2 49ers rookies offer intriguing fantasy football upside
With training camp drawing close, fantasy football will begin pushing its way back into its prominent place in the NFL discourse. Dynasty leagues, where managers keep players and draft rookies each year, will provide intriguing landing spots for 49ers rookies Trey Lance and Trey Sermon. Both ranked in the top 15 of the Draft Wire’s rookie dynasty rankings.
Lance fell in at No. 12 behind Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence and Bears QB Justin Fields. Sermon is No. 15 and the fifth-ranked running back among this year’s rookie class.
Fantasy football leagues can vary in their scoring, which could change the value of offensive players, but those both seem like appropriate landing spots for the 49ers’ draft picks.
Lance is in perhaps the best situation of any rookie signal caller, but his floor is pretty low because of all the question marks surrounding him following a truncated FCS career at North Dakota State. His ceiling in Kyle Shanahan’s offense is extremely high though.
The fantasy question with Lance is whether he can produce for a team this year. Jimmy Garoppolo is slated to be San Francisco’s starter going into camp, and there’s a real chance Lance doesn’t see the field in 2021. That could deter some fantasy managers from picking him – especially in redraft leagues.
Sermon’s value is weighed down some by the way Shanahan manages San Francisco’s backfield. The former Oklahoma and Ohio State star was a third-round pick of the 49ers and figures to take a sizable role in the 49ers’ offense, especially with Jeff Wilson Jr. out. Sermon going into the year is slated to be the No. 2 back behind Raheem Mostert.
However, San Francisco also drafted RB Elijah Mitchell in the sixth round and signed RB Wayne Gallman in free agency. While Sermon does project as the team’s No. 2 back, the RB touches could be divided by as many as four backs. While Sermon is a good pass-catcher whose running style should fit nicely with the 49ers, there are volume questions that will tamp down his draft stock in dynasty and redraft leagues.
