49ers vs. Rams TNF Start 'Em, Sit 'Em: Christian McCaffrey, Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Mike Evans, Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, and More

September 9, 2026

Fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em lineups advice for the 49ers vs. Rams Thursday game in Week 1 (2026). NFL matchups analysis and TNF starts/sits for Week 1.

The 2026 NFL season and the fantasy football season kick off this week, and the second game of the slate is on Thursday night when the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams face off in Australia. The Rams are the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl this season and have loaded up on both sides of the ball, so this normally elite matchup will have some extra spice on Thursday.

Two of the best offenses in the league and teams with overflowing options for fantasy football will be going head-to-head here early in the 2026 season. The Rams open the season looking to get back to the Super Bowl after division-rival Seattle took them both out last season. Both teams appear mostly healthy and loaded for the first action of the season.

I will bring you Thursday Night Football analysis all season, focusing on who to start, who is on the fence, and who should find the bench. Let's dive into this first Thursday night matchup for the 2026 season. You can also check out our main Week 1 rankings for all other players. Good luck in your first 2026 fantasy football week, RotoBallers!

San Francisco 49ers @ Los Angeles Rams (Melbourne, Australia)

Thursday, September 10, 8:35 p.m. ET

Notable Injuries:

• George Kittle (TE) - San Francisco 49ers - Questionable (Achilles)

49ers vs. Rams Matchup Breakdown

The first NFL game in Australia will be hosted at the 100,000-seat Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday as NFC West rivals San Francisco and Los Angeles square off in what must be called an experimental market for the NFL.

Both teams took wildly different approaches to the travel and distance. The 49ers arrived almost a week early to acclimate and practice. The Rams will travel the day before and come home right after the game.

This is technically a home game for the Rams, who look like a team built in a lab to win the Super Bowl. MVP Matthew Stafford will be looking to show he can produce an elite-level offense at age 38 while defensive additions Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie, and Jaylen Watson form a formidable force at all levels (Aaron Donald did not make the trip and will not play).

The 49ers should get George Kittle back from an ACL injury and add Mike Evans to an already old offensive core.

Niners. Rams. One week out from our first game ever in Melbourne. 🔥

SFvsLAR – Sep. 10 8:35pm ET on Netflix pic.twitter.com/UNyD1LY9cu

— NFL (@NFL) September 3, 2026

Don't overlook that this game could already have massive implications for playoff seeding in January and give one NFC West team a head start on the rest of the division. Whoever loses will face serious questions, since both are projected to have strong records and have to come back stateside and play without a bye week in Week 2.

Must-Starts for Fantasy Football Lineups

Mike Evans (WR, SF)

Mike Evans declared himself fully healthy this week and admitted that the practice he missed was only for minor things that never would have caused him to miss a game. He immediately becomes San Francisco's top wide receiver and major end-zone weapon. With Ricky Pearsall out, George Kittle likely limited, and De'Zhaun Stribling in his first NFL game, I expect Evans to be heavily involved.

Mike Evans says his recent injuries were not significant and would not have cost him game time.

Mike Evans: “I know I'm an older player. I've had probably over a thousand football practices in my life now, so I know what I'm doing out there. They know what they're doing. They… pic.twitter.com/uBDd0Wj8A0

— MicNuggets (@micnuggetsnfl) September 7, 2026

Christian McCaffrey (RB, SF)

Don't overthink this one. Even with McCaffrey sitting out some practices for soreness and tightness over the last month, it was all to get him prepared for this game. He is ready to go and is also looking to defend his overall RB1 finish from 2025. Even with a tough front seven, McCaffrey averaged 25 touches and over 100 total yards per game in his two regular-season games against the Rams last year.

Matthew Stafford (QB, LAR)

The 2025 MVP threw 46 touchdowns and had more than 4,700 yards in 2025. As long as his offensive line can keep him upright, Stafford is a threat for 300 yards and three touchdowns in every game. The 49ers secondary is not the strongest unit on the team, and 49ers defensive star Nick Bosa is returning from a torn ACL. Add it all up, and Stafford is a top-12 option in Week 1.

Kyren Williams (RB, LAR)

Kyren Williams loves playing the 49ers. Last season, he scored four touchdowns in two games (two rushing, two receiving), while also averaging 4.9 yards per rush. Blake Corum will take some of the work away this season, but there may be no more reliable force around the goal line with the ball in his hands.

