The Detroit Lions will face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17. Right here’s fantasy soccer start-sit recommendation for each Lions and 49ers talent participant who has the potential to make a fantasy affect throughout the recreation.
Searching for extra lineup recommendation? Head over to our Week 17 Fantasy Begin-Sit Cheat Sheet, the place we cowl each fantasy-relevant participant in each recreation.
Jared Goff, QB
Jared Goff isn’t going to win the MVP, however he’s actually taking part in like one, and it’s lastly spilling over into our world with consecutive top-five finishes. It is a potential pace-down spot in opposition to the 49ers, however effectivity has been the secret all season lengthy for the Lions. That ought to once more be the case in opposition to the NFL’s third-worst red-zone protection.
The house/highway splits are nonetheless a factor for Goff, however he’s posted a passer score north of 135 on the highway thrice this season. I’m not nervous about that narrative and have him ranked as my QB8.
Brock Purdy, QB
Brock Purdy has thrown for 300 yards and a number of scores in two of his previous three video games, although asking him to do this in opposition to the Lions is a little bit of a tall request.
We all know this Detroit protection is banged up, however they have been spectacular in shutting down the Bears final week. In fact, it is a totally different animal, however even in the event you assume they’ve some decline, there’s not a cliff awaiting.
Purdy’s struggles within the quick passing recreation have been pronounced since Christian McCaffrey was misplaced for the season. He has a profession completion share on passes thrown underneath 10 yards of 71.8%, however over the previous two weeks, we’re taking a look at 61.7%.
Purdy’s profile doesn’t include a lot upside, and there’s a danger, given the matchup. He’s sitting simply outdoors of my prime 12 this week — I’d fairly go along with Tua Tagovailoa in Cleveland or Bo Nix within the premier spot in opposition to the Bengals.
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB
Dan Campbell made it clear that the staff trusts Jahmyr Gibbs to deal with the David Montgomery position final week, even after a number of failures on the doorstep. When all was mentioned and performed, Detroit’s bell cow was trusted with 27 touches. I feel we would see extra of that over the subsequent 1.5 months as this staff seems to be to get to New Orleans.
Gibbs now has six top-10 finishes this season and will likely be a first-round decide subsequent season. He may show to be the piece that’s most typical on championship rosters this season – be certain that to examine again this offseason as we are going to work onerous to place you to get “the subsequent” model of him.
Isaac Guerendo, RB
A hamstring damage price Isaac Guerendo final week and will properly finish his season, on condition that the staff has nothing left to play for.
That mentioned, we’ve seen groups make questionable well being selections like this up to now, and if we get glowing well being reviews, you’d nearly be obligated to Flex this position from a course of standpoint.
San Francisco’s bell-cow position, share of RB touches:
Weeks 1-2, Jordan Mason: 87.5%
Weeks 10-11, Christian McCaffrey: 89.3%
Weeks 14-15, Guerendo (minus This autumn of Week 14): 94.4%
Week 16, Patrick Taylor Jr.: 81.8%%
Patrick Taylor didn’t have a lot of an opportunity to impress final week, making it much more doubtless that the characteristic position could be Guerendo’s if he’s match sufficient for it.
Hold tabs. I’m benching Guerendo proper now and pivoting ought to issues flip.
Patrick Taylor Jr., RB
Patrick Taylor Jr. took over for Isaac Guerendo final week in Miami and was, you guessed it, a completely featured again.
Nicely, form of. He received each operating again carry for San Francisco, however that solely amounted to eight carries and a 44.4% share of San Francisco’s complete variety of makes an attempt.
I feel we are able to fairly safely again away from this backfield and be ok with it. The 49ers don’t have something left to play for, and we don’t have a lot in the best way of readability on Guerendo’s hamstring, making this an not possible scenario to challenge with confidence as they put together to face the second-best run protection by success price, within the league.
The beginning 49ers RB will likely be a low-end Flex possibility for me, irrespective of who it’s. I don’t assume this staff has a lot success on this spot. In the event that they do, I anticipate it to come back in unique packages that contain Deebo Samuel Sr. in area or Brock Purdy on the transfer, neither of which helps this operating recreation in a significant manner.
Jauan Jennings, WR
The 49ers made Week 16 the George Kittle and Deebo Samuel Sr. present, which I feel has a good probability to maintain this week. Thus, Jennings’ inventory is at severe danger.
Final weekend in Miami, he earned simply 16.2% of the targets, and with a low per-target upside position, that form of decline in utilization is a purple flag. The truth that a sluggish day on the workplace got here in a recreation the place the 49ers have been taking part in from behind additionally worries me, as that’s anticipated to be the case with the Lions coming to city.
I feel you may get away with taking part in Jennings this week, understanding that Samuel goes to be moved all over and that Brock Purdy is more likely to throw one other 35-40 passes, however I’d warning in opposition to pondering that there’s a lot in the best way of upside on this profile.
