Fantasy Football Player Notes

The absence of Jimmy Garoppolo had no impact on Kittle, who racked up an incredible 1,377 yards last season. His record-setting total was largely due to a ridiculous amount of yards after the catch, the most in the NFL. Some regression could be expected, but given the enormous upgrade in quarterback with Garoppolo healthy, perhaps it shouldn't be as much as you think. Kittle may still be behind Travis Kelce as the top tight end in fantasy, but the gap is narrow.

He's fallen down the depth chart over the last few weeks, while they are turning into a more balanced offense with their run/pass selection. Because of that, it's going to be even more difficult to find two 49ers running backs who see double-digit touches, let alone three of them.

Garoppolo has been a big reason for the 49ers' undefeated start to the season, but it hasn't translated into much fantasy success. He's thrown for just 1,163 yards and has a 7:5 TD-to-INT ratio. With the 49ers' strong defense, there's just not much need for Garoppolo to air it out much, making him an option in only two-quarterback leagues.

Pettis is on plenty of breakout lists this year, after he came on strong at the end of his rookie campaign last season. But the early reports this preseason have been somewhat discouraging. Nowhere was that more evident than in the 49ers' first preseason game against the Cowboys, during which the vast majority of the starters sat out but which Pettis started and played 17 snaps. With Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd having good camps, it sounds like Pettis will need to pick things up to even lock down a starting role. Still, this could all be a motivational ploy by Kyle Shanahan, so don't downgrade Pettis too much just yet. But at this point, the situations is worth monitoring.