Week 2 was a brutal one for injuries. There will be some good pickups, and with Cooper Kupp headed for IR, people will be chasing Rams receivers for the second straight week. But I'm looking at the Rams' opponent this week, San Francisco.
The Rams, with their offensive line ravaged by injuries, seem in danger of slipping out of relevance before much longer. How long can Matthew Stafford stay healthy without his top wideouts and protection? The 49ers just lost at Minnesota, but I think the overall team structure is fine. So I'm looking at who will benefit from Deebo Samuel getting hurt.
Samuel (calf) is going to miss "a few weeks" according to Kyle Shanahan. A little vague, but presumably three games. How have things worked out when Samuel has been sidelined before?
My hope was that Jauan Jennings had done well with Samuel out, but turns out that's not the case. Seems like the biggest beneficiary of his absence has been George Kittle.
There have been six games the last two years that Samuel hasn't been available for. Here's how the team's other main receivers have performed in those games.
| 49ER RECEIVERS WITH DEEBO OUT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Aiyuk | Kittle | Jennings |
| 2022 | at LAR | 6-81-1 | 3-39-1 | Inactive |
| 2022 | at Sea. | 2-19-0 | 4-93-2 | 3-31-0 |
| 2022 | Was. | 5-81-0 | 6-120-2 | 2-21-0 |
| 2022 | at L.V. | 9-101-1 | 4-23-1 | 2-46-0 |
| 2023 | at Min. | 5-57-0 | 5-78-0 | 5-54-0 |
| 2023 | Cin. | 5-109-0 | 9-149-0 | 0-0-0 |
Brandon Aiyuk did very well in most of those games, so that's one guy to consider. Aiyuk did well in a lot of games that Deebo was around for, of course, that's why he just got paid. Jennings, unfortunately, had only one serviceable game out of the five he was around for. It's a new year, and he's developed some since 2022. Maybe fairest to say that in the most recent year, last year, he had one good game and one miss.
But Kittle was the big star, scoring 6 touchdowns and going over 90 yards three times, and over 75 in a fourth game.
Kittle isn't available in fantasy leagues, but maybe there's a weekly contest or prop bet that one can take advantage. If he's on your fantasy team, certainly he should absolutely be in lineups this week.
--Andy Richardson