Who Should I Start? George Kittle or Mason Tipton

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.

Saturday, November 16, 3:12 AM

Injuries to the New Orleans Saints wide receiver room cleared a path up the depth chart for rookie Mason Tipton. With Chris Olave (concussion), Rashid Shaheed (knee), and Bub Means (ankle) on injured reserve, and Cedrick Wilson Jr. (shoulder) out for Week 10, there seemed to be ample opportunity for Tipton to soak up some targets. Sadly, that wasn't the case as Tipton did not draw a single target in last week's game against the Falcons. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was the main beneficiary of the Saints' lack of receiving talent, catching three balls for 109 yards and two scores against Atlanta, while running back Alvin Kamara was the preferred option on short routes. In Week 11, MVS can be expected to remain the team's deep option and if Wilson shakes his questionable tag, Tipton will have a hard time commanding targets against him or Kamara. He can safely be left on the waiver wire.