Puka Nacua (WR, LAR)

Puka Nacua is off the injury report and fully practiced ahead of the Rams leaving for Australia. Nacua is coming off a monster season where he caught 129 passes for 1,715 yards, and there’s little reason to expect Stafford to stop feeding him targets. Even with end-zone savant Davante Adams in town, Nacua caught 10 touchdowns and rushed for another one in 2025. This is another don't-overthink situation.

Davante Adams (WR, LAR)

Davante Adams may be approaching the touchdown-or-bust stage of his career, but the good news is the Rams seem to get him a touchdown every game. He scored 14 of them in 2025 to lead the league, while still receiving 114 targets in just 14 games. He is a must-start WR2 in a game with one of the highest implied totals of the week.

Possible Starts for Fantasy Football Lineups

Brock Purdy (QB, SF)

Considering the Rams' rebuilt defensive line and secondary, I would consider Brock Purdy more of a borderline QB1 for Week 1. The 48.5-point total is certainly enticing, and Purdy has plenty of weapons, but he can be erratic. Last season, Purdy missed both games against the Rams due to injury, but he averaged 225.9 yards and 2.3 touchdowns per game when he returned in Week 11.

George Kittle (TE, SF)

George Kittle produced 57 catches, 628 yards, and seven touchdowns in only 11 games last year, so he's an obvious starter whenever he's fully healthy. We know he is one of the best, especially after the catch. The problem is that he's returning remarkably quickly from a torn Achilles, making his workload difficult to project even if he's cleared to play Thursday. I would start him, but not expect a full allotment of snaps.

De'Zhaun Stribling (WR, SF)

De'Zhaun Stribling was everyone's favorite rookie sleeper in the preseason, and once Ricky Pearsall went down for the season, Stribling shot up in ADP. He landed around the eighth-ninth round in many drafts, so he could make a nice flex play, but we don't know how the 49ers will use him when the games count. In the preseason, he caught 11 of 13 targets for 109 yards.

Blake Corum (RB, LAR)

Blake Corum remains behind Kyren Williams on the depth chart, but his role has increased to the point where he needs to be considered for lineups. From Week 18 through the playoff run, Corum had at least 34% of snaps in four straight games. Corum also had 13 attempts inside the 5-yard line last year compared to 18 for Williams.

Consider Sitting for Fantasy Football Lineups

Deebo Samuel Sr. (WR, SF)

Deebo Samuel is back in San Francisco, but he now has to share touches with McCaffrey, Evans, Kittle, and stud rookie Stribling. Unless we start to see Samuel getting some designed touches and rush attempts as he did 3-4 years ago, we can assume he is not fantasy-relevant.

Terrance Ferguson, Colby Parkinson, and Tyler Higbee (TEs, LAR)

Here is a situation where any of these three Rams tight ends could have a touchdown or five receptions. But we just don't know how they will deploy this trio, so it becomes a wait-and-see approach. Terrance Ferguson was an athletic freak in a small sample size in 2025, so my bet would be on him producing, but I'm not shoving him into lineups in Week 1.

Tutu Atwell and Jordan Whittington (WRs, LAR)

There just aren't enough footballs to go around after Kyren Williams, Blake Corum, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, and the tight ends get their share of the offense. Each of these wide receivers could become valuable pieces if the Rams suffer injuries later in the season, but for now, they belong on fantasy waiver wires. It will be interesting to watch how many snaps the Rams take with three wide receivers. My guess is not many.

Kirksey’s Thursday Night Football Picks

Current Spread: Rams -3.5
Over/Under: 48.5

A quick search of various online sportsbooks reports that most of the public money (larger than 60% in most cases) supports the Rams covering the -3.5. You can easily make the case for this considering the superior talent of the Rams roster, the fact that they are Super Bowl favorites, and that they come into this game fully healthy.

However, the biggest variable here is the travel and the environment. This won't be a one-sided home-field advantage for Los Angeles. Add in the fact that this is the first game action for most of these players since early 2026, and we really don't know what to expect. In a situation like that, I think the defenses are more in sync than the offenses, and it leads to lower-scoring affairs.

Lower scores always favor the underdog, so give me San Francisco plus the points in a game that could easily look something like Los Angeles 24, San Francisco 21. But I don't feel strongly about either side considering the vast set of unknowns here.

The Pick: SF +3.5, UNDER 48.5

2025 Overall Record (including Thanksgiving games):
Spread (8-10), Over/Under (10-8)

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