Jimmy Garoppolo Suffers Season-Ending Torn ACL, 49ers Fantasy Weapons Plummet

Jimmy Garoppolo's season is over, and the fantasy football implications extend far beyond just the QB himself.

In Week 3’s most devastating injury, 49ers franchise-QB Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a season-ending torn ACL that will shelve him for all of 2018. Approaching his season-high for yards and TDs, Garoppolo tore his ACL while planting to stay in bounds on a fourth-quarter scramble. Though gut-wrenching for 49ers and general NFL fans,  Garoppolo himself shouldn’t be overly difficult to replace for fantasy owners as just the QB18 through three-weeks. More concerning, however, is the negative trickle-down effect his injury will have on the entire offense, especially the pass-catching options.

Insert CJ Beathard into the starting lineup, and insert vomit into Marquise Goodwin and George Kittle owners mouths. Though Beathard’s now been groomed in the creative Kyle Shanahan attack for two seasons, he averaged a meager 238 passing yards and threw just 4 TDs to 6 INTs across six games in 2017. A massive leap forward feels incredibly unlikely.

Thus, Goodwin, Kittle, and Pierre Garcon all take massive season-long value hits. All three remain holds to see if Beathard develops a special, “lock-in” rapport with any one guy. But all need to be benched until further notice.

In the run-game, NFL leading-rusher Matt Breida also seems like a necessary downgrade facing more stacked-boxes and seeing less scoring chances. Yet, I won’t bump him down too aggressively. The team needs him now more than ever, and, in what’s otherwise looking like a lost season, perhaps Shanahan and the 49ers will want to see what they have in Breida, and thus ride him ’til the wheels fall off. Breida seems far more comfortable in Year 2 after playing tentative as a rookie, and has hit the hole with equal amounts of vision and anger all of 2018. In addition to his NFL-best 274 rushing yards, Breida also leads the league in both 20+ yard runs (6) and YPC (8.6). He’s an intriguing Buy-Low stab if his owner is panicking amidst Garoppolo’s injury.

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  • Founder of Roto Street Journal. Lover of workhorse backs, target hog wideouts, and Game of Thrones. Aspiring to be the "Brady" and "Leo" of the fantasy universe.

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