Fantasy football: George Kittle remains 49ers’ best option in 2021

For those 49ers fans looking to onboard their favorite players in fantasy football this year, targeting George Kittle remains the best bet for results.

The San Francisco 49ers are going to be an intriguing team in 2021, and the fantasy football aspect of things makes some of the Niners’ offensive players provocative commodities and targets.

It’s probably safe to pass on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, given how reaching for anyone but the top-level signal-callers during a fantasy draft is typically a bad idea. And it’s also risky for fantasy owners to bank on one of the many running backs head coach Kyle Shanahan will likely deploy this season, too, unless one truly emerges as a bell cow or winds up being that end-zone specialist to drive up those valuable touchdown points.

Not surprisingly, you guessed it, tight end George Kittle is the No. 1 San Francisco option in fantasy football heading into 2021.

This shouldn’t be too hard to evaluate. After all, Kittle has been productive when healthy regardless of who has been throwing him the ball. And even though injuries limited Kittle to just eight games last year, he still managed 634 yards on 48 receptions with two touchdowns. Extrapolated over a full 16-game season, that would have resulted in nearly 100 catches with almost 1,300 receiving yards.

More than enough for a true TE1 on a fantasy football roster.

When should fantasy football owners target George Kittle?

He won’t last long. And all fantasy owners understand grabbing players in the early rounds doesn’t equate to a league championship. It’s those late-round sleepers and waiver-wire adds that’ll ultimately leave you as a champ and the rest of your league as chumps.

According to Fantasy Football Calculator, Kittle’s average draft position in a 12-team points-per-reception (PPR) format is 2.07, meaning he’s on average the seventh player taken in Round 2 of fantasy football drafts.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who is usually good for more yards per season but less well-rounded as a blocker (that doesn’t matter in fantasy, of course) is No. 1 on the list of tight ends with a 1.09 ADP.

Just behind Kittle in the third spot is the Las Vegas Raiders’ Darren Waller at 2.09.

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Some fantasy owners and GMs may want to pass on Kittle, instead looking to take advantage of someone with a far lower ADP — perhaps Atlanta Falcons rookie tight end Kyle Pitts (9.11) — with the hopes he can generate nearly as much production as Kittle, Kelce or Waller but at far lower the draft cost.

Others may be wary of Kittle anyway, particularly if the 49ers wind up fielding a fully healthy tandem of wide receivers, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel, who’ll both take away touches from the All-Pro tight end. At the same time, though, some stability at quarterback with Garoppolo, and the law of averages suggesting the Niners will be much healthier than they were in 2020, make Kittle a hard-to-pass-up commodity early in fantasy football drafts.

Kittle could easily fall into Round 3, though, and you shouldn’t hesitate to pluck him as a top pass-catching option in PPR formats.

And if you have a late pick in Round 2, Kittle is still worth the grab there, too.