Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)
Will San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel be a WR2 in fantasy football in 2020?
The San Francisco 49ers got great production of out rookie wide receiver Deebo Samuel a season ago. The second-round pick out of South Carolina had 71 total touches for 961 yards from scrimmage and six trips to pay dirt. Though not quite a 1,000-yard receiver as a rookie, is Samuel ready for his fantasy football breakout in year two?
The Fantasy Footballers are split on how they view Samuel in the upcoming NFL season. With last year’s brief No. 1 receiving option in Emmanuel Sanders heading to the New Orleans Saints in his free agency, Samuel may assert himself as the 49ers’ top receiving talent this fall. However, he may be pushed by this year’s second-round pick in Brandon Aiyuk out of Arizona State.
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Andy Holloway is the biggest fan of Samuel among his colleagues. He firmly has him as a high-end WR2, while Mike Wright has him as a low-end WR2. Jason Moore doesn’t even have Samuel at WR2 status of yet. So should we expect a huge fantasy season out of him like Holloway expects or are we of the approach to wait and see before his fantasy coronation like those in Moore’s camp?
Is Deebo Samuel ready for his 2020 fantasy football breakout season?
Holloway argues Samuel’s greatest value is in his ability to get yards after the catch. Just get the ball in Samuel’s hands and he’ll make something happen. He points out how well he works with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the screen game, as well as on slants. However, if it’s yards through the air you want, you might end up disappointed in Sameul’s aerial productivity.
The good news is Samuel is the type of receiver you can run the ball with on jet sweeps or on end-arounds. San Francisco will likely remain a pound-the-rock offense for as long as head coach Kyle Shanahan continues to use his family’s secret zone blocking scheme recipe. This means the 49ers will be a run-first offense for as long as Shanahan remains their head coach.
Overall, asserting Samuel to WR2 status means you believe the 49ers will win over 10 games again and make the playoffs out of the NFC. He may not be WR14 in the entirely league like Holloway thinks, but he’s more likely to be WR22 in fantasy next fall along the lines of what Wright thinks of him. Either way, Samuel will have his fantasy breakout season in 2020.