2019 Summer Sleeper: San Francisco 49ers

Michael Moore Posted On July 16, 2019

In our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series, DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going to give you the likes of mainstream sleepers, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Adam Thielen is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

With the recent additions to the San Francisco 49ers receiving corps via the draft (Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd this year; Dante Pettis and Richie James last year), coupled with the departure of Pierre Garcon, it’s easy to forget who’s still left.

Who is still left – and now the most tenured 49ers receiver – is Marquise Goodwin, who’s still only been with the team since 2017 and has been a Niner for about two months longer than Trent Taylor. Goodwin has also been San Francisco’s most successful fantasy receiver (not pass-catcher – that honor goes to George Kittle) under Kyle Shanahan yet currently sits as the 95th wide receiver in dynasty startup ADP and 228th player overall. Below are a few things to remember about Goodwin when trying to find a sleeper in your dynasty league.

Marquise Goodwin, WR

Category: Deep Sleeper

Goodwin was one of the first pieces added to the offense by the management duo of John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. It was a curious decision at the time as Goodwin, nor his numbers, didn’t exactly jump off the page. He had just completed his best season in Buffalo while playing more than 12 games for the first time in his career. But even then, he didn’t eclipse 30 catches or 500 receiving yards. There’s no doubt the 49ers were attracted for the same reason the Bills made him a third-round pick in 2013: speed that manifested itself in the form of a 4.27-second 40-yard dash time and the ability to get behind the defense in a hurry.

The 49ers also brought in the aforementioned Garcon, a reliable route-runner and possession receiver, to complement the speedy Goodwin. Together, the two made a productive pairing. Garcon was on pace for 1,000 yards before injuries limited him to just eight games. Meanwhile, Goodwin, aided by the midseason trade of Jimmy Garoppolo, turned in the best season of his fantasy career, seeing 105 targets (nearly 40 more than his previous high), catching 56 balls for 962 yards and three touchdowns. Goodwin, to the surprise of everybody, finished as the 30th-highest scoring fantasy receiver that year and a legitimate WR 3/4.

Things were certainly looking up heading into 2018 as Goodwin was coming off his best season and he was due to have an entire year with Garoppolo at quarterback. But the optimism ended early and abruptly. Garoppolo tore his ACL in the third game of the season while Goodwin himself began missing time with hamstring and quad injuries. That was followed by the unspeakable tragedy in which Goodwin and his wife lost their unborn twins. With football the furthest thing from his mind, Goodwin’s season finally ended with a calf injury. In all, Goodwin played in 11 games, seeing 44 targets, catching 23 of those for 395 yards and four touchdowns. Needless to say, the end of 2018 couldn’t come fast enough for Goodwin.

Heading in to 2019, it’s easy to see why Goodwin has fallen off the radar. Not only was his 2018 (understandably) disappointing but the 49ers have added more pieces to the receiving corps the last two seasons than any other position. He was jumped on the depth chart by Pettis last year. Then the 49ers went out and drafted Deebo Samuel in the second round of this year’s draft plus Jalen Hurd in the third. Those three, added to promising youngsters Trent Taylor and Kendrick Bourne, and the fight for targets will be crowded. And those are just the receivers! Let’s not forget about Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle and the fact that the 49ers have no less than three running backs (Tevin Coleman, Jerick McKinnon, and Matt Breida) capable of catching passes out of the backfield.

So where does that leave Goodwin? Shanahan has already stated he expects Pettis and Samuel to be his starters out of the gate. However, Shanahan also mentions using Goodwin in the same role he used Taylor Gabriel in Atlanta during the 2016 season when Shanahan was the Falcons offensive coordinator. Gabriel did a little bit of everything in Atlanta, finishing fourth on the team in targets with 50, catching 35 of those for 579 yards and six touchdowns. On the year, he was fantasy’s 61st highest-scoring receiver and all that in just 13 games.

There are several similarities to Gabriel and Goodwin. Both are super small (Gabriel’s 5’ 8”, 165 pounds; Goodwin is 5’ 9” and 180 pounds) with speed being their primary weapon. And while they were used on several gadget plays, they still averaged a big play with every reception.

Gabriel’s yard-per-reception in 2016? 16.5. Goodwin’s career yards-per-reception? 16.7

Coincidentally, Shanahan was also the offensive coordinator for Cleveland in 2014 where Gabriel first got his start. If Shanahan has used this type of role now in multiple spots, and referred to this specific player when speaking about Goodwin, that’s a good indicator that role is where is Goodwin is headed.

For Goodwin to be able to replicate what Gabriel did, the 49ers offense will have to be clicking. If we look at the 2016 season, Matt Ryan had a career-season, throwing for nearly 5,000 yards and 38 touchdowns despite the Falcons being just 26th in pass attempts. Ryan was able to accomplish that by being extremely efficient, completing 70% of his passes and averaging 9.3 yards-per-attempt. During his tenure in San Francisco, Garoppolo’s averaged 64.5% of his passes and has an 8.5 yards-per-attempt average. Of course, Jimmy G didn’t have Pettis, Samuel or Kittle for most of that so it’s possible those additions can push him to reach Matt Ryan, 2016 edition levels. If he does, Goodwin has a great chance to be one of the beneficiaries and far out play his current dynasty ADP.

Author
Recent Posts

Michael Moore

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Michael has played fantasy football for over 20 years when his mom funded his first team in the fourth grade. He’s contributed to various fantasy football publications and most recently spent five years writing for the Fantasy side of things at Pro Football Focus.