Fantasy football: Ranking 49ers top 4 options in 2020
By Peter Panacy
Fantasy football owners would be wise to target a few 49ers players for the upcoming 2020 season.
Fantasy football owners probably eyed only one San Francisco 49ers player as a “must have” in 2019, tight end George Kittle. Aside from that, there may have been a few FLEX options or waiver-wire pickups to watch depending on matchups.
But that was before the Niners turned around what was a four-win team in 2018 into an NFC championship. And needless to say, players like Kittle helped turn head coach Kyle Shanahan’s squad into an offensive powerhouse.
That isn’t expected to change much entering this season. Although there’s one caveat fantasy football owners have to think about when considering San Francisco players this upcoming season. Shanahan regularly distributes the ball, particularly on the ground, and there are rarely cases where one sole player winds up being a fantasy darling over the course of the year.
No, this isn’t the case where owners can rely on someone like the Tennessee Titans’ Derrick Henry to be a massive point-getter on a week-to-week basis.
That said, there are a number of touches to go around, and more than a few 49ers players should wind up being must-get players for fantasy teams this upcoming season.
Niner Noise ranks out the top four players you should watch heading into 2020.
Note: All projected fantasy points courtesy of ESPN.
No. 4: 49ers Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo
Projected 2020 Fantasy Football Points: 231.23
Only a handful of quarterbacks are worth early picks during your fantasy draft. And unless you’re afforded the luxury of grabbing someone like the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, you’ll probably wait until the later rounds of your fantasy draft to solve your needs under center.
That’s a big reason why quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo finds himself last on this four-player list.
Fantasy owners who watched Garoppolo’s fourth-quarter meltdown against the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV tend to forget he had an exceptional regular season in 2019, which is all that matters in fantasy. Garoppolo’s 3,978 passing yards ranked fourth on the Niners’ all-time single-season passing list, and he enjoyed four games in which he tossed three-plus touchdowns.
That’s where fantasy owners earn their money is in the end zone and by also cutting down on interceptions.
Garoppolo had his share of interceptions early in 2019, yes. But a full year immersed as a starter in Shanahan’s offense should bode well for the quarterback.
San Francisco is still a run-first team, which hurts Garoppolo’s fantasy value. Yet with Garoppolo’s 12-team average draft position (ADP) at 11.04 (fourth pick, Round 11), according to Fantasy Football Calculator, you shouldn’t have any problems looking at Jimmy G as a late-round sleep-and-stash option.