Super Bowl LVIII Rankings: NFL Playoff Fantasy Football

Happy Super Bowl LVIII week! The San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs franchises are set for a rematch of Super Bowl LIV, although plenty has changed between the two over the last few seasons. This is the last game of the 2023-24 NFL season and your last chance to play fantasy football for the next seven months. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of off-season content to give you an edge of your league mates for next year. For now, though, let’s dive in to my Super Bowl LVIII rankings to cap off another great year of fantasy football.

NFL Conference Championship Rankings by Position

Rankings last updated January 26th

QUARTERBACK

This is the fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last five seasons for Patrick Mahomes. That should speak for itself when choosing between the two starting quarterbacks for Super Bowl LVIII rankings. On top of Mahomes’ experience in “the big game”, the San Francisco 49ers’ defense doesn’t look as dominant as they did during the regular season. During the regular season, they allowed just 18.4 points per game; the third-lowest average in the league. In two home playoff games, the 49ers have allowed an average of 27.5 points per game to the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.

Brock Purdy will make his first Super Bowl appearance in just his second NFL season. He has thrown for 250 or more yards in each of San Francisco’s two playoff games this postseason. However, the 49ers continue to be efficient on the ground. Brock Purdy did rush for 48 yards during the Conference Championship, but that sort of production is an outlier performance. With as talented of a defensive coordinator as Steve Spagnuolo is for the Kansas City Chiefs, Purdy’s ceiling in Super Bowl LVIII is lower than Mahomes who has simply been here three times before.

RUNNING BACK

Christian McCaffrey is the nucleus of the 49ers’ offense. He has two rushing touchdowns in each of the 49ers’ playoff games. McCaffrey’s 5.1 yards per carry average thus far, as well, is plenty of a reason to keep feeding him in the ground game. He has 90 or more rushing yards in each playoff game. The top running back this season will remain as such for Super Bowl LVIII.

The Chiefs’ starting running back, Isiah Pacheco, has one rushing touchdown in each of the team’s three playoff games. Additionally, he has eight total touchdowns in his last seven games played. The only other Chiefs running back to touch the ball during the playoffs is Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He has 14 total touches across their three playoff games. Jerick McKinnon is due back for Super Bowl LVIII devaluing Edwards-Helaire that much more, but, regardless, Pacheco is the workhorse back, especially near the goal line, when Mahomes isn’t airing it out.

Kyle Juszczyk is the only other 49er with running back eligibility worth plugging into Super Bowl LVIII fantasy lineups. His 66 offensive snaps played far outweigh the seven total from Elijah Mitchell. Regardless, both are extremely touchdown-dependent as McCaffrey has commanded an extremely strong 87% of the Niners’ postseason touches amongst running backs thus far.

WIDE RECEIVER

Between Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice, 57% of the Kansas City Chiefs’ postseason targets are accounted for. Kelce leads the way but Rice has not been far behind during the playoffs, nor the season as a whole. Rice is averaging 16.1 fantasy points per game throughout the playoffs as a rookie with just one touchdown.

Between the big two 49ers receivers, I’m putting Deebo Samuel higher in the Super Bowl LVIII rankings. In every game this season, including the playoffs sans the Divisional Round in which he left early (shoulder), the 49ers have given Deebo at least one carry out of the backfield. He’s averaging 2.5 per game. Deebo Samuel is a weapon especially once the ball is in his hands. San Francisco should continue to manufacture touches for him this Sunday.

Brandon Aiyuk is slightly under Deebo, though an obvious playmaker in his own right. You saw that diving deflection reception he made against the Detroit Lions last weekend, right? He’s averaging seven targets per game during the playoffs after averaging 6.56 per game during the regular season.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling is the second-listed Chiefs wide receiver in the Super Bowl LVIII rankings, but he’s the third pass catcher, at best, behind Rice and Kelce. He’s drawn four or five targets, his two highest totals, in just four total games, including the playoffs, this season. Valdes-Scantling is a complete boom-or-bust player, though he does have a 32-yard catch in each of the Chiefs’ last two games.

TIGHT END

Travis Kelce has either a touchdown or over 100 receiving yards in the three Super Bowls he’s already played in. He has no less than six targets in each game, as well. He remains, without a doubt, Mahomes’ favorite target heading into Super Bowl LVIII. Kelce’s 29.6% target share this postseason, and three touchdowns in his last two games, are very encouraging to think Kelce finds the end zone in Super Bowl LVIII this Sunday.

There is a video of George Kittle on the sidelines of the 49ers’ Super Bowl LIV loss vowing to return and compete for a title again one day. Well, he’s back for Super Bowl LVIII with another shot at the Chiefs. Kittle has much more competition amongst 49ers pass catchers than Kelce does amongst his peers in Kansas City. He’s the best tight end the Chiefs will have faced throughout the playoffs. Prior to, it’s worth noting the Chiefs defense has allowed just 13 total receptions for 90 scoreless yards combined amongst five tight ends thus far.

KICKER

DEFENSE/SPECIAL TEAMS