Editor’s Note: This season, John Daigle will be writing Matchups for one afternoon game, SNF, and MNF. For these games, Evan Silva is also providing his notes to incorporate into the column.
SF @ SEA | JAX vs. CHI | ARI @ GB | IND @ TEN | HOU @ NE | TB @ NO | CLE @ PHI | WAS @ BAL | LAC @ DEN | PIT @ LV | DET @ DAL | ATL @ CAR | CIN @ NYG | BUF @ NYJ
Thursday Night Football
San Francisco @ Seattle
Team Totals: 49ers 26, Seahawks 22.5
Fantasy’s QB12 entering Week 6, Brock Purdy will face a Seahawks defense on Thursday night missing first-round pick DT Byron Murphy (hamstring) and starting EDGE Uchenna Nwosu (MCL/thigh, I.R.), while No. 2 CB Tariq Woolen (ankle) and No. 3 EDGE Derick Hall (foot) could also sit. Purdy profiles as a questionable-ceiling but high-floor QB1 starter. … League touches leader Jordan Mason (112) encounters a banged-up Seattle front seven enemy backs have clipped for 4.7 yards per carry and 141.6 total yards per game. Mason has earned elite RB1 treatment week in and week out, while Christian McCaffrey’s (Achilles, I.R.) timeline remains wholly uncertain. Interim 49ers No. 2 RB Isaac Guerendo has yet to play more than 10 offensive snaps in a 2024 contest.
Purdy’s Weeks 1-5 target distribution: Brandon Aiyuk 37; Jauan Jennings 31; George Kittle 29; Deebo Samuel 27; Kyle Juszczyk 10; Mason 8. … A Weeks 1-4 black hole following his training-camp holdout, Aiyuk busted loose for 8/147/0 receiving in last Sunday’s loss and has now drawn double-digit targets in two of San Francisco’s last three games. He’s a WR2 with WR1 upside on TNF. … Jennings has settled back in as San Francisco’s role-playing No. 3 wideout with Aiyuk rolling and Samuel healthy. Jennings remains playable on one-game DFS slates. … Kittle leads all tight ends in PPR points per game. Seattle has permitted the NFL’s seventh-most catches (28) and fourth-most yards (286) to tight ends. … Samuel’s box-score results have been muted in two games since returning from Week 2’s calf injury, but he is still hovering around 80% of San Francisco’s offensive snaps and being used in both the pass and run games. Samuel is one of my favorite Week 6 plays in single-game DFS
Geno Smith warrants fringe QB1/2 valuation at home against a 49ers defense that ranks around league medians in pass-game production allowed but remains dangerous in the pass-rush department. Seattle has permitted the NFL’s second-most QB hurries (17), sixth-most QB hits (16), and third-most QB pressures (51). I’m treating Smith as a boom-bust bet in season-long leagues and strongly considering San Francisco’s D/ST. … Kenneth Walker stayed ahead of Zach Charbonnet in Week 5’s loss, out-snapping Charbonnet 39 to 21 and out-touching him 12 to 5 against the Giants. Nothing stands out especially positively or negatively about Walker’s TNF matchup, but he always offers game-breaking potential.
Geno’s Weeks 1-5 targets: DK Metcalf 43; Jaxon Smith-Njigba 40; Tyler Lockett 32; Charbonnet 22; Noah Fant 18; Walker 16. … Metcalf is averaging a hot 6.3/98/0.5 receiving line over his last four games, while 49ers top CB Charvarius Ward (knee) will play at less than 100% here. … Continuing to work ahead of Lockett as Seattle’s No. 2 receiver, Smith-Njigba has commanded 9.5 targets per game in the last month. JSN has earned volume-driven WR3 treatment regardless of opponent. … Still leading the Seahawks in first-down catches (17), Lockett is WR4/flex playable and offers appeal on one-game DFS slates. … Fant has gone 24 straight games without a receiving touchdown. Maybe he’s just due.
Score Prediction: 49ers 24, Seahawks 21
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