NFL Week 12 Recap: Instant Fantasy Football Tips from Panthers-49ers Monday Night Football

• The Carolina Panthers‘passing game struggled: The Panthers averaged just one passing yard per minute through the first two-thirds of the game as they continued to tinker with their wide receiver rotation.

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Carolina Panthers @ San Francisco 49ers

Ricky Pearsall‘s snap rate returns to normal: Pearsall played a higher percentage of snaps at 12 men than last week.

Pearsall opened the season as the 49ers’ top wide receiver, playing 89.6% of the offensive snaps through the first three weeks. He sprained his PCL midway through week 4, forcing him to miss weeks 5-10. Through most of October, Jauan Jennings and Kendrick Bourne operated as the top two receivers, while Demarcus Robinson joined them in three-receiver sets.

Pearsall returned last week and logged 74.5% of the offensive snaps. Five of those missed plays came in garbage time, but he was still off the field more often than usual, especially in the 12 and 21 staffs, where he played 70.7% of the snaps. He mainly took pictures of Bourne. This week, Pearsall use rose above 80% among 12 staff. His overall snap rate didn’t reach 80%, but that was due to 22 personnel, with Jennings being the 49ers’ primary wide receiver all season.

This led to an even bigger drop in Bourne’s stock. Skyy Moore had already started cutting Bourne’s playing time in week 10. Moore did not play in Week 11, but did take a few snaps in this game when Pearsall was off the field. Bourne has already been dropped from most of the reshuffled leagues and can be safely dropped from the remaining leagues where he is still listed.

Pearsall had a quiet outing with two catches for 6 yards, which wasn’t surprising considering how much the Panthers rely on zone coverage. Pearsall’s production was much stronger against man coverage, while most other 49ers receivers perform better against zone. He should line up for better results over the next five weeks.

Panthers adjust their wide receiver rotation: Rookie Jimmy Horn Jr. from the seventh round was a little more involved in the passing game than usual.

The only stable piece in the Panthers’ wide receiver room is Tetairoa McMillan, who has played over 80% of the snaps this season as their X-receiver. That continued into this matchup, and he added a touchdown late in the third quarter.

Jalen Coker missed the first six weeks of the season and was reinserted into the lineup, but his role has been stable over the past four weeks. He has played 100% of the snaps in 11 personnel and very few in other groups. With Carolina consisting of 11 personnel, Coker has consistently recorded the second-most snaps among the Panthers’ wideouts. Unfortunately, he didn’t match last season’s production, finishing this game with three catches for 32 yards.

Xavier Legette was the Panthers’ Z receiver outside of the two games he missed early in the season. He consistently played at least 74% of offensive snaps through the first eight weeks, but his role has diminished recently. Between Weeks 9 and 11, he was heavily rotated into three-receiver sets – replaced by a combination of Brycen Tremayne and Jimmy Horn Jr. — and he also lost snaps in two-receiver sets to Coker and Horn. This week, almost all the photos he lost went to Horn.

Horn was primarily a slot receiver this season, like Coker, so Horn’s expanded role allowed Coker to go out more. Legette has flashed games of more than 80 yards twice, but he has been held to 31 yards or less in his other eight games, including this one.

It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that any Panthers receiver outside of Tetairoa McMillan will be fantasy relevant for the rest of the season. The continued late-season tinkering with the rotation — despite a fully healthy depth chart — indicates the coaching staff is still not settled on the position. It wouldn’t be surprising if Carolina looks to add another wide receiver this season.

Various comments

• 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (toe) and wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) were full participants in practice all week.
• The 49ers waived quarterback Adrian Martinez last Monday while Purdy was fully healthy and signed him to the practice squad on Tuesday.
• Fourth-round rookie wide receiver Jordan Watkins was healthily inactive for the second straight week while Pearsall was healthy.
• Tight end George Kittle has averaged 16.6 PPR points per game since Week 8, which is third-best among tight ends behind only Trey McBride and Brock Bowers. Anyone who decided to draft a tight end early on was relatively happy in the middle parts of the season.
• 49ers’ kicker Eddy Pineiro was ruled out Saturday due to a right hamstring injury. He hasn’t practiced all week. The 49ers signed kicker Matt Gay to the practice squad on Thursday and elevated him to replace Pineiro for this game.
• The 49ers voided the warranties in wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk’s contract, casting doubt on whether he will play at all this season. He will likely be released this offseason, allowing him to sign a new contract with a new team through 2026.
• Rico Dowdle’s snap rate wasn’t nearly as high as in recent weeks. Chuba Hubbard took over as the primary third-down back, and the game script put Carolina in more passing situations throughout the game. Dowdle ran well, but didn’t get many chances.
• The Panthers signed running back DeeJay Dallas from the practice squad for this game on Monday.

Table notes

• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. These plays have been removed from the other three statistics.

• Objectives may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be the result of an obviously thrown pass, where the NFL could give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data does not.

• Carries are only possible on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles do not count toward the total number of carries in the game.