Here are four plays to bank on in this Monday Night Football matchup in Mexico City.
The San Francisco 49ers are 8.5-point favorites vs. the Arizona Cardinals in Mexico for Monday Night Football. The NFC West rivals will face off for the first of their two matchups this year, with the Cardinals getting the nod as the “home” team in this neutral site game. SI Sportsbook has the game total set at 43.5.
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray is a game-time decision and we do not yet know the status of DeAndre Hopkins or Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. The 49ers are fully healthy. Neither team should have a true home-field advantage, but I’ve identified some early value for player props.
Here are my current favorites at SI Sportsbook.
George Kittle over 41.5 receiving yards (-125)
The Arizona Cardinals are allowing a league-leading average of 77.7 receiving yards per game and 83.3% catch rate to opposing tight ends this year, and George Kittle is averaging 48.6 receiving yards per game. If the casual observer can see how poor the Cardinals are vs. the tight end, surely Kyle Shanahan can, too, and will unleash Kittle. The 49ers tight end has a better catch rate (70.7%) and higher yards per target (8.29) than Deebo Samuel this year.
Christian McCaffrey over 35.5 receiving yards (-120)
CMC has seen an average of 5.7 targets in his three games with San Francisco this year, and he has exceeded this prop in two of those three. Arizona is allowing an 83.3% catch rate to opposing RBs and an average of 6.95 yards per target.
James Conner over 47.5 rush (-120)
Conner played 96% of the snaps last week and logged 86 yards on 24 touches vs. a tough Rams run defense. The 49ers run defense is even tougher, but with no Eno Benjamin and possibly no Kyler Murray, we will likely see more of James Conner this week. Conner just exceeds this mark, simply due to volume.
Brandon Aiyuk anytime TD (+165)
For a bigger payout, I like taking a shot on Aiyuk to score. His nine red-zone targets are tied with Deebo Samuel and he’s had a 22.7% target share since Week 3. The Cardinals have allowed 17 passing touchdowns this year (third-most) and Aiyuk could be one of a couple of 49ers to find paydirt.
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