Fantasy Football Player Notes

A late-first-round pick in last year's NFL Draft, Ricky Pearsall played 11 games as a rookie after recovering from a gunshot sustained in an attempted robbery. He caught fire down the stretch, with 8-141-1 vs. the Lions in Week 17 and 6-69-1 vs. the Cardinals in Week 18. Pearsall is 6-foot-1, has 4.4 speed, and he's going to have a full-time role in the 49ers' offense. It's possible he emerges as the 49ers' top wide receiver this year, and he looks like a value at his WR4 price.

Jauan Jennings has developed into a useful pass catcher in the middle part of his career. But I'm mildly skeptical of last season's age-27 breakout, which was partly fueled by the absences of fellow WRs Brandon Aiyuk and Ricky Pearsall for large parts of the season. And it's not as if it was a massive eruption for Jennings. He was tied for WR26 in half-point PPR fantasy points per game among WRs who played at least eight games. After never averaging better than 1.38 yards per route run in his first three NFL seasons, Jennings jumped to 2.26 yards per route run in 2024. I'm buying the improvement. I'm just not buying Jennings as a comfortable every-week fantasy starter -- which you need him to be at a sixth- or seventh-round ADP. Pearsall came on strong down the stretch last season. Aiyuk is on his way back from last year's season-ending knee injury. George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey are going to draw ample targets. It's just hard to see Jennings taking it up another notch with all that target competition.

Brandon Aiyuk tore his ACL in Week 7 of 2024 and might begin the 2025 season on the PUP list. Aiyuk's season was off to a rough start before the injury. He only reached 50 receiving yards once in the seven games he played. He had zero touchdowns. His catch rate was barely 50%. Now, Aiyuk's target competition includes George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey, Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall. Aiyuk is a full fade for me this season.