San Francisco 49ers

Head Coach: Chip Kelly (1st year)
Offensive Coordinator: Curtis Modkins (1st year)
Defensive Coordinator: Jim O’Neil (1st year)

Depth Chart

Quarterbacks: Blaine Gabbert, Colin Kaepernick, Jeff Driskel, Christian Ponder
Running Back: Carlos Hyde, Shaun Draughn, Mike Davis, DuJuan Harris
Wide Receiver: Torrey Smith, Bruce Ellington, Quinton Patton, Jerome Simpson
Tight End: Vance McDonald, Garrett Celek
Kicker: Phil Dawson
Defense/Spec Teams: 2015-Finished 29th in yards against and 18th in points against. Finished 29th in sacks and 26th in interceptions.

Coaching Philosophy

Chip Kelly’s stay didn’t last long in Philadelphia, but he’s going to try one more time to show the NFL that his system works. With the talent that the 49ers have on both sides of the ball, that may prove to be a tall task for the egomaniac. The one thing that Chip Kelly loves from his offense is speed. Not necessarily speed from his players, but he runs a lot of no huddle, run up to the line of scrimmage and snap the ball quickly, kind of speed. In three seasons with the Eagles, Kelly’s offense finished 13th in offensive plays from scrimmage in 2013, first in 2014 and second in 2015. I’m not a math major, but for fantasy purposes, more plays can mean more fantasy production. He likes to base everything off a strong running game and that could mean good things for Carlos Hyde this season. He also turned Nick Foles into a fantasy darling in 2013 and if he can get Foles to be a fantasy producer, there’s hope for Blaine Gabbert or Colin Kaepernick. The Niners should be a very interesting team to watch this season.

Fantasy Outlook

49ers Quarterbacks

I’m staying away from both of these guys on draft day and so should you.

The 49ers have a little bit of a battle going on between Blaine Gabbert and Colin Kaepernick for the starting quarterback gig. Gabbert is currently in the lead as he has been much more impressive in training camp, not to mention that Kaepernick is battling a period of “dead arm”, limiting his practice time and preventing him from playing in the second preseason game. Gabbert took over in Week 9 last season after Kap was placed on the IR and while he didn’t play great, he didn’t play poorly either. Here’s the problem with both Gabbert and Kaepernick. Both are simply “ok” quarterbacks. Add that to the fact that they have very little talent to throw the ball to, as well as whoever wins the job will likely be on a short leash, and that makes me want to stay away from whoever wins the job. With Chip Kelly’s offense, it’s worth keeping an eye on whichever quarterback earns the job, but both Gabbert and Kap are nothing more than waiver wire guys or DFS tournament plays with the right matchup.

49ers Running Backs

Carlos Hyde looks to return this year stronger than ever.

Interesting statistic. 49ers running back, Carlos Hyde has only 198 career rushing attempts. I thought it would be a much greater number. While he may have the “injury risk” label attached to him, if anyone is fresh enough to be able to handle the workload that Chip Kelly wants to place on his running back, Hyde should be able to. In Kelly’s first two years in Philadelphia, Lesean McCoy had 300+ carries each year, so Hyde should be able to receive all the touches his body allows him to. Hyde has shed about ten pounds to get in the best shape he can to handle Kelly’s fast paced system and he could be in for a monster year.  He missed over half of last year with a stress fracture in his foot, but looks fully recovered and ready to go and the weight loss should help the stress on his foot as well. He is a monster at breaking tackles and while not known for catching passes, word out of camp is that he may be a little more involved in the passing game this season. While he is an injury risk, he’s currently being drafted as a RB2 in the fourth round and has the potential to outperform his ADP by quite a bit and I plan on owning him wherever I can get him this year.

It’s still a question mark who Carlos Hyde’s handcuff will be. 29 year old, journeyman Shaun Draughn is currently listed at number two on the depth chart, but is more of a receiving threat, than a full time back. Mike Davis was selected in the fourth round of last year’s NFL draft by the 49ers, and while he didn’t impress last season, he’s having a great training camp and looking great this year. Here’s how I see it shaking out. I see Davis becoming more of a handcuff for Hyde, while Draughn will see work in the passing game. I think Draughn will have a little value in PPR leagues all season regardless of who the early down back is, while Davis will only see much action in the event of a Hyde injury. Both have separate values, but Davis would be the biggest beneficiary in fantasy leagues if Hyde gets hurt.

49ers Wide Receivers

While I have not been the biggest fan of Torrey Smith though-it the years, I’m starting to come around on him a bit this season. I think he really has an opportunity to perform much better than his current ninth or tenth round average draft position. As already mentioned, Chip Kelly runs a lot of plays in his offense and with Smith being the only wide receiver who has accomplished anything in the NFL, I think he has a legitimate shot to see a lot of targets in 2016. He is a big play threat who has averaged over 17 yards per completion over his career and with Chip Kelly’s success with guys like Desean Jackson in 2013 and Jeremy Maclin in 2014, Smith could have a very nice season. If you take out last season’s disaster under Jim Tomsula, Smith averaged seven and a half touchdowns per year over his first four seasons as well, so he could be a sneaky source for scores. Torrey Smith can be drafted as a WR4, but has the upside under Kelly to perform as a WR2 or WR3.

Bruce Ellington has serious sleeper potential this season.

The only other 49ers wide receiver that I would consider drafting would be slot receiver, Bruce Ellington. It has been reported that Ellington and Gabbert have developed a great rapport with each other in camp and he has been the quarterback’s favorite target. Jordan Matthews excelled in the slot receiver position under Chip Kelly and while Ellington doesn’t have the talent that Matthews possesses, he has the potential to be a late round steal in PPR leagues. He is definitely on my short list of later round guys that I want to target this season.

Feel free to avoid the rest of the 49ers wide receivers on draft day.

49ers Tight Ends

The tight end position is not one of strength for the 49ers. Vance McDonald is most likely to win the job, but he hasn’t performed up to his second round draft pick (2013) expectations as of yet. I wouldn’t draft him in standard 12 team leagues, but if you’re in a two tight end league, he does offer a little bit of upside at the position.

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