Fooch's note: The 2016 preseason is just about halfway through, and more than likely you are about to get started on your fantasy football drafts. In case you missed it earlier, we're doing NN fantasy leagues through Yahoo! Use this thread, to discuss new leagues. You can create your leagues here.
The San Francisco 49ers have numerous issues heading into the 2016 season, and that is likely to be reflected in the fantasy drafts many of you will hold this weekend. I thought we’d look at some 49ers players and where they are going, and some other players worth noting.
I am in the middle of a draft in my 14-team keeper league that takes about two weeks via email. I am considering Vance McDonald and the 49ers defense late in the draft, but otherwise have not drafted anybody from the team. Carlos Hyde went in the second round of my draft, although that was after numerous keepers, so the ADP is a little different in that regard. Torrey Smith has not gone yet, but I imagine that will happen soon. And of course, Phil Dawson is a likely pick in the last round.
In looking through some ADP stats, I came across these numbers for the 49ers. They are the player, and their draft position in 10, 12, and 14 team leagues on average (with round and pick # in parenthesis). I used Fantasy Football Calculator, which looks at over 700 mock drafts over the past 24 hours.
Carlos Hyde
10: 40 (4.10)
12: 41 (4.04)
14: 38 (3.08)
Torrey Smith
10: 121 (12.04)
12: 119 (10.06)
14: 111 (8.10)
Vance McDonald
10: Not picked out of 158
12: Not picked out of 175
14: 226 (14.08)
So basically, anybody else on average you can find other 49ers on the waiver wire. Bruce Ellington showed up in 14-team drafts in the 13th round, but obviously he’s not going to contribute in fantasy.
We can also look at position specific. We’ll just look at this from a 12-team league perspective since 49ers players are so far down this year. Here is where they rank by position. It’s not pretty
QB: No Blaine Gabbert or Colin Kaepernick in top 24
RB: Carlos Hyde - No. 18 of 56
WR: Torrey Smith - No. 46 of 61
TE: None in Top 17
K: None in top 17
D/ST: None in top 18
All that being said, there are plenty of potential sleepers outside of the 49ers. Here are just a few that I like by position. I’m happy to discuss them further in the comments.
QB: Robert Griffin III, Ryan Tannehill, Matthew Stafford (sheer volume)
RB: Theo Riddick, Isaiah Crowell, TJ Yeldon
WR: Terrelle Pryor, Mohamed Sanu, Markus Wheaton
TE: Jason Witten (somehow always undervalued), Jesse James, Dwayne Allen