Be careful with George Kittle
By Jared Smola |
Updated on Thu, 13 Jul 2023, 2:27 PM EDT
49ers TE George Kittle finished second among TEs in PPR and non-PPR points per game last year. But there are a few reasons to be wary of drafting him in 2023. Kittle derived a huge portion of his 2022 fantasy production from his career-high 11 TDs. He scored on 18.3% of his receptions, which is more than double the league-wide average TE TD rate of 8.4% and more than triple Kittle's 6.0% TD rate over his first five seasons. He's in for regression in the TD column. On top of that, Kittle's catches per game, yards per game, yards per route, and target share last year were all his lowest marks since his 2017 rookie campaign. Turning 30 in August, Kittle is likely in decline. He faces stiff target competition this season in RB Christian McCaffrey and WRs Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. And the 49ers figure to remain a run-leaning offense. Kittle's high weekly ceiling makes him worth taking some shots on in best ball. But he looks generally overvalued at his TE4 ADP. Kittle sits significantly lower in our TE Rankings.