Who Should I Start? Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk

Saturday, September 7, 11:43 PM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. should be the focal point of the team's passing attack when they host the New York Jets at home on Monday night. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Saturday that Samuel Sr.'s counterpart Brandon Aiyuk would not play as many snaps as usual following his "hold-in". This should lead to at least a slight increase in targets for Samuel Sr this week. It is also conceivable that he sees increased action in the running game as well with All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey questionable (calf/Achilles). The only significant thing working against Samuel Sr. would appear to be the strength of New York's pass defense, which allowed the second-fewest yards per game through the air last year and has returned most of their key players. It's worth noting that Jets head coach Robert Saleh said in the offseason that lockdown cornerback Sauce Gardner would spend more time following around opponents' No.1 WR this year, which in this case would seem to be Aiyuk, reduced snaps notwithstanding. Samuel Sr. rates as a high-end WR2 in fantasy this week.

Saturday, September 7, 11:10 PM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk will open the 2024 season at home versus the New York Jets vaunted pass defense on Monday night. The 26-year-old comes into the game fresh off a four-year $120 million extension inked just over a week ago after a long holdout which caused Aiyuk to miss all of camp and the preseason, though he did attend meetings. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said during a Saturday presser that Aiyuk is in good shape, but because of the demand of the wide receiver position, he will probably play a little less than usual. Aiyuk managers with other WR/FLEX options may want to consider benching Aiyuk this week, especially since the Jets pass defense ranked 2nd in the NFL in yards allowed last year and are returning most of their key players. There will probably be weeks this season when Aiyuk projects as a back-end WR1, but this week isn't one of them. Consider him an upper-edge WR3/FLEX for Monday.