Who Should I Start? George Kittle or Christian Watson

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.

Tuesday, January 21, 2:40 PM

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (knee) is not expected to be ready for the start of the 2025 season after suffering a torn ACL in the Week 18 loss to the Chicago Bears. The 25-year-old has been plagued by the injury bug through the first three seasons of his NFL career, missing 13 regular-season games since being selected in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. His potential delayed start to next season comes as no surprise given the timing of the major injury, and the Packers could look to bring in more wide receiver options via free agency or the 2025 NFL Draft. It won't be a surprise if Watson starts next season on the PUP list, meaning he'd be forced to sit out at least the first four games.