49ers vs. Chargers: Thinning The Herd

The San Francisco 49ers and their quarterback depth should put them in Sunday’s NFL picks when they visit the Los Angeles Chargers.

San Francisco 49ers vs. Los Angeles Chargers

Sunday, August 22, 2021 – 07:30 PM EDT at SoFi Stadium

How easy was that? All we had to do last week was put the Los Angeles Chargers in our Week 1 preseason NFL picks, based on first-year head coach Brandon Staley making his first appearance at SoFi Stadium. It was like shooting fish in a barrel: Staley and the Chargers beat the Los Angeles Rams 13-6 to cash in as 3.5-point road faves on the closing line. And there was much rejoicing. Too bad we can only use that angle once.

Sunday’s matchup with the San Francisco 49ers is officially Staley’s first home game as an NFL head coach, but he’s already used his “one time” in Inglewood. So where does that leave us? San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan is now 6-6-1 ATS lifetime in the preseason, with the Under at 7-6, after losing 19-16 to the Kansas City Chiefs (+2.5 away) in Week 1. We’re going to have to find some other angle to help us take advantage of the Week 2 NFL odds.

Four’s A Crowd

Good thing the coaches are letting us know what their plans are. Staley has already said he won’t use QB Justin Herbert (or safety Derwin Jones, or several others) during the preseason. It didn’t hurt the Chargers too much last week; Chase Daniel took most of the snaps, and was steady as usual – which is why he’s one of the most respected back-ups in the league. This week, we’re likely to see more of No. 3 QB Easton Stick, especially now that fourth-stringer K.J. Costello has been cut.

Meanwhile, the 49ers have finally solved their quarterback competition: Josh Rosen was let go on Tuesday. Okay, that doesn’t really solve much, but it does mean we won’t see Rosen in action this Sunday, leaving more time for Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance to show their stuff. We should also see a fair bit of Nate Sudfeld, who outplayed Rosen in camp and will start the year as San Francisco’s No. 3 QB – assuming they choose to carry three quarterbacks.

Lance Make ’Em Dance

This is a golden opportunity for Lance to make his mark. Last week’s performance against the Rams was shaky at times, although it did produce an 80-yard touchdown pass to Trent Sherfield. Depending on how Shanahan portions out the minutes, Lance should get plenty of reps against the L.A. second- and third-stringers; Garoppolo and the handful of active Niners starters only played one series versus the Rams.

Now we have to decide what to do with those NFL lines. The sharps were quick to read the situation and jump on San Fran early, driving them from –2.5 all the way to –5.5 at GT Bets. That’s an epic line move for any game, let alone a preseason game. But we’ll go ahead and stick with the Niners – for a much smaller bet than we would have thrown down when the lines opened.

Remember the mantra: Big edge, big bet. Small edge, small bet. And as always, may the prolate spheroid be with you.

NFL Pick: 49ers -5.5 (-109) at GTbets (visit our GTbets Review)

*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.

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