• Jordan Mason leads the San Francisco 49ers: Christian McCaffrey was surprisingly inactive, giving Mason a chance to show why he’s one of the highest-rated running backs of the past few seasons.

• New York Jets complete confidence in Breece Hall And Garrett Wilson: For the first 40 minutes of the game, Hall and Wilson were the only ones to touch the ball for the Jets.

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Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

PFF’s fantasy football summary focuses on player usage and stats, and contains all the essential information you need to succeed in fantasy in 2024.

New York Jets @ San Francisco 49ers

• Jordan Mason: 28 carries, 147 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 reception, 5 receiving yards
• Allen Lazard: 6 receptions, 89 yards, 2 touchdowns

Jordan Mason shines in Christian McCaffrey‘s absence: Mason recorded his first 100-yard performance and helped the 49ers take the lead.

McCaffrey is dealing with calf and Achilles injuries and was officially questionable for the game. McCaffrey himself stated that he had no doubts about playing, but his injury flared up so the team decided to sit him out, leaving many fantasy managers without a backup plan.

Mason, who was the NFL’s highest-rated running back the past two seasons, albeit in a small sample size, took over as the 49ers’ primary running back. It appeared he Elijah Mitchell for the primary reserve role, but Mitchell ended up on the injured list before the end of the season, leaving Mason assured of the job.

Mason played the clear majority of the snaps, leaving the field in only a handful of spots to Deebo Samuel Sr. a chance at running back. Rookie in the fourth round Isaac Guerendo also played briefly. Mason played effectively, averaging over five yards per carry on a high sample size.

Mason should be the top target for running backs this week. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported before the game that there’s a chance McCaffrey won’t win. play next week. Mason would be a must-start if McCaffrey misses another game. Mason will also be one of the best handcuffs for the rest of the season, even if McCaffrey plays next week.

Brandon Aiyuk was gradually put into effect: The 49ers star forward missed most of training camp due to a holdout and saw less playing time than normal in this game.

Aiyuk played every snap on the first two drives, but was rotated significantly after that. This was mostly on early-down run plays, so he wasn’t off the field too often for pass routes. When it was third-and-long, Aiyuk was consistently on the field. When he was off the field, it was Chris Conley replace him.

Likewise, while the 49ers maintained a multi-score lead, they also gave up Deebo Samuel Sr. more plays, with Ronnie Bell Be Samuel’s primary replacement. The 49ers tend to have reserve wide receivers act as backups for certain players, so if Aiyuk or Samuel gets injured this season, it would be good to know who their replacement is.

We can expect Aiyuk’s playing time to increase soon. He didn’t score many fantasy points in this game, but he did drop a touchdown pass that would have made him a clear fantasy starter for the week. If this game had remained more exciting, Aiyuk would likely have played more in this game. He can safely remain in fantasy starting lineups, despite his fantasy production not being high in this game.

Allen Lazard starts with wide receiver about newer wide receivers: The Jets relied on their wide receivers from last season instead of the new additions to the roster.

Garrett Wilson And Allen Lazard were always wide receivers, with Xavier Gipson as the third wide receiver in a three-receiver set.

The Jets added Mike Williams in free agency, but he played only a fraction of possible snapsThe Jets had four plays in the red zone, and Williams was on three of them, so it’s possible the game plan was for him to play specifically in those situations, given his 6-foot-4 frame. Williams was coming off an ACL tear a year ago and was listed on the injury report as having a knee injury, but he was a full participant in practice all week without an injury designation.

It’s clear that the team wants to ease him into action slowly. There’s a chance he could be a starter by midseason. It’s okay to keep him on the fantasy bench until then, but for now, he shouldn’t be in any fantasy starting lineups. Once Williams starts playing time, Lazard will likely start to lose time, making it harder for Lazard to be a waiver target.

The Jets also spent the 65th overall pick on slot receiver Malachi CorleyThe fact that he played the entire preseason while the Jets rested other rookie offensive linemen boded poorly for his early regular season playing time. He played one snap as a run blocker on offense. While Week 1 is always too early to trade a rookie, I would rather have several other rookie wide receivers on my roster this season.

Various comments

• Jets sophomore running back Israel Abanikanda was a healthy inactive player as the team’s fourth running back.

• The Jets opted to add Anthony Firkser from the practice squad and make Brenden Bates inactive, despite Bates not being listed on the injury report.

• The Jets relied on the starting tight end Tyler Conklin that he was on the field more in this game than in other games last season, but he played no part in the passing game.

• Breece Hall‘s playing time slowly but surely increased last season. He’s played just three games with 70+ percent offensive snaps this season, and those were the final three weeks of 2023. His playing time reached new heights in this game and was ideal for a first-round fantasy draft pick. He made only one spelling mistake before the last few minutes were up, when Aaron Rodgers was removed from the game.

• 49ers slot receiver Jauan Jennings left the game briefly in the third quarter after what appeared to be a hip-drop tackle. Jennings had been limited in practice earlier in the week due to an ankle injury. He was able to return to the game later in the quarter, but the 49ers didn’t need him much the rest of the way as they remained in two-wide receiver sets.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays that are called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three metrics have these plays removed.