2026 Team Previews: San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers 2026 Preview
All ADP data is courtesy of Fantasy Pros.
** = target in drafts at this ADP
Drafted Everywhere
Christian McCaffery, RB (ADP: 5, RB3): Injury risk is always going to be mentioned right alongside the No. 1 overall upside when it comes to McCaffery, who just makes risk-averse fantasy managers short circuit. If we could guarantee health, CMC would be the top pick every year. Much like rushing production is a fantasy cheat code for QBs, receiving work is the same concept for RBs, especially in half and full-PPR formats. McCaffery is not just an elite runner of the football, he’s the best pass-catching back in the NFL and arguably the best pass-catching back of all time. We got a full season out of CMC in 2025, and in an offense that was largely decimated by injuries and off-field drama he piled up 2,126 yards from scrimmage and scored 17 touchdowns.
Yeah, he was limited to four games in a nightmare 2024 season, but in 2023 we got 16 games and he put up 2,023 total yards and scored 21 touchdowns. This is just what he does, and yeah, he’s had several season be submarined entirely by injury, but if you’re playing to win this is a player who can carry your team on his back to the fantasy playoffs. Scared money doesn’t make money, and while some of the top WRs in fantasy might seem “safer,” there’s no WR I would personally draft over a workhorse like CMC.
There are some red flags that would give me pause on spending a Top 2 pick on him. He’s past age 30, and last season was CMC’s first trip beyond the 300-carry threshold to go along with 129 targets. That’s an extremely heavy workload for a player at this point in his career, and especially for someone with documented injury woes. Still, the reward is a potential No. 1 overall player finish. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and give yourself the highest ceiling possible.
Mike Evans, WR (ADP: 63, WR27): Life comes at you fast. Evans was signed to be an X receiver salve for this team that sorely lacked it last year and wound up stretching Jauan Jennings too thin while Ricky Pearsall moved all around and likely led the team in targets. Pearsall is sadly out for the season due to knee surgery, and while Evans will certainly still be the X receiver, he’s suddenly the No. 1 target on the team. At this stage of Evans’ career, that’s probably suboptimal for the 49ers as a whole, but it’s great for Evans’ fantasy value. Evans’ final season in Tampa Bay was injury-marred, but he still looked like a reasonably strong version of himself when he did play.
30 receptions, 368 yards and three scores hardly looks like a good outcome for a player who will turn 33 this year, but he was banged up all year long. He remained a strong man beater, turning in a 71.3% success rate, a 66th-percentile mark. He also remained a difficult player to press, who excelled on go routes (62.7% success, 22.8% of routes) and digs. Simply put, Evans proved he could still hurt you down the field and over the middle, which sounds like all you need from a high-level outside receiver. IF he can stay healthy, Evans will likely flirt with double-digit touchdowns, and can follow a formula like Davante Adams in Los Angeles, in which the volume goes down but the efficiency rises. This is a pretty good area for him to be taken, but be a little wary if a narrative of a volume increase takes hold and the ADP shoots up too far. I don’t believe he possesses WR1 ceiling anymore.
George Kittle, TE (ADP: 95, TE9): Kittle could be an amazing value at this ADP with the news of Pearsall’s injury. While they don’t play remotely similar roles, Kittle has, at times, receded in the target pecking order when the 49ers pass-catching cupboard is full because he offers so much as a blocker. With Pearsall gone, Evans as a fairly limited-usage WR1, and McCaffery basically being the best receiver on the team…Kittle’s going to be involved in the passing game. That is, if he’s truly healed and himself coming off a torn Achilles.
Kittle’s been a beast of a man his entire career and has been an annual favorite of mine, but he will be turning 33 this season, and his torn Achilles happened in this calendar year. That is a devastating injury, and a major red flag for a player whose made his bones not as a route runner, but as a physical force of nature. Kittle had rattled off back-to-back 1,000+-yard seasons before falling back to 628 yards last season in 11 games. We saw a bit of fall-off already before he blew out his Achilles, and his production was saved by seven touchdowns. Kittle’s been scoring a bunch of touchdowns for a while now, but that can easy change with Evans in the picture, and if the yardage doesn’t come back to his prime levels he might turn into a toxic asset you struggle to get off of because it’s George Kittle.
He’s going as the TE9, so thankfully this risk is being built into the ADP. At this range, I see no issues taking a flier, because if he is back to his old self he’s guaranteed to return value. Be wary if the ADP rises though as Draft Day nears, I would not want to be heavily invested.
Interesting Players
Brock Purdy, QB (ADP: 113, QB13): Purdy is an interesting fallback option for managers who refuse to pay up for top QBs. Finding late value on the QB position is a surefire way to maximize your fantasy ceiling, but nailing those high performers isn’t easy. For QBs like Purdy who need to create their value with their arm, we like to see 4,000 yards and 35+ touchdowns, and Purdy didn’t come close to that in 2024, or last season. In 2023 though he threw for 4,280 yards and 31 scores, and this is still a Kyle Shanahan offense, so we know the potential is in there.
