Fantasy Football Injury Impact: Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel Are 'Unlikely' To Play in Week 9

The San Francisco 49ers face an unfortunate reality in Week 9. The team is expected to play without Mike Evans and Deebo Samuel. The team is now spread thin at the position, and as a fantasy analyst, I will explain what fantasy managers can expect from this 49ers pass-catching corps in the game ahead.

Alignment metrics are from PFF.

Fantasy Football Impact

The sharp way to measure the offensive shift is to focus on alignment and snap-count rates. For example, if Mike Evans, an outside wide receiver, were inactive, it wouldn't give a big boost to Christian Kirk, a slot wide receiver.

Evans lines up outside over 80% of the time. He is a vertical wideout, noted as a ball hawk. Evans goes up and gets the ball. Brock Purdy does not require Evans to get separation. That will be a knock of the next man up.

Samuel lines up as a hybrid weapon. He plays about half of his snaps outside alignment, 40% in the slot, and the rest from behind center like a running back.

The 49ers current pass-catching depth chart looks like the following in Week 9:

WR1: Jordan Watkins
WR2: Jacob Cowing
WR3: Christian Kirk
WR4: Brandin Cooks
TE1: George Kittle
TE2: Luke Farrell

Who Replaces Mike Evans?

Jordan Watkins has an 87% route rate across his last three games. He plays nearly 80% of his snaps from outside alignment. As a result, he will be the natural replacement for Evans. In Watkins' last game, Evans did not play, and Watkins had a 16% target share.

Cowing can also see a bit of Evans' 6.3 targets per game, which must now be divided up. Cowing plays 63% of his snaps in outside alignment. When both Evans and Samuel were inactive in Week 7, Cowing route rate was 53%, with one target per five routes run.

Cooks will also see a piece of this pie. He runs nearly 75% of his routes in outside alignment. Cooks has a 71% route rate over his last three games. However, his target share is below 10% during that time. He is definitely a boom-or-bust player in fantasy football, and the risk is ultimately too high for my liking.

Who Replaces Deebo Samuel?

No one can naturally replace Samuel. His role is unique, as Samuel plays in three unique alignments. He shares the slot, out-wide alignment, and has multiple end-arounds and/or rushing assignments each week.

However, Samuel does play a bit in the slot, and someone must takeover a share of that usage.

Christian Kirk made his season debut in Week 7 with a 37% route rate and one total target. We can expect Kirk's route rate to rise, but it's expected to be volatile. I would list a floor of 45% for Kirk, and a ceiling of 80% for Kirk's route rate.

He doesn't primarily play from the slot, but it is Kirk's natural role. Of his 14 routes in Week 7, 50% were in the slot. He is the starter in that alignment for the 49ers.

I will also note that while George Kittle sounds intriguing for a role rise, it is not that simple. He actually only runs about 25% of his routes from the slot. Most of the time, Kittle lines up in an in-line alignment. He is my TE1 in Week 9, but it's not a massive boost to an already existing projection.

Week 9 Fantasy Football Outlook

Brock Purdy: QB1
Christian McCaffrey: RB3
Kaelon Black: RB29
Christian Kirk: WR35
Jordan Watkins: WR43
Jacob Cowing: WR64
Brandin Cooks: WR72
George Kittle: TE1

None of the 49ers' wide receivers are fantasy-viable. Kirk, who is technically a fringe WR3 in my projections, is a high-risk player. His ceiling could have him finish as a top-15 wide receiver, but Kirk could also play fewer snaps than hoped and rank outside the top-70.

The safest 49ers wide receiver is Jordan Watkins. But don't expect a workload well beyond a 20% target share. All four wide receivers could realistically finish in any pecking order WR1-WR4 on the 49ers in Week 9.

49ers Injury Updates

Mike Evans (ribs/Achilles) will likely "not be available" for Sunday's game against the Raiders, per GM John Lynch.

Via @MaioccoNBCS pic.twitter.com/QfEF96Z181
— RotoWire Fantasy Football (@RotoWireNFL) November 5, 2026

Evans has been dealing with Achilles tendinitis for weeks now. Early optimism suggested he might suit up in Week 9, but John Lynch said otherwise. Evans will be week-to-week and likely questionable each week from now on.

Samuel was initially expected to return in Week 9. But his hamstring issue, which remains unclear, persists. Samuel is expected to return in Week 10.

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