Thursday Night Football: Rams vs. You can watch the 49ers at 8:20 PM ET/5:20 PM PT on Amazon Prime Video.
This is it, my fellow fantasy football heads – the first Thursday Night Football game in the fantasy playoffs If you’ve been dancing, congratulations; if not, it’s time to study for next season.
Fortunately, the first game of this important week will make you happy. Both the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers have life in the NFC playoff race, but both are one loss away from things going sideways. With all the fantasy relevant names on both sides, we’re hoping for a barnburner.
Let’s go to the story of the tape.
Maybe the answer to the 49ers backfield woes is…
Deebo Samuel Sr.
Yes, I said it. Just give him more moves and designed haste. Let’s allow Isaac Guerendo to fully heal (he reportedly intends to play tonight) and stop trying to make Patrick Taylor Jr. People are eager for more attempts at Samuel rush!
See that 92 up there on the player card? That’s rushing yards. That’s right, Samuel has just 92 rushing yards this season, 11 games played — not to mention just one rushing TD.
By comparison, he rushed for 365 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021, finishing as the No. 2 overall fantasy WR.
what gives Is Deebo hurt? Are the 49ers trying to force him into a more traditional WR role?
I don’t understand it. The a moment Both CMC and Elijah Mitchell fell, I was expecting those cheat-codes, exotic fastpacks for Deebo to be released. I was completely and utterly wrong.
Samuel recently took to social media about his frustrations at not getting the ball more (he has since deleted it). So we might see a squeaky wheel game tonight. Or maybe we’ll get his fifth game under five fantasy points in a row.
With Guerendo looking like he’ll suit up tonight (and looking great as a starter last week), Samuel is more of a flex option than an automatic starter for me this week. But I’ll be watching him closely tonight to see if his upside comes through his dual-threat ability, with Guerendo potentially not seeing a full workload at less than 100 percent. And hey, at least Samuel’s quarterback is on his side.
And for those of you debating the founding of Guerend, here’s Andy Behrens’ takedown from today’s Get to the Points newsletter:
Guerendo has the kind of speed, explosiveness and big-play ability that we simply haven’t seen in Patrick Taylor Jr., the 49ers’ Plan E running back.
Tonight’s matchup is definitely not one to avoid, so you can blast Guerend wherever you have him. The Rams have allowed the fifth most yards per game and 4.7 YPC this season. Earlier this year (two running backs ago), the Niners ran for 137 yards against Los Angeles.
This game could further solidify Jauan Jennings as a must-start player throughout the fantasy playoffs
Getting wide receivers off the waiver wire during the fantasy football season is usually a streaming affair. Matchup-based plugins are quite common; so we rarely take a wide receiver who ends up being a weekly starter in fantasy lineups, especially not when that receiver isn’t a rookie.
And yet here we are, with Jauan Jennings one of the heroes of the 2024 waiver wire.
Jennings went undrafted in most leagues, but is currently WR18 in half PPR (WR14 in PPG).
How did we get here? A perfect storm of things had to happen for Jennings to get this opportunity. Losing Brandon Aiyuk for the season certainly played a role, as did injuries to the 49ers’ backfield and minor injuries to players like Deebo Samuel Sr. and George Kittle during the season. This was a common theme throughout Jennings’ career; when she calls his number, he delivers.
Jennings has always been considered a distant fourth in the 49ers’ hierarchy of offensive weapons, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the talent to be higher on that list. After all, we see it now. Jennings hasn’t gotten under 6 fantasy points since Week 6 and hasn’t gotten under 5 targets since Week 5. He developed from just a third-down rusher and occasional red-zone threat.
He IS the 49ers WR1 right now.
Lest we forget, Jennings defied injury as early as Week 3 to put up a truly monstrous 41-point outing — those are Ja’Marr Chase’s numbers.
His opponent back in Week 5? The same rams.
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I highly doubt Sean McVay has forgotten Jennings’ 11-175-3 outing against his team, but even with the extra defensive attention on him, Jennings is good enough to produce, especially when Kyle Shanahan outlines him the ball. Start Jennings with full confidence tonight.
Will we see a vintage Cooper Kupp inflatable?
Much has been made of Puk Nacu’s recent output – as it should be. Nacua looked like a machine that also produces catches and stats. The Los Angeles Rams themselves may not have said it, but it’s clear to any critical observer: Puka Nacua is now the Rams’ WR1, not Cooper Kupp.
But maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Sure, Nacua gets all the headlines, but outside of a miserable game against the Saints in Week 13, Kupp has performed as a premier WR2 with a WR1 up top. He had a season-high 25.60 fantasy points in Week 11, and has scored 10+ fantasy points in every game since Week 8 except the Saints game (for what it’s worth, the Saints game was more of a Rams game and defensively dominating their opponent).
Sure, maybe Kupp isn’t inhaling goals like he was in the past with Nacua around, but it’s not like he’s being left out to dry; during the aforementioned stretch of games, Kupp averaged 10.8 targets per game compared to Nacua’s 10.14. McVay intrigues touches with both of his elite players and moves them around the formation. And hey, maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world for Nacua to require extra defensive attention; the more open lanes for Kuppa.
You’d have to be incredibly, miraculously deep at wideout to even consider benching Kuppa in a game that both teams essentially have to win.