Tim Patrick, WR
The concept of Tim Patrick made some sense seven days in the past, however now that we now have an image of what this offense will appear to be sans David Montgomery, there’s no purpose to dig this deep.
Patrick scored thrice in two video games however was focused only one time on his 21 routes in opposition to the Bears final week; Jared Goff as a substitute loaded up his stars with seems to be (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, and Sam LaPorta accounted for 84.4% of Detroit’s targets final week).
Each week you need to be speculating on gamers like Patrick — gamers with a task that has a path to enlargement. If it doesn’t occur, you chalk it up and transfer on.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR
Wait, you’re telling me that Amon-Ra St. Brown caught 75% of his targets and located the tip zone final week? That by no means occurs …
Video games with at the least a 75% catch price and a TD reception, 2024:
Amon-Ra St. Brown: 10
Mark Andrews: 7
Ja’Marr Chase and George Kittle: 6
No participant has married scoring fairness with effectivity fairly like St. Brown this season. If you zoom out, it’s much more spectacular. Would you like the complete record of situations since 2000 wherein a participant had greater than 10 video games like this by way of 16 weeks in a season?
That’s it, and that’s all. St. Brown’s identify deserves to be thrown into the 1.01 dialogue. He’s the primary Lion to have a number of 100-1,000-10 seasons on his résumé, and I’m assured that he’ll add a 3rd such yr in 2025.
Deebo Samuel Sr., WR
Deebo Samuel Sr. has produced 15% under PPR expectations this season, the bottom price of his in any other case very environment friendly profession. His factors per goal (1.57) additionally sits at a profession low and his anticipated factors per recreation are down 6.4% from a season in the past.
There are not any two methods about it — 2024 has been a troublesome season for anybody who drafted Samuel. That mentioned, in the event you’ve patchworked issues collectively up so far, we’re lastly getting the utilization that we thought we’d get from the bounce.
Week 16’s loss in Miami was his first recreation with 5+ targets and 5+ rush makes an attempt since Week 1, and it would simply stick given the accidents on the offensive facet of the ball for San Francisco. He’s run the ball 12 occasions over his previous three video games, up from one try (for minus one yard) in his earlier three video games.
Higher late than by no means, however by no means late is healthier.
Samuel turns 29 in lower than a month and has extra put on and tear at this age than extra conventional receivers. I’m Flexing him this week, however his 2025 worth is a big query mark given his trajectory, to not point out the standing of Brandon Aiyuk.
Jameson Williams, WR
Jameson Williams is coming off his third top-10 end of the season (Weeks 1, 11, and 16) and, extra importantly, his sixth straight recreation with 10+ anticipated PPR factors. That second quantity is the one which has my curiosity as we all know that Williams is a lot able to making the chunk performs and exceeding expectations, however the built-in worth of his current targets helps elevate his ground to a spot the place I’m comfortably Flexing him weekly.
Williams would have been an auto-fade for me earlier within the season on this spot. The 49ers are the second-best yards per deep cross try protection within the league, and I’d have by no means considered taking part in him in a spot like that. However now? Now I feel there’s sufficient versatility in his profile to land him as a top-35 WR.
Jared Goff is as environment friendly as anybody within the league, and with designs part of the plan for Williams, I’ll take my possibilities. The massive-play potential remains to be very a lot there (simply ask Chicago’s secondary), however with a single-digit aDOT in three of his previous 5, I feel there’s extra well-roundedness than this burner will get credit score for.
George Kittle, TE
The 49ers’ offense is caving in on itself a bit, however that implies that their remaining stars get the kind of utilization we want. Deebo Samuel Sr. is coming off of his first five-target, five-carry recreation since Week 1, and George Kittle had his first recreation of 2024 wherein he had at the least eight targets AND 100 yards.
It is a concentrated offense at a excessive stage, and even in the event you assume Brock Purdy is unusual, the uncooked expertise of the 2 gamers he’s funneling the ball to make them property you’ll be able to belief.
I very a lot fear concerning the scoring fairness of this offense, and that’s the reason I’m avoiding them in these unique prime-time kinds of DFS slates when doable (Detroit is one of the best red-zone protection when it comes to opponent completion share), however for season-long, Kittle is a superb guess to complete among the many prime three on the place in targets, and which means you’re beginning him.
Sam LaPorta, TE
At this level, Sam LaPorta isn’t going to money in on our preseason hype, however he’s trending in a robust path on the proper time. I feel that stands to make this season a hit for individuals who spent up early on him.
Weeks 1-9: 3.3 targets per recreation (twenty third amongst TEs)
Weeks 10-16: 7.0 targets per recreation (seventh amongst TEs)
The quantity is lastly there, and it actually hasn’t come at the price of his teammates. LaPorta has reached double figures in PPR factors in 4 straight video games. With the Lions’ protection banged up at each stage, I’m assured that this offense goes to be pushed persistently.
He might not have a transparent path to being the highest producer on the place proper now, however he deserves to be locked in with out a second thought.
