The San Francisco 49ers have won the first two matchups of their 2025 campaign, downing the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints in back-to-back road contests. Now, the 49ers return home to Levi’s Stadium for a battle with the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3.

San Francisco started Brock Purdy in Week 1, but after he suffered a toe injury in the opener, the 49ers turned to Mac Jones last week. The former first-round pick overcame some early struggles to lead the team to victory and keep them in a three-way tie atop the NFC West.

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One of those teams that the 49ers are tied with is the Cardinals, who have defeated the Saints and the Carolina Panthers to start the year. If Arizona wins, and the Los Angeles Rams fall to the Philadelphia Eagles, Jonathan Gannon’s team will be in sole possession of first place in the division.

While there will be plenty of attention on the 49ers for NFL purposes, they also have a few fantasy-relevant players who are in consideration to start in most leagues. As San Francisco prepares for their third game of the year, let’s look at what fantasy owners should do with their 49ers in Week 3.

QB Mac Jones: Sit

With Kyle Shanahan saying that Purdy is “unlikely” to start on Sunday, Jones will be under center again. Last week, he put up 21.8 fantasy points, which was the ninth-highest-scoring quarterback in Week 2. There’s a chance that Jones replicates that performance again in Week 3, but it’s hard to have true faith. Only start Jones if you’re in a deeper league and have one of the quarterbacks expected to miss this week due to injury (Purdy, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Justin Fields, J.J. McCarthy).

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RB Christian McCaffrey: Start

McCaffrey has been one of the best running backs in the league through the first two weeks, rushing for 124 yards and catching 15 passes for 125 yards and touchdowns. That equates to 23.0 fantasy points per game, which is second in fantasy behind James Cook through two weeks. As long as he’s healthy, he’s an automatic start.

WR Ricky Pearsall: Start

Pearsall has caught eight passes for 164 yards and has run the ball once for -4 yards in his two games. Last week, Jones found Pearsall four times for 56 yards. That connection should be better in Week 3 after they got more work together the last two weeks in practice. He should be at least a flex start against Arizona.

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D/ST: Sit

Through two weeks, the 49ers have held their opponents to 17.0 points and 268.5 yards per game while recording four sacks, four forced fumbles and three fumbles recovered. They’re tied for the 10th-best scoring defense in fantasy, averaging 7.0 fantasy points per game. Arizona has allowed opposing defenses to score just 4.5 points per contest through two weeks, and with Kyler Murray’s ability to make something out of nothing, streaming another defense could be the best option in Week 3.

More 49ers: Unpacking the 49ers’ bizarre QB situation heading into Week 3

This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: 49ers vs. Cardinals: Fantasy start/sit recommendations for Week 3