The Seattle Seahawks D/ST has been one of the top units in fantasy football thus far this season, but Week 5 presents team managers with a rare instance to look elsewhere for another unit to start in its place. Seattle will host the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers this week, whose high-powered offense may not play into the hands of the Seahawks defense by way of defensive pressure or untimely mistakes.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is on a roll to begin the season. He is one of the top MVP candidates in the league and his play has backed it up. Purdy has completed 69.9% of his passes for 1,007 yards, 11 touchdowns and one interception with an NFL-leading 126.2 passer rating. Purdy has also rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries. Most
strikingly, he has not yet taken a sack this season, which indicates that the Seahawks’ pass rush may have a harder time than usual getting to the quarterback this week, and the secondary may have its hands full trying to slow him down in the passing lanes.
As a team, San Francisco has produced the seventh-most rushing yards in the NFL this season with 549 and have also scored five rushing touchdowns while posting the fourth-highest rushing first down percentage in the league at 29.6%. The 49ers have started the year at 4-0 and have scored at least 24 points in every game that they’ve played thus far, displaying their explosiveness and winning pedigree along the way.
Seattle’s defense remains among the NFL’s best, but the 49ers’ momentum, coupled with the ample amount of talent that they have at every skill position make this a difficult matchup for the Seahawks D/ST. Fantasy team managers ought to consider starting a backup D/ST facing an easier opponent or adding another unit from the waiver wire to start.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Fantasy football: Seahawks D/ST may not be a start in Week 5
