INSCMagazine: Get Social!

Coming into the fantasy football season, Carlos Hyde was drafted as a mid-range RB2. The concerns for him coming into the season were that the 49ers would be behind too much for the 49ers to run the ball enough for Hyde to produce. While it has come true that the 49ers have been getting punished for their lack of talent on both sides of the ball, they have not done so to the detriment of Carlos Hyde’s fantasy football production. Last week saw Hyde with his most productive running game of the year, as he gashed the Jets’ defense for 197 yards on only 17 carries. For a run blocking offensive line as questionable as the 49ers’ that is an incredible feat.

[embedit snippet=”jeff-ads”]

Hyde has run well all year, and is one of the hidden gems of the year. There’s a lot to hate about the 49ers this year, but Hyde isn’t one of them. His running style, with his patience, agility and ability to push the pile is a reminder to 49ers fans of the man he replaced, Frank Gore. He is even built similarly, and his downhill style is almost a carbon copy of Gore. Much like the Frank Gore of the late 2000s, Hyde is toiling away as the lone bright spot on a terrible squad. He is just 121 yards away from hitting 1000 yards on the season, and he did it missing two games in the middle of the year. He has even become a factor in the passing game, which some saw as a detriment of his, scoring through the air in two of his last three games. He is the best, and most versatile, weapon the 49ers have. They lean on him through thick and thin, and this weekend will be thin for the 49ers as they take on one of the best offenses in the NFL while fielding one of the worst defenses in the NFL.

There are two things benefitting Hyde this weekend in what is sure to be a blowout: the 49ers will stick with him even if they get down big, and Falcons are one of the worst in the league at stopping opposing running backs. Atlanta allows the fourth-most fantasy points per game to running backs on the year, and made struggling running backs like Spencer Ware and Todd Gurley good fantasy options over the last two games. Since week seven, the only game they didn’t allow double-digit fantasy points to a running back were weeks eight and nine when they went up against the murderers’ row of Aaron Ripkowski in Green Bay and Peyton Barber for Tampa Bay.

Carlos Hyde has a lot going for him this week, with the 49ers committed to him in what will be a blowout with plenty of garbage time for him to produce. He will also get his opportunity against one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. He’s a definite start this weekend.