The San Francisco 49ers will host the New York Giants for Thursday Night Football in Week 3 of the NFL season. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 21 while streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
It’s no surprise that DraftKings Sportsbook has the 49ers as substantial 10-point favorites. Below, we’ll run through what this matchup means for 49ers QB Brock Purdy. Should you start or sit him in Week 3?
Fantasy Football analysis: 49ers QB Brock Purdy
In the 2023 regular season, Purdy has picked up right where he left off last year — for better or worse. Serving as a facilitator for the 49ers’ offense, he often takes a backseat to superstars like Christian McCaffrey. Despite this role, he remains a solid fantasy asset, having scored 18 and 15 fantasy points respectively this season. However, his upside appears to be somewhat limited.
Start or sit in Week 3?
Sit. Purdy isn’t a bad fantasy option, but there are better quarterbacks worth starting over him in Week 3.
You can start him in leagues that require two starting quarterbacks, but he should probably stay on your bench (or waiver wire) if your league allows just one starting quarterback. This goes for both smaller (8-10 teams) and bigger (12-14 teams) fantasy leagues.
Dating back to last season, Purdy is averaging 17.62 fantasy points over his last eight regular season games. That’s a reasonable projection for him, but it’s worth noting that he has topped 20 fantasy points only once in that span.
Player(s) you would start ahead of Brock Purdy
I would rather start quarterbacks like Anthony Richardson of the Indianapolis Colts (check his injury status this week), Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys, and Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos ahead of Purdy in Week 3.
All of those signal-callers offer more fantasy upside than San Francisco’s quarterback. Wilson and Prescott especially have favorable matchups.