In this second part of our San Francicso 4-EYED TEAM PREVIEW, we’re going to be covering the 49ers’ IDPs that you should consider rostering for the 2021 fantasy football season.
The San Francisco 49ers were a pretty good defensive unit in 2021 despite the loss of star defensive lineman Nick Bosa who suffered an early-season ACL injury. Last season the 49ers defensive allowed the 5th fewest yards allowed on offense, the 5th fewest rushing touchdowns, 7th fewest rushing yards, the 4th fewest receiving yards, and the 6th fewest yards per reception. Ironically, there weren’t a lot of IDP stars in that defense which is surprising with just how good that defense was. Perhaps it was all due to scheme and coaching?! If it were mostly the latter then change might be on the horizon for the defensive unit in San Fran as former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is now the new head coach of the New York Jets.
Whether things change for the better or for worse on defense is a mystery as of right now. What is NOT a mystery is the group of defensive players you should want on your IDP fantasy football team.
So who are they?!
Find out now in the 2021 49ers IDP 4-EYED Team Preview
*This season at Fantasy In Frames we’ll be using IDP123 scoring as our default scoring rubric when talking about the fantasy relevance of IDP player performance.*
Linebacker
*Positional designations & ADP data brought to you by Sleeper.
Fred Warner (Current ADP: LB13)
.@fred_warner‘s not going anywhere, @49ers Faithful 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tT2Mfsjwxb
— NFL (@NFL) July 21, 2021
That highlight reel you just saw above of the newly signed $95 million dollar linebacker for the 49ers is no fluke, ladies and gentlemen. Fred Warner ranked as the best coverage linebacker, 9th best pass-rushing linebacker, and 16th best run-stopping linebacker in all of football in 2020. He has the 10th most combined tackles amongst all defenders in the NFL (122) and in IDP123 scoring Warner was the LB17 averaging 16.6 fantasy points per game.
This middle linebacker by the bay is more than a #tacklemachine, he can make plays all over the field in various ways. His ADP may have him listed as an LB2, but trust me when I say he’s a worthy LB1 for ANYONE’s roster.
Dre Greenlaw (Current ADP: LB71)
Dre Greenlaw 2020 Highlights pic.twitter.com/M1sF1enHsC
— John Chapman (@JL_Chapman) February 27, 2021
Dre Greenlaw is a player who has slowly been entering mainstream IDP fantasy football conversations. Finishing as the LB57 in fantasy points per game with a 12.8 average, in 13 games Greenlaw tallied 85 total tackles with 61 solo to 24 assisted and 7 tackles for a loss. While not an elite name YET he is certainly on his way to helping form a tackling tandem at linebacker with Fred Warner that has not been seen in San Francisco since Patrick Willis and Navarro Bowman. For now consider him an LB3 with upside.
Defensive Line
*Positional designations & ADP data brought to you by Sleeper.
Nick Bosa (Current ADP: DL5)
Though he only played in one full game in 2020, Nick Bosa DID tally 6 total tackles, one forced fumble, and 13.0 fantasy points. Many projected him, in 2020, to finish as a top 5 DL in IDP fantasy football based on how he performed during his rookie year that saw him tally 47 total tackles, 16 tackles for a loss, 9 sacks, and 25 QB hits. He averaged 13.2 fantasy points per game his rookie year in 2019 while splitting time with veterans that are no longer there.
Assuming he doesn’t suffer any setbacks in his recovery as we get closer to the start of regular season you should draft him as your DL1.