CMC, JSN, and Sam Darnold Highlight Fantasy Start/Sit Calls for Seahawks-49ers
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On Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers pulled off the upset of the Philadelphia Eagles on the road despite their defense dealing with an incredible amount of injuries. After advancing through the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs, they will now hit the road again to take on the No. 1 seed, the Seattle Seahawks, on Saturday night. This will be the third time this season that they will face off with their division rivals. These teams played in the first game of the season in Seattle, where San Francisco won 17 - 13, and they played in the last game of the season in San Francisco, with the division on the line, where the Seahawks won 13 - 3.
While the Seahawks are clearly the better and much healthier team on paper, at least a small part of all of us is just waiting for Sam Darnold to turn back into a pumpkin. It's hard to make a case for the 49ers that doesn't depend on narratives and feelings, but that was also the case when it came to the Eagles. After struggling mightily in Week 18, we'd expect head coach Kyle Shanahan to come up with a different game plan to put some points on the board. Seattle is clearly the better team, but it's tough to confidently predict that Darnold and the Seahawks will take down the 49ers.
QB Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
Darnold has a strong matchup, but we simply don't trust him in this game. Granted, this is us going with our gut here. When these teams played in the final game of the season, Darnold threw for 198 yards and no touchdowns, in Week 1, he threw for 150 yards and no touchdowns against the Niners.
QB Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Purdy has been incredible this season, but this is a brutal matchup. In Week 18, he threw for just 127 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception. While we wouldn't start Purdy this week with a larger talent pool, we would opt for Purdy over Darnold in a DFS Showdown format.
RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers
We aren't concerned with matchups or anything else when it comes to CMC. He's an elite option who should see even more value in the passing attack with George Kittle sidelined.
RBs Zach Charbonnet & RB Kenneth Walker III, Seattle Seahawks
Both of these backs are solid options; it's just tough to predict between the two from week to week. Walker has much more upside to break big plays and pile up yards; however, Charbonnet tends to get most of the work in the red zone. With the Niners devastated on both the defensive line and the linebackers corps, these running backs should have strong games.
Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers
We wouldn't advise starting any 49ers' wide receivers against the Seahawks' defense this week, but Jennings is the clear WR1 and offers the most upside in the group.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks
Like CMC, JSN is an elite option and we aren't concerned with matchups or anything else. He's always a great start, however, this does happen to be a favorable matchup as well, so go all in on him.
Jake Tonges, San Francisco 49ers
With Kittle out with an Achilles injury, Tonges is expected to step up as the top tight end. We have seen him be productive this season when Kittle was out and he comes with touchdown upside.
AJ Barner, Seattle Seahawks
Barner has become consistently productive, and can be trusted. Our only concern here is that rookie Elijah Arroyo could return from injured reserve this week, which we wouldn't think should have a massive impact, but could cut into his snaps a bit. Still, we'd opt for Barner over Tonges in this matchup.
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-0e06b43c57ceb063781f337e307e72d4.png "Mark Morales-Smith")
Mark Morales-Smith is a father of five, a former college football scout and semi-pro football player. Morales-Smith is a long-time competitive fantasy football player with well over a decade of professional writing experience at multiple high-level sites, including Sports Illustrated, FullTime Fantasy, FantasySP, and more.
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