Who Should I Start? George Kittle or Brandon Aiyuk

Sunday, January 5, 11:54 PM

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (ankle, hamstring) was outproduced by his backup Eric Saubert during the team's 47-24 loss to the Cardinals in Arizona. Kittle caught two of three targets for 27 yards. The affable team captain was questionable and ultimately activated but had his snap count reduced in the meaningless game. Most likely, the 49ers organization was showing appreciation to Kittle by giving him the start since he has a $500,000 per-game roster bonus in his contract. Kittle finishes an excellent season as the overall half-PPR TE2, behind only Las Vegas Raiders rookie Brock Bowers and just ahead of Arizona's Trey McBride. He amassed 78 receptions, 1,106 yards, and eight touchdowns in 2024. He was hyper-efficient this year, setting career marks in catch percentage and yards per target. Kittle will enter his age-32 season in 2025 once again as a fantasy TE1 with San Francisco.

Friday, November 15, 7:10 PM

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (knee) had surgery on his right knee earlier this week to fix a torn ACL and other damage. In addition to tearing his ACL, Aiyuk also tore his MCL in the Week 7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and will miss the rest of the season. He should have already been dropped in single-season fantasy leagues. It remains to be seen if the 26-year-old will make enough progress in his rehab in the offseason in order to be ready to play in Week 1 of the 2025 regular season next fall. For the rest of 2024, receivers Deebo Samuel Sr. and Jauan Jennings and tight end George Kittle should be the most-targeted pass-catchers, with rookie first-rounder Ricky Pearsall also seeing an expanded role in the passing attack. Aiyuk was an absolute fantasy bust this year, finishing with 25 catches for 374 yards and no touchdowns in seven games.