• Jordan Mason shines before injury: The San Francisco 49ers lead running back averaged 8.1 yards per carry but missed over half of the game due to a shoulder injury.
• Brighter days ahead for Kenneth Walker III: He has been held under 40 rushing yards each of the last two weeks, but a role increase suggests his ceiling will be higher going forward than it was last season.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2024.
San Francisco 49ers @ Seattle Seahawks
- George Kittle: 5 receptions, 58 yards, 2 touchdowns
- Deebo Samuel: 3 receptions, 102 yards, 1 touchdown, 4 carries, 15 rushing yards
Monitor Jordan Mason’s health: Mason suffered a shoulder injury in the middle of the second quarter.
Mason started the game playing well. He was on the field for 17 of a possible 21 plays and ran eight times for 65 yards, including a 38-yard run. He left the game and was immediately declared questionable as he went for X-rays. He was spotted back on the sideline before halftime, but the 49ers didn’t get the ball back.
In the second half, he returned to the game with a nine-yard run, and he immediately returned to the sideline. He remained on the sideline in pads and helmet for the rest of the game but never returned to the field. After Mason’s initial exit, four players played snaps as the primary running back. Isaac Guerendo was the primary back while Patrick Taylor and Deebo Samuel mixed in. Kyle Juszczyk was used as a third-down back throughout the game.
Guerendo was initially given most of the opportunities but could have been more efficient, leading the team to switch to Taylor for most of the fourth quarter. Taylor was equally inefficient, leading Guerendo to return for the final two minutes, where he made a 76-yard run to help finish the game.
If Mason misses time, expect Guerendo to be the primary back, but he should only get about two-thirds of Mason's workload. Guerendo might not be worth putting in fantasy starting lineups in that role, considering the 49ers play the Kansas City Chiefs next week.
Kenneth Walker III’s role expands: Walker is playing more snaps than last season, which should eventually lead to more fantasy points.
It’s been a rough two weeks for Walker in the run game after not seeing good volume last week and not great efficiency this week. Brighter days should be ahead based on how Walker has been used, though.
Teams will often vary how they use their third-down running backs if they have one. On third-and-1, it’s often the early-down running back, and on third-and-6-plus, it’s often the third-down back. The two-to-five-yard range is typically a grey area. Last season, Walker played 23.6% of those plays, ignoring the two games he missed and one game he left early. Over the first two weeks this season, that increased to 42.9%. Since returning from injury last week, he’s taken 10 of those 11 snaps. On those 10 plays, he’s caught three passes for 12 yards.
Walker has also played in passing situations late in the game while Seattle has been trying to catch up. Last week, he set a career-high with seven receptions, and this week, he beat his career-high again with eight receptions.
Zach Charbonnet now only plays on third-and-6-plus situations and takes just a few early-down snaps. While this isn’t quite a feature role for Walker, it’s almost as good as it gets for a running back. He is a buy-low candidate because he should be one of the best fantasy running backs over the rest of the season.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Both Deebo Samuel Sr. and Tyler Lockett left the game briefly due to injury, but neither missed much playing time.
- 49ers backup wide receivers Chris Conley and Jacob Cowing missed Week 5 due to injury. Both were active for this game and were the fourth and fifth wide receivers on the depth chart, respectively.
- 49ers tight end Brayden Willis was signed from the practice squad to the 53-man roster yesterday but was a healthy inactive.
- During Amazon’s pregame show, Albert Breer reported that 49ers first-round rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall will return to practice next week. Pearsall is currently on the non-football injury list after getting shot at the end of August.
- The Seahawks opted to have only five active wide receivers, making Dareke Young a healthy inactive for the first time this season. Young had barely played on offense but had 97 special teams snaps over the first five weeks, the fifth-most for Seattle.
- The Seahawks started the game in a run formation with Jake Bobo and Jaxon Smith-Njigba at wide receiver. This was only the second game in D.K. Metcalf’s career where he played but didn’t start.
- For the second straight week, Noah Fant played in over 60% of 12 personnel snaps while taking most of the 11 personnel snaps in passing situations. He is either an injury to a Seahawks wide receiver or a tight end away from being someone worth rostering in fantasy leagues or a few injuries to other teams’ tight ends away from being rosterable.
Table Notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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