Here is a suggestion for how to handle the 49ers’ backfield in fantasy football this week: Don’t.
Absolve yourself of this burden and relegate any 49ers running back in your lineup to the bench. Tearing your hair out over Trey Sermon or Jacques Patrick or … *squints* … Trenton Cannon? Or … *squints harder* Kerryon Johnson? Knock it off.
This is not your cross to bear.
Sure, there’s some semblance of honor in conquering the finicky positional situations like the on in the 49ers’ offensive backfield. Making the right choice in a situation that uncertain feels more satisfying than simply starting Christian McCaffrey Dalvin Cook Derrick Henry.
But this isn’t typical. This is a fantasy football manager’s nightmare. It’s the choice between two players with one combined NFL regular season carry, and a player who managed 52 touches on a terrible Lions team last season.
Now, there’s a definite chance a 49ers running back goes off against the Packers. Sermon could have the breakout game everyone expected when he was a hot dynasty pick this offseason. And perhaps Patrick finds a home barreling through Mack-truck sized holes in Kyle Shanahan’s scheme. However, is figuring out the best of those two situations really going to bring you joy as you consume 12 hours of football on Sunday?
Probably not. That sounds like an anxiety sundae covered with disappointment and topped with a giant ‘L.’
Save yourself the choice and just bench them all. If one goes off on the bench, so be it, but it’s better than the alternative of going through the painstaking process of making a choice just to make the wrong one. Let this situation shake out and see if the decision makes itself over the next couple weeks instead.