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The 49ers shook things up rather dramatically when they elected to fire head coach Mike Nolan and promote assistant head coach Mike Singletary.  I think it should improve the team’s chances in terms of wins and losses, but you’re not visiting this blog to learn that.  You all want to know the fantasy implications of the coaching change.

When you’ve got an independent offensive coordinator like Mike Martz, it’s easy to think there will be few if any changes.  In promoting Singletary, the 49ers have gone with a strictly defensive guy.  He’s certainly a smart guy, but a complicated offense like Martz’s would certainly not be conducive to a first time head coach.  Of course, Singletary doesn’t really need to know the details of the offense as long as he has a vague idea of things.

The one area I could see improvement is with Frank Gore.  This could happen if Singletary was forceful in letting Martz know Gore needs to get the ball more often.  At the same time, I really don’t expect that to happen because of the disparity in knowledge of the offense between Martz and Singletary.

One area I do expect big changes is on defense.  Fantasy players don’t usually pay too much attention to the defensive stats.  They look for decent matchups and leave it at that.  However, I think Mike Singletary could help the 49ers defense become a more prolific fantasy performer.  I’d expect to see the defense become more aggressive in blitzing meaning more sacks, and possibly more turnovers.  Also, the secondary has played off the wide receivers WAY too much and I’d hope that will change.  If the 49ers become a more aggressive defense, it’s entirely reasonable to expect more sacks and INTs.  Fumbles are based as much on luck as anything, although I could see an aggressive defense maybe causing more fumbles as well.

Either way, I recommend the 49ers defense as a strong buy.  I picked them up in one league as I expect some solid performances.  If somebody has them, they might be worth trading for if you can buy low.  Throw in a great matchup against the Seattle Seahawks and Seneca Wallace and it could be a very good week for the 49ers DST.