-week runner or potential RB2, if your depth starts to get tested.
Don’t forget, Breida was the league’s fastest runner in 2018. A lesser load should make him even more potent, as fantasy owners watch him pile up the fantasy points on chunk yardage.