Who Should I Start? Deebo Samuel Sr. or Brian Thomas Jr.

Friday, August 28, 6:38 PM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. has returned to the Bay Area for his age-30 season, and he should play a key role in his first year back on the West Coast. Samuel spent six seasons with the Niners before landing with the Commanders last year. It wasn't a very flashy season for Samuel in the DMV, but he still managed to finish as the WR25 in PPR leagues with 72 catches, 727 receiving yards, and five receiving touchdowns. He should get a quarterback upgrade now that he's back in San Francisco, as Brock Purdy offers more reliable quarterback play than last year's combo of Jayden Daniels and Marcus Mariota. He will face a little more competition for volume, though. Not only will Mike Evans be ahead of him in the receiver room, but George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey should also fetch a ton of targets. With that being said, Evans, Kittle, and McCaffrey have all dealt with several injury issues in years past, so there's a path to Samuel taking on a bigger role if some of his teammates get hurt. All in all, we're not sure Samuel will replicate last year's WR25 finish, but he's still a strong top-36 receiver with weekly value as a WR3/flex. With that in mind, he's somewhat of a steal at his current ADP of 136.0, which makes him the 55th receiver off the board in fantasy drafts.