I expected to write this preview and be all over Purdy as a value, but the injury to Pearsall really put a damper on it. I was expecting to have Pearsall as one of my best overall values in all of fantasy, and I was connecting Pearsall’s projections to Purdy’s. Without a do-it-all WR making all the pieces work, I see an aging Evans as a bottom-level WR1 at this point, an aging TE coming off a torn Achilles less than a year ago, and a RB in his 30s coming off 440 opportunities (carries + targets), 50 more than the next highest player Bijan Robinson who is six years younger. A lot can go wrong for San Francisco, and we saw a lot go wrong in 2025 when Purdy was a terrible fantasy option. At this ADP, it’s not going to kill your team if you draft him and he stinks. But there’s a slew of QBs going behind him with similar or greater upside and in safer offenses. I’m just going to take some of those players over Purdy, given the risks here and the overall disadvantage Purdy has physically vs. other passers.
**Deebo Samuel, WR (ADP: 127, WR49): Samuel just looks right in red and gold, and after an up-and-down season in Washington he returns to what is likely to be a nice-sized role. Samuel is likely to be the WR2 once again for the 49ers, and while he won’t fulfill those duties in a traditional way, this team knows exactly how to make him useful. Most will look at Deebo’s 7th-percentile finish vs. man and 4th-percentile finish vs. press and be completely out. I get it! His success rate (79%) vs. zone, which is his bread and butter, isn’t eye-popping but it was actually up from 2024. He was still respectable – 53rd percentile – but that’s not enough to be a top guy with man and press rates this putrid. If you put on the film, even though Samuel’s not the dynamic dual threat of his prime Niner years, he remains an absolute boulder to try and stop when he’s in the open field and his 88% success rate on flat routes and 97% success in the screen game illustrate the Commanders understood this. The 49ers will too, and give him a heavy dose of that work.
Samuel’s peak seasons of more than 1,100 total yards and double-digit touchdowns are behind him. If you’re drafting him with even a whiff of those days in your mind, that’s delusion. But the 49ers will score points, and Samuel is going to be heavily involved especially if they wisely try to ease some of CMC’s touches. I’d be surprised if Deebo isn’t a fantasy factor.
De’Zhaun Stribling, WR (ADP: 132, WR50): Stribling appears ticketed for a nice-sized role this year after Pearsall left a gaping hole at the flanker spot, but I’m not sold that he will be an impactful fantasy receiver just yet. He put up good but not great rates vs. man (68.4%) and press (67.9%) at Ole Miss, but his success rates on big boy stuff like corners, posts and go routes were alarming, and Ole Miss barely even used him on that stuff. They did send him on go routes 26% of the time, however, and he was successful on just 55.8% of them. Stribling was stellar on two patterns, digs and slants. That’s well and good, but that’s not what Pearsall was about to bring to this passing game and it’s a bit too limited to thrive across from Evans. Right now without Pearsall’s versatility the 49ers offense runs the risk of being static and predictable. Because of that, I can see a world where Stribling isn’t on the field all the time as Shanahan searches for different looks to throw at defenses.
Deep Cuts
Kaelon Black, RB (ADP: 226, RB62): Black, a pretty productive RB out of Indiana, was a bit of a surprise in the 3rd round. There’s a solid chance he is CMC’s handcuff, which seems like a premium backup position but hasn’t really turned anyone into a massive factor in a long time. Jordan Mason had a good run for a bit in 2024, and Elijah Mitchell got some burn before that, but it hasn’t led to league-winners in the way people often expect it to. That’s because as good as the offense is, CMC is the one who makes that role so valuable, not the other way around.
Jordan James, RB (ADP: 253, RB70): James was a 49er in 2025, so some believe that gives him a leg up in the race to be CMC’s No. 2. I don’t know, and nobody else does either, so my advice is don’t bother handcuffing CMC.
Jake Tonges, TE (ADP: 260, TE32): Tonges isn’t draftable, as it seems Kittle is going to be a go for Week 1. He’s worth monitoring though because Kittle’s no guarantee to remain healthy, avoid setbacks or be at the same level he once was at. Tonges proved he could play when he got the chances, and a Kittle injury makes Tonges a legit waiver add.
Christian Kirk, WR (ADP: 284, WR93): I’m sure you thought you were done ever thinking about Christian Kirk again. I did too! I’m here to tell you, you’re not done. This 49ers WR room suffered a big blow losing Pearsall, and while Kirk hasn’t been relevant since 2022, he’s going to get snaps in 2025. Kirk has credibly played all over the field in his career, and performed better in some roles than others, but he has been a player who, at his best, can sting defenses down the field from the slot and flanker positions. That’s precisely where the hole is, and while Stribling was a highly-drafted player who fits that role, if he’s raw then Kirk is going to get reps there.