Tonight’s Thursday Night Football matchup between the 49ers and Rams could be one of the better games of the second half of the 2024 NFL regular season (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime). It’s a division rivalry game, it’s stocked full of stars, and it could decide which of these two teams ultimately makes the playoffs. It’s also a hell of a good opportunity to assemble some DFS lineups.
Both of these teams have been mired by injury and inconsistency most of this season, but the argument could be made that each of them enjoyed season-best offensive efforts in Week 14. Los Angeles put up 44 points to outlast MVP favorite Josh Allen and the Bills by two at home. San Francisco put a beatdown on rookie Caleb Williams and the Bears in Chi-town.
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The main focal points of both offenses have shifted a bit. Christian McCaffrey is on the IR and Deebo Samuel has been a shell of his former All-Pro self, but Isaac Guerendo and Jauan Jennings have emerged as legit weapons. Cooper Kupp has similarly relinquished his franchise player role for LA, with Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams both in the running for new face of the franchise.
Assembling a DFS lineup for this NFC West showdown? The Sporting News has advice, strategy, studs and sleepers for you to consider before you submit your entries.
Let’s get right to our optimal lineups. Here’s our optimal lineups for DraftKings, FanDuel, and SuperDraft ahead of the 49ers vs. Rams on Thursday Night Football.
49ers vs. Rams NFL DFS picks: Optimal DraftKings lineup
Before we get into our lineup and strategy, here are the key scoring settings for DraftKings Showdown contests: They’re full-point PPR, and they feature three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, and 100 receiving yards. The Captain pick costs 1.5 times a player’s original price, but he also gets his point total multiplied by 1.5.
| POS. | PLAYER | TEAM/OPP. | SALARY |
| Captain | Puka Nacua, WR | Rams at SF | $16,500 |
| FLEX | Brock Purdy, QB | 49ers vs. LA | $9,400 |
| FLEX | Jauan Jennings, WR | 49ers vs. LA | $8,600 |
| FLEX | George Kittle, TE | 49ers vs. LA | $8,000 |
| FLEX | Demarcus Robinson, WR | Rams at SF | $4,400 |
| FLEX | Israel Abanikanda, RB | 49ers vs. LA | $3,000 |
Captain: Puka Nacua, WR, Rams ($16,500)
Nacua could honestly be one of the four best receivers in the NFL right now. His dominance seemingly keeps reaching new heights, and it’s almost like there’s nothing he can’t do on the field of play. He has fantastic hands, terrific off-the-line speed, phenomenal route-running ability, and a unique combination of size, strength and elusiveness that makes him a nightmare to tackle. He averages nearly 21 DK points per game on the season, but he demonstrated with his 44.8-point performance last week that his ceiling is outer space. Let’s hope for another explosion tonight.
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FLEX 1: Brock Purdy, QB, 49ers ($9,400)
Purdy has been a bit underwhelming compared to his 2023 breakout and Super Bowl run, but give the man credit. He lost Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk, and he’s been the chief witness of what has felt like Deebo Samuel’s on-field demise. And yet, this young QB still has a 19.3 DK average, over 3,000 passing yards and 19 total touchdowns. Purdy, Purdy, Purdy good.
FLEX 2: Jauan Jennings, WR, 49ers ($8,600)
For anyone living under a rock, Jauan Jennings is the new 49ers WR1. Deebo Samuel has been atrocious, Brandon Aiyuk is on IR, and Jennings has always enjoyed a rapport with Purdy. So, give us the Purdy-Jennings stack with a George Kittle cherry on top. What’s not to love about Jauan? He averages over 70 receiving yards per game and he’s found the end zone six times. He’s a bargain at this price.
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FLEX 3: George Kittle, TE, 49ers ($8,000)
There are few players in the NFL more trustworthy than Kittle in primetime. The veteran tight end has really come alive lately, most recently hauling in 6-of-6 targets for 150 yards against the Bears. He also has eight touchdown receptions on the season, so we simply can’t ignore the upside here. The Rams have surrendered 13.4 DK points per game to TEs, 13th-most in the NFL. Fire up the Kittle and let’s get it poppin’.
