Previewing Jimmy Garoppolo for Super Bowl DFS

The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers square off in Super Bowl 54 on Sunday, February 2nd. We’ll be breaking down everything you need to know to prepare your daily fantasy football lineups for the big game. We’re starting with a player-by-player preview for the skill position players on the two teams.

Jimmy Garoppolo has already been to two Super Bowls as the backup to Tom Brady, but this will be his first as the starter. His short career with the 49ers has been positive, but they also haven’t needed him to take the team on his shoulders that often, and so far in the playoffs, he’s needed to complete just 17 passes in two games.

DFS Super Bowl price

DraftKings Captain: $12,000

DraftKings Flex: $8,000

FanDuel: $14,000

DFS opponent position ranking

DraftKings: 19th

FanDuel: 14th

Season performance

When Garoppolo wasn’t putting up big numbers against the Cardinals and Saints, he was “managing” the team, as his per game average when throwing the ball fewer than 35 times (12 games) was 18-of-26 for 227 yards, 1.2 touchdowns and .8 interceptions with a great 8.96 yards per attempt. The interceptions are the biggest black mark on his record and one that could come back to bite the team if they crop up in the Super Bowl. But, there is no doubt that for the majority of his games, he wasn’t asked to do much through the air.

Playoff performance

So far, Garoppolo hasn’t needed to do much in the playoffs, as the running game has dominated so far. His accumulated stats for the two games look like a below-average single game: 17-of-27, 208 yards, one touchdown, one interception.

We can’t judge him on these statistics, of course, as his team dominated both games. But it does leave some reasonable doubt as to his ability to go toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes if needed.

We have seen a few games where Garoppolo has needed to throw the ball 35-plus times, and for the most part, he’s put up great numbers in those matchups. In his four games where he topped 35 attempts this season, he’s averaged 28 completions on 41 attempts for 334.5 yards, 3.25 touchdowns, one interception, and 8.4 yards per attempt. Those are elite numbers. Facing the Cardinals twice likely helped that, but the Saints and Steelers are the other two, tougher matchups.

Can he do it in the biggest game of the year against an offense that should push him to take the team on his shoulders more often than usual? He certainly has the ability.

Matchup

The Chiefs have been good against the pass, especially in relation to the number of pass attempts they see due to their own high-scoring offense. In the playoffs, versus DeShaun Watson and Ryan Tannehill, they’ve given up some big numbers, especially to Watson, who was in pass mode almost the whole game. Overall, they’ve allowed 52-of-83 completions for 597 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions while giving up ten rushing attempts for 53 yards and a touchdown. Those

DFS pricing and analysis

On FanDuel, Garoppolo is the second-highest priced player on the slate, tied with Damien Williams, while Patrick Mahomes is $2,000 more. That’s a lot to pay for a quarterback who averaged 16.3 FanDuel points per game on the season, but there is also no doubt that Mahomes will be chalk across DFS.

On DraftKings, Garoppolo comes in as the seventh-most expensive player and $4,600 cheaper than Mahomes in the flex spot. That’s a savings I can get behind more so than at FanDuel. If Mahomes can do his thing by putting up good passing stats, we will likely see Garoppolo asked to do more. He can put up big fantasy points in that scenario, giving him a chance to be more valuable than Mahomes based on price. I rather play Mahomes, but playing both makes more sense on DraftKings, especially if you think this will be a high-scoring affair.

I am an avid fan and user (my username is cogresha) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.