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San Franciso 49ers quarterback Trey Lance is poised to make his starting quarterback debut on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, but he will do so without star tight end George Kittle. Kittle was listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game due to a calf injury on the final injury report, but then was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. He’ll miss at least three games as he works to recover for the second half of the season.
Fantasy football impact: George Kittle (calf)
Kittle was drafted as one of the top-three tight ends but is the overall TE12 so far in half-PPR scoring formats. Kittle has at least five targets in every game so far this season. He has 19 receptions on 28 targets for 227 yards but hasn’t found the endzone yet. His best game of the season came in Week 3 when he had seven receptions for 92 yards. The Cardinals present one of the toughest matchups for opposing tight ends in fantasy as they are giving up only 3.95 points per game.
Backup tight end Ross Dwelley could see an uptick in usage, but I don’t see that translating to fantasy relevance. If anything, It boosts the value of wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel who both should be starting in your fantasy lineups.