FLEX 4: Demarcus Robinson, WR, Rams ($4,400)
Sports bar trivia: do you know who leads the Rams in receiving touchdowns? It’s Demarcus Robinson. He might as well be the Nick Westbrook-Ikhine of the NFC! Nacua and Kupp move the ball between the 20s, and DMC often hits the home runs and/or hauls in the scoring-zone catches. We’ll take a high-ceiling play like Robinson for $4,400 eight days a week.
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FLEX 5: Israel Abanikanda, RB, 49ers ($3,000)
The true sleeper of this contest, Izzy Abanikanda has youth (22 years old), speed (4.34 40-yard dash), and most importantly: opportunity. If Isaac Guerendo (foot) is too banged up to play in the short week — or if he suits up and has to leave due to exacerbation or re-injury — it’s quite possible Abanikanda gets the nod over the slower Patrick Taylor ($7,400). The upside is higher with Izzy, who is easily the best DFS play of the game at this price point.
49ers vs. Rams NFL DFS picks: Optimal FanDuel lineup
Here are the key scoring settings for FanDuel single-game tournaments: They’re half-point PPR with three-point bonuses for 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, or 100 receiving yards. The MVP pick multiplies that player’s total by 1.5 but does not cost 1.5 times their listed salary.
| POS. | PLAYER | TEAM/OPP. | SALARY |
| MVP | Brock Purdy, QB | 49ers vs. LA | $16,500 |
| FLEX | Kyren Williams, RB | Rams at SF | $14,000 |
| FLEX | George Kittle, TE | 49ers vs. LA | $13,000 |
| FLEX | Jauan Jennings, WR | 49ers vs. LA | $9,500 |
| FLEX | Demarcus Robinson, WR | Rams at SF | $7,000 |
You’ll notice that all five of our FanDuel players were also in our DK lineup. The only difference is we put made Purdy our MVP for the multiplier, as QB points are more valuable on FD with the half-PPR scoring format.
We also don’t pay 1.5 times each player’s salary to make them MVP — so Purdy as the highest-scoring FD player in this matchup makes the most sense.
49ers vs. Rams NFL DFS picks: Optimal SuperDraft lineup
For those unfamiliar, SuperDraft’s DFS scoring involves point multipliers as opposed to traditional salary-capped or tiered contests. A winning lineup will likely feature a strong mix of stud fantasy contributors with 1x-1.6x boosts, as well as matchup-based sleepers with larger multipliers. Each player is assigned a scoring multiplier based on their value as determined by SuperDraft. Users can roster any player in their lineup with no restrictions.
Here are the most notable scoring rules for SuperDraft NFL contests: Half-point PPR, four-point passing TDs, and two-point bonuses for 100 rushing yards, 100 receiving yards, and 300 passing yards. SuperDraft lineups feature no D/ST position. The “Champ” position adds a 50-percent boost to the selected player, while the SuperFlex positions are limited to the boost listed for each player.
| POS. | PLAYER | GAME | BOOST |
| CHAMP | Puka Nacua, WR | Rams at SF | 1.5x |
| SFLEX | Kyren Williams, RB | Rams at SF | 1.1x |
| SFLEX | Brock Purdy, QB | 49ers vs. LA | 1.15x |
| SFLEX | George Kittle, TE | 49ers vs. LA | 1.35x |
| SFLEX | Isaac Guerendo, RB | 49ers vs. LA | 1.3x |
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Our SuperDraft lineup combines many of our favorite fantasy elements from our DK and FD lineups, with Nacua occupying the Champion spot at an attractive 1.5-times boost.
We like what we have in terms of floor, ceiling and boost value from top to bottom, especially with the high touchdown upside we have with all five players.
If Guerendo ends up being a late scratch, we’ll pivot to either Jauan Jennings (1.25x), Patrick Taylor (1.45x), Demarcus Robinson (1.7x) or Izzy Abanikanda (1.85x).
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