San Francisco 49ers DVOA, Stats, & NFL Rankings

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk continued a statically mediocre postseason in the team's 25-22 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII. The former first-rounder finished with just three receptions -- the same number in both of his previous playoff games this season -- on six targets for 49 yards. The 16.3 yards per reception in this game were near his regular-season number of 17.9, which was second in the NFL to Pittsburgh's George Pickens who had twelve fewer receptions and virtually the same amount of targets. Still, the 49ers and fantasy managers could have used one or two more big plays out of the fourth-year pro. Aiyuk will likely enter his age-26 season as a solid WR2 in 2024 fantasy drafts.

Predictably, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was heavily involved in the team's 25-22 Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The newly-minted Offensive Player of the Year took 22 carries for 80 yards, plus eight receptions on as many targets for another 80 yards and a touchdown. The 21-yard touchdown reception improbably came from wide receiver Jauan Jennings on a trick play. It's hard to blame McCaffrey for the loss after 160 all-purpose yards, but besides the touchdown he was pretty well bottled up by Kansas City's defense, averaging just 3.6 yards on the ground while not gaining any chunks longer than 11 yards. CMC will once again enter 2024 fantasy drafts worthy of consideration for the No. 1 overall pick.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy's best efforts failed to bring the team's first championship in 29 years in Sunday's Super Bowl matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. As the Chiefs sealed the second overtime victory in Super Bowl history, Purdy's night ended at 23 completions of 38 attempts for 255 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions against a tough pass defense. It's hard to say that Purdy had a bad game, but it may be tough to shake his "game manager" tag after this one. He kept his team in the game throughout and led an overtime drive to a field goal, but there were times when his inexperience showed, standing in contrast to Patrick Mahomes' clean game-winning touchdown drive in response. Purdy will look to get his team back for another shot and will most likely be on the QB1/QB2 border this fall in fantasy drafts.

Even though Bill Belichick is gone, New England Patriots former first-round quarterback Mac Jones, who lost the starting role and ended up the third-stringer by the end of 2023, is a trade candidate in the coming weeks and will most likely end up somewhere else in 2024. The Patriots own the No. 3 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, and all indications are that they will seriously explore taking of the draft's top QBs as they move into the Jerod Mayo era in New England. If USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye go first and second in the draft, the Patriots could take a third QB or trade back with another team if they don't like who slides to them. Jones threw for 22 touchdowns as a rookie in 2021 but has regressed tremendously the last two years, which was one of the big reasons the team moved on from Belichick after 24 years and six Super Bowl rings.

San Francisco 49ers kicker Jake Moody will become the third rookie kicker in the past decade to start a Super Bowl when the team faces the Kansas City Chiefs indoors at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday. Moody has struggled at times during his first year in the league, finishing 20th among all qualifiers in field goal percentage at 84%, even though he was near the bottom of the league in attempts longer than 39 yards with nine. For context, Jacksonville's Brandon McManus led the league with 23 such attempts. Moody has had a rocky road in the postseason as well, missing two of five attempts. It hasn't been all bad though, Moody set the NFL record for most consecutive extra points made (60) since the try was moved back to the 15-yard line in 2015. While fantasy managers may be reluctant to trust a rookie kicker in the biggest game of the year, it's worth noting that the last two rookies in the Super Bowl -; Jake Elliott and Evan McPherson -; went a combined five-for-five on field goals in their games. In what figures to be a close, relatively high-scoring contest Moody will cede the top option to KC's Harrison Butker but Moody could bring value to DFS players who would rather spend more cash on other positions.