Why Vance McDonald Is A Sneaky TE Play In PPR Leagues

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OWNED IN: 1% of Fleaflicker Leagues

ANALYSIS: The 1% will likely go up. Since the waiver wire opened this week, over 6,000 teams have added Vance McDonald in Yahoo! Leagues. Following the departure of tenured 49ers tight end Vernon Davis, a spot opened up in the starting lineup that went to backup tight end Garrett Celek. But the opportunity has now been passed onto McDonald after Celek sprained his ankle in a loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

With Celek likely to miss action this week, the tight end workload will be inherited by McDonald. McDonald has scored one touchdown in each of San Fransisco's last two games. He also caught ten catches on 11 targets, raking in 136 receiving yards, a stat line especially valuable in PPR formats.

Now that Blaine Gabbert is taking snaps, the 49ers will likely look to continue throwing shorter passes. However, despite his impressive play of late, McDonald simply isn't proven, and will be difficult to trust posting similar numbers often. The 49ers visit the red zone 2.8 times a game, the lowest in the NFL. In standard formats, McDonald is touchdown-dependent. The Niners will need to bump up their 35.5% red zone scoring in order for McDonald to find the end zone consistently.

McDonald deserves attention and should be monitored. He is a week-to-week option, but might struggle this week against a Chicago Bears defense that has surrendered the eighth fewest fantasy points to tight ends, according to Yahoo! Sports. A stash on your bench can't hurt, especially since the tight end position has certainly opened up.