San Francisco

49ers

That explains McCaffrey’s brief departure in the team’s Week 7 loss to the Falcons, when the veteran alpha missed most of the second quarter but returned for the second half. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan added that he believes McCaffrey will be fine when the team comes out of their Week 8 bye. “We’re pretty optimistic,” he said Monday. Fantasy managers appear to have dodged a bullet with the first-round fantasy powerhouse but will want to continue to monitor reports from the team through their bye.

With Mike Evans, Deebo Samuel, Demarcus Robinson, De’Zhaun Stribling, and more out with injuries, Cowing was asked to do more as a receiver in this one. He ran the third-most routes of any receiver, but did have more targets and catches than Brandin Cooks, who ran the most routes. Still, with the 49ers on bye next week and likely to be healthier when they return in Week 9, Cowing is not a recommended add on waiver wires.

Kirk was activated off the injured list this week after missing the first six games of the season with a calf injury. He played on just 20 of the team’s 66 snaps and ran a route on 14 of their 43 dropbacks. Kirk was always likely to be eased back into things, and the 49ers have a bye next week to get him more up to speed. That being said, he doesn’t figure to be a huge part of this passing game if the 49ers can get more of their receivers back healthy after the bye.

Cooks was out-targeted and outplayed by both Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing. Cooks did run the most routes of any receiver on the team, but he didn’t command targets or look like a key piece of the receiving game. With Mike Evans likely back in Week 9, it’s hard to hold onto Cooks through the Week 8 bye in fantasy leagues.

Watkins was second among receivers in routes, running a route on 30 of the team’s 43 dropbacks, and was also third on the team overall in targets. He made a few nice catches over the middle of the field, and his day could have been much better as he caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Brock Purdy in the second half. Unfortunately, while his feet were in bounds, the ball shifted a couple of inches when his back slammed into the ground, and replay review overturned the call of touchdown on the field. Depending on the status of the 49ers’ wide receivers coming out of next week’s bye, Watkins could be an interesting fantasy option, but it’s hard to know that for sure until we know who will be healthy for the 49ers.

Unfortunately, Kittle also lost a fumble on the team’s final drive of the game as he was trying to earn extra yardage and set the team up for a better shot at the end zone. Even with that mistake, Kittle was tremendous on the day and the clear top option in the passing attack. The 49ers will be on a bye in Week 8, and then some of their injured receiving corps should return in Week 9, which might impact Kittle’s usage a bit. He will remain a rock-solid TE1 in fantasy leagues though.

Black’s day did not start great as he was stuffed on three straight plays inside the three-yard line on the first drive. Then he watched as Christian McCaffrey scored a touchdown on fourth down. However, McCaffrey also picked up a thigh injury on that drive and missed the remainder of the first half, which allowed Black the opportunity to rip off some nice chunk runs and a long touchdown. McCaffrey did return in the second half, and Black also lost a fumble in the second quarter, so there were some moments of inconsistency. That being said, Black looks like one of the best bench stash running backs in fantasy football.

McCaffrey scored a touchdown on the first drive of the game and had six touches, which seemed to set the tone for a massive workload. However, he also picked up a thigh injury on that drive and didn’t return again until the third quarter. The 49ers seemed to give him a few extra breaks in the second half, but McCaffrey didn’t look any less explosive. He was also half a yard away from catching a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but he was ruled down short of the end zone, and then Brock Purdy threw a touchdown pass to Kyle Juszczyk on the next play. The 49ers have a bye next week, so we doubt McCaffrey’s thigh injury will be an issue when we see them next in Week 9.

After losing seemingly every wide receiver to injury, it was only a matter of time before we finally had a down Purdy game. The truth is, he didn’t even play poorly. His first interception was on a pass that he was trying to throw away when safety Jesse Bates made an incredible toe-drag interception. The second pick was on a really nice play by linebacker Kendal Daniels over the middle. Purdy looked good and gave his team a chance to win despite a depleted offense. The 49ers will have a bye next week and then hopefully get back at least one of their primary receivers before a Week 9 game against the Raiders.

McCaffrey was injured on the first drive of the game when the 49ers scored a touchdown. The training staff was working on his thigh before he jogged into the locker room in the second quarter and was listed as questionable to return. It was a 14-3 49ers lead when McCaffrey went into the locker room, and it’s 19-14 in favor of the Falcons now, so the team is going to see if their star running back can get them back in front.