Deebo Samuel Sr.: Start or Sit?

WR•vs LAR•Fantasy Football verdict

Starting WR and hybrid weapon. Yards-after-catch bully used on jet sweeps and manufactured touches.

This week’s verdict

Toss-Up· medium

24% target share and a 72% snap rate give him a real PPR floor, but a WR52 consensus rank and 8.9 projection make him a flex-only dart.

Projected

Consensus

WR55

position rank

Opponent

LAR

this week

Implied total

22.8

team points

The call

The usage is legit: a 24% target share on a 72% snap rate over 16 games is WR1-level volume for this offense, and that alone keeps him startable in deeper PPR builds.
The market disagrees — consensus has him WR52 at 8.9 projected points, which is below a typical 12-team starter and screams low expected efficiency on those looks.
Matchup gives no edge either way: the LAR DvP composite sits 21 of 32 on a 0-game sample with 0.00 confidence, so there's nothing there to break the tie.
Game script is neutral-to-fine with a 22.8 implied team total and a 3.0 spread — close games keep the volume flowing. Start him if you need target floor; sit him if you have a WR3 with a defined red-zone or big-play role.

Verdicts based on PPR scoring.

Latest on Samuel

Catch up on our daily updates from 49ers training camp, including intel on QBs, position battles and potential breakouts.

ESPN · Aug 25, 2026

Reported by the sources listed — not independently verified.

Week	Verdict	Reason
2026 Week 1	Toss-Up· medium	24% target share and a 72% snap rate give him a real PPR floor, but a WR52 consensus rank and 8.9 projection make him a flex-only dart.

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