Ran Carthon touted the 49ers as a futures slam-dunk thanks to an extremely forgiving 2025 slate—only three opponents were playoff teams last year. He expects a fully healthy core of George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, and Christian McCaffrey to elevate Brock Purdy, while new DC Robert Saleh and DL coach Kris Kocurek rebuild a ferocious front. Carthon predicted San Francisco finishes top-five in both sacks and tackles for loss, making their DST a priority target in best-ball formats and a weekly DFS juggernaut whenever priced below the top tier. He recommended grabbing NFC championship futures now before the market bakes in their schedule advantage.

Ran Carthon doubled down on his earlier Niners love, this time drilling into the pass-rush upside. He said a fully healthy core on offense lets Kyle Shanahan play from ahead, which in turn gives new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh and long-time DL whisperer Chris Kocurek the green light to attack. Carthon highlighted that the unit is "younger and fresher" up front than it has been in years, and predicted San Francisco will finish inside the league’s top five in both sacks and tackles for loss. He encouraged bettors to look at team sack-leader props and urged best-ball drafters to treat the 49ers DST as a priority target rather than waiting for a later tier.