NFL

Dynasty Fantasy Football: 8 Players to Buy Before Week 1

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George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers

ADP: 105th overall (TE9)

George Kittle is an ideal late-round tight end target. We've written him up plenty this offseason, but he's worth touching on again.

Rookie tight ends notoriously struggle, so Kittle's 2017 performance isn't as bad as the raw numbers look. He finished with 43 catches, 515 yards and 2 touchdowns, checking in 18th among all tight ends in both yards and catches while ranking 15th in yards per game. His rate of 8.17 yards per target actually ranked 15th all time among rookie tight ends with 20 or more catches, per our JJ Zachariason.

That alone would be enough to get us interested, but his situation with the 49ers pushes things over the top.

Not only does San Fran not have much else at tight end (Garrett Celek), they're not exactly loaded at receiver, with Marquise Goodwin and Pierre Garcon sitting atop the depth chart. Neither Garcon nor Goodwin is going to command a huge market share, so Kittle should have a solid role in this offense.

And it's an offense we want exposure to in fantasy.

You may have caught wind of it, but that Jimmy G guy was pretty outstanding last year. Our models project San Francisco to have the league's ninth-best offense in 2018, and another solid year from Kittle could entrench him as Garoppolo's longtime sidekick at tight end.