Just as it was last season, the NFC West is extremely competitive, as the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, and Los Angeles Rams all look like contenders. Plus, the 3-0 49ers, just like last season, are dealing with a slew of injuries, but they’re persisting thanks to coaching genius Kyle Shanahan and MVP candidate Brock Purdy.
San Francisco had hoped to insulate itself against injuries somewhat over the summer by snagging arguably the best available free agent wide receiver in future Hall of Famer Mike Evans. But the injury bug has caught Evans hard in the latter years of his career, and after recovering from a groin issue in the preseason and a hip issue before Week 3, he left that game with a rib injury and didn’t return.
Any potential absence for Evans would leave the 49ers extremely thin at that position, with Demarcus Robinson, Christian Kirk, De’Zhaun Stribling, and Ricky Pearsall all on Injured Reserve. Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins, Deebo Samuel, and Brandin Cooks would be the only healthy wideouts on the roster, with Dante Pettis potentially a candidate for elevation from the practice squad.
Are any of those wideouts fantasy-viable in Week 4 against the Denver Broncos? Let’s dive in.
Results and Usage
Samuel and Cooks are the two most accomplished among San Francisco’s options. Samuel was named an All-Pro First Teamer in 2021, turning 77 catches into 1,405 yards and adding another 59 carries for 365 yards on the ground, and while he hasn’t quite matched that production since, he’s amassed at least 800 yards from scrimmage in each of his healthy professional seasons. Meanwhile, Cooks hasn’t played since late last season, when he had a four-catch, 101-yard outing with the Buffalo Bills, but he had more than 1,000 yards in six of his seven seasons between 2015 and 2021.
This season, Evans leads all 49ers wideouts in targets (tied for second on the team with Kittle, behind only McCaffrey), but he doesn’t lead the team in receiving yards. In fact, Samuel — despite garnering five fewer targets — has amassed 22 more receiving yards and the same number of touchdowns as Evans, largely because he took an 80-yard hook-and-ladder from Evans to the house in Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals. Watkins had two catches for 60 yards against Arizona, and he had two catches for 26 yards last season after being selected in the fourth round of the 2025 Draft. Watkins managed 906 yards and an SEC-leading nine touchdowns as a senior at Ole Miss.
By advanced numbers, Evans hasn’t been the best wideout on the roster. He’s a slow-footed receiver with a giant catch radius, so he doesn’t have to generate much separation, and he hasn’t, managing just 1.8 yards per targeted route, the third-fewest of any receiver with at least 10 targets this season. He also hasn’t been great after the catch, losing 0.7 yards per catch relative to expectations. Samuel, on the other hand, has lost 0.6 yards per catch relative to expectations, but he’s managed the most separation of any wideout (4.9 yards per targeted route). Evans still out-paces Samuel by PFF’s grades (he ranks eighth among 100 qualified receivers and Samuel 39th), but Samuel’s numbers are still solid. Watkins would also grade out only slightly below Evans if he’d played enough snaps to qualify.
Future Outlook
Thankfully for Samuel, Watkins, and Cooks, they play with arguably the best quarterback in football. This season, Purdy is off to a ridiculous start; he leads the league in touchdowns, touchdown percentage, success rate, longest play, adjusted yards per attempt, passer rating, QBR, sack percentage, net yards per attempt, and adjusted net yards per attempt, and he trails only Geno Smith and Drew Lock in completion percentage. His numbers are unlikely to hold up across a full season — he’ll definitely be sacked at some point, and he’ll definitely throw an interception — but if they did, he’d hold the highest single-season passer rating in NFL history by the same margin as the gap between second-place Aaron Rodgers (2011) and 23rd-place Rodgers (2021). Purdy actually only ranks third by PFF’s grades and ranks fourth in completion percentage over expectation, but it’s been a spectacular season for him nonetheless.
Purdy and Shanahan have histories of discovering underrated, fantasy-relevant gems while dealing with injuries. Prior to Week 3 in 2024, Jauan Jennings was hardly a household name, but he went for 175 yards and three touchdowns against the Los Angeles Rams with Christian McCaffrey, Samuel, and George Kittle all out with injuries. Last season, Shanahan and Mac Jones got back-to-back 142-yard performances from Kendrick Bourne in Weeks 5 and 6 with Jennings absent from the former game and Pearsall absent from both. It would hardly be a surprise if Samuel went down in the first quarter and Watkins somehow finished with 100 receiving yards.
With McCaffrey and Kittle both healthy, it’s likely that the game plan will operate around them, and San Francisco has been so efficient (and its margins of victory so thorough) that Purdy has attempted the sixth-fewest throws in the league so far. Overall, the 49ers have operated the league’s seventh-most run-heavy offensive scheme, and in addition to McCaffrey’s bounce-back after an inefficient 2025 season as a runner, rookie Kaelon Black has been pretty good as well. It doesn’t matter; even playing alongside Evans, Samuel (WR24) has been fantasy-viable, so he’ll be fantasy-viable without Evans, too. That’s how good the 49ers’ pass-blockers and quarterback have been.
Of course, Samuel doesn’t have the easiest matchup, given all the talent in Denver’s secondary. The Broncos have allowed the 10th-fewest FPTS per game to opposing wideouts this season, and they have a former Defensive Player of the Year in Patrick Surtain II and a two-time former All-Pro safety in former San Francisco star Talanoa Hufanga, who ranks fourth among all safeties by coverage grades. However, Surtain has been more gettable than usual to start the season, ranking 78th of 99 qualified corners in coverage grades, and Ja’Quan McMillan, who’s likely to oppose Samuel when he lines up in the slot, has allowed a 94.5 passer rating on his targets. Denver has also missed the most tackles so far, mitigating one of Samuel’s biggest weaknesses. The eight-year veteran should be just fine.
