Fantasy Football Player Notes

Without his "wide back" role and with the 49ers bottling him up as a check-down specialist again, Deebo Samuel struggled to a WR28 finish in 2022. He still drew a strong share of the 49ers' passing offense with a 25.4% target share (19th), but his aDOT was 4.2 (102nd), and he only saw five deep targets (108th) and 12 red zone looks (36th). Without the rushing equity and high-leverage roles to help pad his fantasy production, Samuel dissolved into a WR3. With the quarterback situation remaining unsettled in San Francisco in 2023 and the onus remaining on running the ball, Samuel will remain a WR3.

Brandon Aiyuk set career highs across the board in 2022 in targets (113), receiving yards (1,015), and receiving touchdowns (eight) as the WR23 in fantasy. Aiyuk was 19th in PFF receiving grade, 27th in yards per route run, and 23rd in YAC per reception (minimum 50 targets per PFF). Aiyuk was also eighth in open rate, tied with Davante Adams (per ESPN analytics). Aiyuk ran hot with touchdowns (11th among wide receivers) despite ranking only 36th in deep targets and 30th in red zone targets. While it's tough to project him to eclipse last season's target mark in the 49ers' run-first offense, if Aiyuk's high-value usage creeps up in 2023, he will improve upon last year's fantasy finish. Aiyuk is a WR2.