Week 15 kicks off with an NFC West battle that has significant playoff implications in addition to fantasy football stars poised to impact your matchup. Isaac Guerendo was banged up last week, and you are under pressure to optimize your lineup. Can you count on having the San Francisco 49ers’ running back at your disposal?
What Is Isaac Guerendo’s Injury?
If your goal in 2024 is to stay healthy, you should cross “49ers starting RB” off of your list of jobs. Christian McCaffrey entered the season injured, and ahead of Week 14, he and backup Jordan Mason were both placed on injured reserve, ruling them both out for the remainder of the fantasy season.
Guerendo, a 2024 fourth-round pick out of Louisville, wasn’t at full strength for the majority of training camp this past summer, which led to him having just seven touches in September. However, he entered last week as San Francisco’s unquestioned starter and was the clear-cut top waiver priority in fantasy leagues in which he wasn’t already rostered.
Most running backs would pickup 6 or 7 yards on this play. Not Isaac Guerendo… 💨 pic.twitter.com/caF7F9ztN0
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) December 10, 2024
Against the Chicago Bears last week, Guerendo paid off. He became the first running back in the NFL this season to have 50 receiving yards and a rushing score in the first quarter of a game, holding the featured role from the jump.
After turning 17 touches into 128 yards and a pair of scores (PPR RB2 for the week), Guerendo left the blowout win with a foot injury and didn’t return. Following the 38-13 victory, he himself said that his departing was “just precautionary.”
That’s encouraging, but if we’ve learned anything over the past three months, it’s that players don’t make great doctors. A Monday MRI revealed a foot sprain, and that diagnosis resulted in head coach Kyle Shanahan holding him out of practice on Tuesday.
Guerendo was able to take part in a limited capacity on Wednesday, and that has fueled an increase in optimism regarding his status for tonight’s game. Yet, this is a situation that is going to require monitoring up until kickoff.
Fantasy Implications of Guerendo’s Week 15 Status
The RB1 role under Shanahan has been a fantasy cheat code for years, and Guerendo rewarded you for starting him last week. During the first half, while the 49ers established dominance, he was on the field for 70.3% of the offensive snaps, a significant advantage over his backup, Patrick Taylor (21.6%).
This is a cloudy situation at the moment, but we know that this is a backfield we want exposure to whenever possible, which opens up a few contingency options as we near kickoff.
If Guerendo plays, you play him. San Francisco has made it clear that they were comfortable in giving him a bell-cow role, and if they deem him healthy, there’s no reason to think he can’t get at least 80% of the advantageous role that he walked into last week.
That should be plenty of work in a game that is labeled as a coin flip with serious postseason ramifications. The volume in a Shanahan lineup alone is worthy of our attention regardless of the opponent, but this matchup certainly doesn’t hurt.
2024 Los Angeles Rams Defensive Ranks
- 26th in rush EPA
- 28th in rushing yards
- 29th in touchdown rate
- 30th in points allowed per drive
Should Guerendo sit, Taylor moves into the lead role. The undrafted back out of Memphis spent three seasons with the Green Bay Packers as a backup and doesn’t have enough NFL work (94 career touches) for us to project him with confidence.
That said, he did find the end zone late last week and out-carried Ke’Shawn Vaughn 6-2 in the fourth quarter. In this instance, Taylor would project as a fine PPR Flex play that I’d plug in over secondary backs like Travis Etienne Jr./Jaylen Warren or receivers in tough spots like Jameson Williams and Keenan Allen.