Fantasy Football Team Preview: 49ers

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the ...
Perennial sleepers. It seems like almost every season, people are discussing the fact that the 49ers are ready to break out and surprise people and win the NFC West. And then, almost every season, they suck. They might not be great this year either. Mike Singletary brings a more disciplined approach than even Mike Nolan, but you can't possibly expect Shaun Hill or Alex Smith to lead a team to the playoffs. Or can you? Well, actually, for fantasy purposes, who cares? There's going to be a lot of running and a lot of surprises on defense in San Fran this year, and that's going to be where you pick up the value.

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The Breakout
The DS/T. I want to say Glen Coffee for myriad reasons, but the fact is that the Niners might be this year's Arizona Cardinals from a defensive fantasy perspective considering they now have a very nice core in place. Don't believe me? Shame on you. At linebacker, Takeo Spikes, Manny Lawson and Patrick Willis are pretty ridiculous; Dre' Bly, Nate Clements and Michael Lewis all shore up the secondary and that overall effect of the improved squad, coupled with a pretty mediocre division is going to make these guys one of the surprises in terms of defensive units this year. I'll be doing what I did with the Cardinals last season and grabbing them late. I suggest you do the same.

The Bust
I don't suppose I can use Vernon Davis here can I? (Aside: I loathe Davis. Simply loathe him.) How about instead I roll with Michael Crabtree? Okay, cool. Why, you ask? Excellent question. Here's why: he's simply too valued by fantasy players to accurately reflect his production. That's not to say he lacks talent; I pegged him as the best talent in the entire NFL Draft several times leading up to the 49ers getting him and eventually, I think he'll be very good and very valuable in fantasy. But just not this year, when people are expecting WR3 production out of him, and I'm not sure that's happening with the combination of quarterback suck, contract delays and a running game plan for the Niners this season.

All that being said, if I've got my core positions filled and have three wideouts locked up and Crabtree's sitting out there, I'll take him for the upside/bye-week potential (and keeper leagues are a whole different ballgame too), but right now, I'm probably looking elsewhere for my youthful WR production.

The Depth Chart
QB1 -- Shaun Hill
QB2 -- Alex Smith
RB1 -- Frank Gore
RB2 -- Glen Coffee
WR1 -- Josh Morgan
WR2 -- Isaac Bruce
WR3 -- Michael Crabtree
WR4 -- Brandon Jones
TE1 -- Vernon Davis
K -- Joe Nedney

The DS/T
See above. Weak division, tons of talent, great coach and Manny Lawson.

The Skinny
• Gore is the only legitimate fantasy star on this team. Period. End of story. Despite my earlier notions of injury history and the sleeper status of Coffee, he's still an early-round pick worth investing in, because of the system he's playing in and his relative consistency over the past three years.

• Bruce and Crabtree are lower-end wideouts; the same as Morgan and Jones, who are nothing but fliers if you believe that Hill or Smith can find a groove (not a good chance) or that Bruce and/or Crabtree could get injured (pretty decent chance). Just don't mess with Vernon. It's not healthy for the heart.

• And as noted, the defense should be secretly stellar. Other than that, my best advice is to "steer clear, Big Tuna."