Larry Fitzgerald Fantasy Outlook Falls in Week 9 Thursday Night Football Matchup With 49ers

At 36 years old, heavy volume has made Larry Fitzgerald a viable fantasy football option again in 2019. He's averaging 11.8 PPR points per game, seeing at least seven targets in five of eight games.

He's cooled off a bit in the last couple weeks, turning a combined seven targets into 5.0 fantasy points, and things aren't likely to get much better on Thursday night in a matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers rank ahead of even the New England Patriots, sitting first in Football Outsiders' pass defense DVOA rankings. They're giving up a league-low 128.7 passing yards per game, which has translated to the league's third-fewest PPR fantasy points per game to opposing wideouts.

Fitzgerald's recent shift in workload has already been concerning. He went from averaging 8.7 targets per game in the first six weeks to 3.5 in the last two. That's a jump from a 22 percent share of the Cardinals' targets to a 13 percent share in those last two games.

With efficiency being almost impossible to come by in this matchup, the only potential saving grace for a WR's fantasy value is the chance for a high reception total while playing from behind. This recent trend suggests that even that value is far from a lock for Fitz.

Fitz was outsnapped by both Damiere Byrd and Christian Kirk in Week 8, and with a shrinking role in a nightmare matchup, don't count on Week 9 bringing a bounce-back performance.

That makes him a player to keep on the bench in fantasy football on Thursday night.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.