Brandon Aiyuk Out for the Season | Fantasy Football Impact for Brock Purdy, Deebo Samuel, Ricky Pearsall, Jacob Cowing, George Kittle and More

The San Francisco 49ers fell to 3-4 after falling to the Kansas City Chiefs in week 7.

That wasn’t the worst news of the day for the Niners, as wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk went down with a significant injury and is now expected to miss the remainder of the season.

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Week 7 and Season Stats

The Niners have been dealing with injuries all season, and were without Christian McCaffrey again in week 7, and Deebo Samuel Sr. didn’t play much while battling an illness.

Quarterback Brock Purdy completed 17 of his 31 passes for 212 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. He was sacked once and rushed eight times for 27 yards and two scores.

Jordan Mason was the top running back again, but he was limited to 58 yards on 14 carries. Mason added 11 receiving yards on two catches and targets.

Tight end George Kittle was the team’s top receiver again, tallying 92 yards on six catches and seven targets. Rookie wideout Jacob Cowing had 50 yards on two catches and three targets, while Ricky Pearsall had 21 yards on three grabs and five targets. 

Aiyuk had just 23 yards on two catches and six targets before leaving with his injury.

It’s been a disappointing season overall for the Niners’ offense.

Purdy has completed 63.9% of his passes for 1,841 yards (263 yards per game average), nine touchdowns and seven interceptions. He does have 154 rushing yards and two scores on 34 attempts.

Mason and Kittle have been two bright spots. Mason has 667 rushing yards and three scores on 128 attempts, while going for an additional 86 yards on 10 catches and 12 targets. Kittle has 375 yards and five touchdowns on 34 catches and 42 targets across six games played.

Aiyuk has 374 yards and no touchdowns on 25 grabs and 47 targets across seven games played. He had 147 of those yards in one game, and finishes with no other contests over 50 yards. 

Samuel has 335 receiving yards and one touchdown on 20 catches and 32 targets across six contests. He also has 51 rushing yards and a score on 19 attempts.

Jauan Jennings is currently leading the team with 404 receiving yards and has added three touchdowns across 25 receptions and 36 targets. He had 175 of those yards and all three touchdowns in a single game.

49ers Fantasy Outlook

McCaffrey’s status is still in question, although there’s rumblings he’ll be back after the team’s bye in week 9. We’ll cover McCaffrey’s return in more detail when we actually know when he’ll be back out there.

What I want to focus on today is the Niners’ offense without Aiyuk around, and which players might be better fantasy assets as a result.

Let’s start with Kittle, who has been one of the best PPR fantasy tight ends this season. This one is pretty easy - regardless of who is out there, Kittle needs to be in your fantasy lineups.

Samuel is the next biggest fantasy name on the team, and is definitely in the starting conversation every week. He’s been a bit of a disappointment this season and not all that consistent in his fantasy showings, but his upside is too high to sit him in many leagues. With Aiyuk out for the rest of the season, Samuel should be a major part of the offense every week.

Purdy has also been inconsistent, which probably means he needs to be part of start/sit decisions every week. He’ll be in our QB start decision story probably every week from here on out, so keep checking back every Thursday for that story.

Mason is another Niner who is hard to keep out of fantasy lineups. That will change when CMC is ready to return, but for now, Mason remains one of the better starting fantasy RBs in the league.

Now for the good stuff: what receivers can possibly step up with Aiyuk out?

Jennings would be the first choice in a lot of people’s minds after he stepped up earlier in the season. Because he’s battling an injury right now, that complicates things, but after Samuel, he’s the second-best fantasy wideout from the Niners.

Pearsall was playing his first game of the season in week 7, and he was on the field for 76% of the team’s snaps. That bodes well for him moving forward, as that percentage should only increase from week to week.

He’ll be a waiver wire target after what he showed this past week, and now with a chance to be the team’s No. 2 wideout after Samuel, he’s at least worth stashing for the time being. There’s obviously some risk involved, but taking a chance on Pearsall is something I’d encourage any fantasy owners with an open roster spot or hole in their receiving corps to try.

Chris Conley played 70% of the team’s offensive snaps, but didn’t catch either of his targets. He’s worth an add in super deep leagues, but until he puts together a solid showing, I wouldn’t view him as a fantasy asset.

Ronnie Bell was next in snaps, playing 38% of them. He only had a 10-yard catch across two targets. Bell had a little success in his rookie season but appears on the outside looking in between the 2024 draft picks (Pearsall and Cowing).

Cowing played only 12 snaps, which made his numbers stand out a little bit to me. The fourth-round pick is likely to see his role increase as the team looks to replace Aiyuk. Cowing is another add and stash option, but more so in deeper leagues right now.

What to Watch

This is a fascinating situation developing in San Francisco, where a couple vets lead the way, but a ton of uncertainty behind them. 

We only have the last game to go off of, and those numbers are thrown out of whack because Samuel missed basically the entire game. A week 8 battle with the Dallas Cowboys should give us a better idea of what to expect for the team’s pass catchers going forward.

It’s a pretty average matchup on paper for the wide receivers and Kittle. Because it’s not a tough matchup, we can consider starting several of the Niners, but because it isn’t super favorable either, you can really only trust on the proven fantasy playmakers.

That means Kittle is going to be in most fantasy lineups, while Samuel is in a good percentage of them as well, granted he’s past his illness.

After those two, it’s really a toss up on who to expect production out of. Jennings should get some starts in all formats, but I’d only really want to play him in deeper setups (of course, if he’s healthy enough to play).

I like Pearsall and then Cowing next. Pearsall should get a few starts in standard leagues in week 7, but is a much safer option in deeper leagues. He’s one to stash in standard leagues, not start right away. Cowing is a fantasy wideout I’d stash in a deeper league, instead of starting him right away.

Bell and Conley are just players to stash in super deep formats in case they work their way into larger roles.