Christian McCaffrey racked up 1,210 yards and 10 scores with the San Francisco 49ers last season … his first game with the team came in late October! After a pair of injury-plagued seasons, CMC re-established himself as an elite fantasy football option, and entering his age-27 season, expectations are as high as ever in this Kyle Shanahan-led offense.
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Christian McCaffrey’s Fantasy Outlook for the 2023 NFL Season
Brock Purdy is back under center in San Francisco to prove that his success down the stretch of last season wasn’t a fluke. While the case could certainly be made that he overachieved, there’s no denying the firepower on this offense, and that means even ordinary QB play should have the team in position to score plenty.
The 49ers “Big Three” in terms of pass catchers all return this season, and all are more than capable of being the lead option in any given game.
George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Brandon Aiyuk are as solid a trio as you’ll find, and the target hierarchy varies on a matchup-to-matchup basis, something that makes them a great NFL team and a pain for fantasy managers.
The number of playmakers on this offense has the ability to leave McCaffrey vulnerable to some low-usage games on the ground (under 15 carries six times last season with the 49ers), but it also opens him up to average over 5.7 yards per touch.
Is McCaffrey a Good Fantasy Pick?
He’s never going to be a bad pick, and if you want to nitpick the top of the board, you could easily make the case that he should go first overall.
- Austin Ekeler: New offensive coordinator
- Justin Jefferson: The unknown of Jordan Addison could change the target distribution
- Ja’Marr Chase: The preseason Joe Burrow injury
- Cooper Kupp: His preseason injury, combined with the health of Matthew Stafford
My updated Half-PPR RB Rankings after the Josh Jacobs news:
1. Christian McCaffrey
2. Austin Ekeler
3. Saquon Barkley
4. Bijan Robinson
5. Nick Chubb
6. Tony Pollard
7. Josh Jacobs
8. Derrick Henry
9. Joe Mixon
10. Jonathan Taylor— Kyle Yates (@KyleYNFL) August 26, 2023
If McCaffrey is healthy, there isn’t anyone who marries talent with a role like him. There’s a health risk that comes with everyone in this game of ours, so I’m not letting that scare me off of drafting CMC as my rock, and Purdy showed me enough last season to convince me that the QB position will not be a limiting factor here.
- PFN Consensus Rankings: 1st overall
- Current ADP: 2nd overall