Trey Sermon has ‘extra focus’ and ‘aggressiveness’ during Week 2 practices

Trey Sermon’s offensive coordinator, Mike McDaniel, had this to say about the rookie, “I didn’t talk to him about [being inactive], but I can tell you that the best way I know how he felt is by how he practiced this week,” McDaniel said. “There was a deliberate intent and an extra focus to him, an extra aggressiveness that I think his teammates felt. So what that told me is, ‘Hey I didn’t like not dressing. I want to play football. So how do I do that? I don’t go and talk to people. I show people,’ that’s kind of the common denominator. Kyle [Shanahan] always says to the players and coaches, ‘Don’t tell me, show me,’ and [Sermon] showed I think all of us that he really wants an opportunity, which he’ll get this Sunday.” Head coach Kyle Shanahan also added that Sermon will “most likely” be active for Week 2.

Fantasy Impact: Sermon’s fantasy outlook is still murky but these comments are a step in the right direction for Sermon’s fantasy value to increase. After being inactive in Week 1 many fantasy managers began tilting hard, especially those who selected Sermon in the single-digit rounds of their fantasy drafts. Keep in mind, this is Kyle Shanahan’s system and there will never be a workhorse back. You drafted Sermon with the assumption that he would be second on the depth chart behind Raheem Mostert. With Mostert gone for the year, Sermon can still work his way up the depth chart. For now he is still a wait-and-see player. If deep-league managers feel desperate, you can start him due to how well the 49ers run the football as a team (assuming he is active). But keep in mind that Sermon is the RB51 according to FantasyPros’ Expert Consensus Rankings.