What It Means:

The 49ers attempted to trade McDonald earlier this offseason, but Lynch praised his work in the preseason opener last week. "Even though it didn’t show up on the stat sheet, it was as good as I’ve seen him block," Lynch said. "And he competed extremely hard. We were very proud of Vance." With rookie George Kittle dealing with a hamstring injury, he has a good shot to establish himself as the lead option.

Our models project McDonald as the 27th-best tight end for fantasy in 2017, with 372 receiving yards and 4.12 touchdowns on 32 catches.