Fantasy Preview: 49ers vs. Steelers in week 1 | Yahoo Fantasy Football Show
Yahoo Fantasy analyst Matt Harmon and 4for4 Football’s TJ Hernandez discuss fantasy implications of the week 1 matchup between the 49ers and Steelers, including expectations for Pittsburgh’s young offense and concerns about San Francisco’s veteran stars. Hear the full conversation on the “Yahoo Fantasy Football Show” - subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
Video Transcript
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MATT HARMON: San Francisco 49ers at Pittsburgh Steelers, 1:00 PM Eastern game on Fox. 49ers are 2 and 1/2 point long road trip favorites. Measly 41 point over/under.
TJ HERNANDEZ: Everybody knows about the Diontae Johnson regression and his zero touchdowns on a million targets. If Kenny Pickett struggles here, that doesn't mean the Steelers can't still be this breakout offense. I'm a little opposite than you on the 49ers, and not because I don't think they can be good.
But so much of this projection is from what Brock Purdy did down the stretch. And the way I look at it is Brock Purdy kind of had some unsustainable success and on a very limited sample. Less than 200 attempts and over a 7% touchdown rate. That's not just going to happen. Kittle's not just going to score 5 touchdowns in five games or whatever it was.
So I'm a little nervous about how San Francisco plays out, even down to CMC. We saw him with a 65% touch share when Elijah Mitchell was healthy and talk late in August about the San Francisco sitting CMC more than the Panthers did because they want to keep him fresh. So I'm actually pretty nervous about this San Francisco offense, and I want to see what they do look like against a good defense.
MATT HARMON: I did kind of settle on Kittle being the guy that, I think, takes the step back here. When you just look at the career arc of where these guys are, I think McCaffrey still in his prime, Deebo is in his prime, Aiyuk, I think, is still ascending. Aiyuk, I think, could get loose a couple times in this game.
