We've previewed each of the two teams playing in the big game on Sunday. Now it's time to meld the projections together and see how the rankings shake out. Not a lot of surprises, and not a lot of decisions for most people who've made it this far in postseason fantasy competitions. You start what you've got left.
Projections assume PPR scoring. As for players, there are a couple of injury uncertainties. Here are the guesses mid-week for those situations.
Jerick McKinnon, most notably, seems unlikely to be available for Kansas City. He's been out of action with a groin injury for nearly 2 months, but when the team opened up his practice window over the weekend, it seemed like he might return. But he isn't practicing, and yesterday Andy Reid made it sound like he won't suit up. This is a minor negative for Kansas City's offense, but a positive for both Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire from what I wrote on Monday. Not that CEH will fill that passing downs role, it should still be Pacheco getting more of those chances. But at least there's some deep league appeal for the backup, perhaps playing 20-25 percent of the snaps.
George Kittle didn't practice last week due to a toe injury. Kittle played all but 2 snaps in the NFC Championship Game. I have zero concerns about this injury, though I suppose you'll want to make sure he's practicing in some capacity this week.
Each team has an injury concern on one of its lines. Arik Armstead (knee, foot) didn't practice last Thursday or Friday. I've seen no indication he's in danger of missing the Super Bowl. Kansas City isn't certain to have guard Joe Thuney (pectoral). That one is a concern, although it should be noted that Thuney missed the second half at Buffalo and didn't play at Baltimore, and Kansas City managed without him.
Skyy Moore might return to the field for Kansas City. Moore caught 14 passes in the last 11 games he played in this season and seems about as likely to be the No. 4 or 5 wideout as one of the top 3. I'm not even sure he'll be active; definitely not a fantasy option.
Rankings below. Although not included in the table because none of the column headings would make sense, I prefer the Kansas City Defense to San Francisco. I think Kansas City will win, and I like its chances of getting some production off Brock Purdy more than I like the odds of San Francisco getting some sacks and takeaways against Patrick Mahomes.
SUPER BOWL PLAYER RANKINGS | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pos | Tm | Player | Pass | Rec | Run | Total | TD | PPR |
QB | KC | Patrick Mahomes | 262 | 0 | 22 | 284 | 1.88 | 23.0 |
RB | SF | Christian McCaffrey | 0 | 33 | 84 | 117 | 1.06 | 22.0 |
QB | SF | Brock Purdy | 233 | 0 | 11 | 243 | 1.49 | 18.9 |
TE | KC | Travis Kelce | 1 | 72 | 0 | 72 | .54 | 17.2 |
WR | KC | Rashee Rice | 0 | 74 | 0 | 74 | .47 | 15.8 |
WR | SF | Deebo Samuel | 0 | 63 | 7 | 71 | .41 | 14.0 |
RB | KC | Isiah Pacheco | 0 | 17 | 63 | 80 | .49 | 12.7 |
WR | SF | Brandon Aiyuk | 0 | 61 | 0 | 61 | .32 | 12.0 |
TE | SF | George Kittle | 0 | 54 | 0 | 54 | .31 | 10.9 |
PK | KC | Harrison Butker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 8.5 |
PK | SF | Jake Moody | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 6.8 |
WR | KC | M. Valdes-Scantling | 0 | 29 | 0 | 29 | .11 | 5.4 |
RB | KC | Clyde Edwards-Helaire | 0 | 10 | 16 | 26 | .3 | 4.6 |
TE | KC | Noah Gray | 0 | 17 | 0 | 17 | .14 | 4.1 |
WR | SF | Jauan Jennings | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14 | .06 | 2.8 |
WR | KC | Justin Watson | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 | .13 | 2.5 |
RB | SF | Kyle Juszczyk | 2 | 7 | 0 | 9 | .09 | 2.5 |
RB | SF | Elijah Mitchell | 0 | 1 | 16 | 16 | .04 | 2.3 |
WR | KC | Mecole Hardman | 0 | 8 | 1 | 9 | .03 | 2.2 |
WR | KC | Richie James | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8 | .06 | 2.0 |
WR | KC | Kadarius Toney | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | .05 | 1.6 |
WR | SF | Ray-Ray McCloud | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .01 | .5 |
RB | KC | LaMical Perine | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .01 | .3 |
TE | KC | Blake Bell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .01 | .3 |
WR | SF | Chris Conley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .00 | .3 |
TE | SF | Charlie Woerner | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .01 | .2 |
WR | KC | Justyn Ross | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .01 | .2 |
QB | KC | Blaine Gabbert | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .00 | .2 |
QB | SF | Sam Darnold | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .00 | .2 |
RB | SF | Jordan Mason | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .01 | .2 |
TE | SF | Brayden Willis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | .1 |
--Andy Richardson