The New York Giants will face the Atlanta Falcons in Week 16. Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Giants skill player who has the potential to make a fantasy impact during the game.
Looking for more lineup advice? Head over to our Week 16 Fantasy Start-Sit Cheat Sheet, where we cover every fantasy-relevant player in every game.
Drew Lock, QB
A heel injury kept Drew Lock out of last week’s loss to the Ravens but he will be back under center in Week 16.
For our purposes, the season is, and has been, over. In his five appearances this season, Lock has completed just 51.1% of his passes, and over the past four seasons, he has more interceptions (22) than touchdown passes (21).
Tommy DeVito, QB
Tommy DeVito has appeared in six straight games (96 pass attempts) without a touchdown pass. He’s dealing with a head injury, and the QB situation in New York is uncertain for the professional organization — for fantasy managers it’s easy.
You do something this offense can’t:
Pass.
Devin Singletary, RB
Devin Singletary got New York’s second carry last week, but that didn’t prove to be predictive of a heavy workload as he extended his streak of single-digit carry games to eight straight.
The veteran’s usage is more annoying to Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s managers than impactful otherwise. His 35% snap share from last week was his highest since Week 8 and still isn’t really enough to dent fantasy lineups. His two red-zone touches on Sunday were one more than he had in his previous seven games combined, so it’s something that I’m tracking but not something I’m overreacting to from a single game as a 16-point underdog.
Tyrone Tracy Jr., RB
Tyrone Tracy Jr. is basically doubling Devin Singletary in snaps these days, and while he’s been able to outrun his veteran backfield mate to a degree, he’s been unable to outrun the general stench of this offensive environment.
Over the past two weeks, Tracy has fewer PPR fantasy points than was expected in Week 14 alone (cumulative: 35.3% below expectations). It’s been more than a month since his last 20-yard touch, and with touchdowns the only thing saving him recently from his inefficiency, you’re walking a thin line if you’re counting on this offense to frequent the red zone.
We are looking at more of a Flex play in Tracy these days than the RB2 we had hoped he’d be, but at least his reasonable volume should stabilize him from falling any further against the 10th-worst run defense in terms of success rate this season.
Darius Slayton, WR
Darius Slayton had a moment earlier in the season with Malik Nabers sidelined. However, that was ages ago, and it’s simply neglect if you’ve yet to rid your roster of him at this point.
That’s not me saying that Slayton is a bad player or not capable of making splash plays. He’s just not at all in a spot to mean much in our game.
Slayton hasn’t cleared 10 expected points since the beginning of November and has managed just five receptions of his 15 targets over the past month. To make my lineup at this point in the season, I need to be able to talk myself into passable quality and quantity in the target department.
I can’t get there in either regard for Slayton in this excuse of an offense.
Malik Nabers, WR
Science has their nature/nurture debates. We, as fantasy managers who deal with similarly important arguments, have fought with the talent/situation thing for years now. I don’t think we have any more clarity today than we did at the beginning of the season.
I was firmly in the “I’ll be a year late on Malik Nabers instead of investing at the peak levels of excitement” camp. Have I been right? Wrong? Neither?
Despite being targeted 10+ times in six of his past seven games, Malik Nabers doesn’t have a 100-yard game since September. Over that stretch, on a per-game basis, he ranks no worse than seventh in routes, targets, and catches. Yet, he has only a single weekly finish better than WR24 during that run.
All of that work and Devaughn Vele has more finishes inside the top 24 producers at the position. All due respect to the Vele family, but come on.
Nabers’ production with Daniel Jones, 2024:
- 1.5 fantasy points per target
- 2.2 yards per route
- 10.5 aDOT
- 33% on-field target share
Nabers’ production without Daniel Jones in Week 15:
- 1.3 fantasy points per target
- 1.8 yards per route
- 8.8 aDOT
- 29.1% on-field target share
As a collective, the Giants are averaging 5.7 yards per pass this season. That puts them on track to post the fourth-worst rate over the past decade. I see no reason to think it improves in a meaningful way over the final few weeks.
In the rare instances that New York threatens, Nabers gets the dangerous looks. He checks literally every box you could ask and it really hasn’t mattered. I could tell you that the Falcons are a bottom-two defense in sack rate, pass touchdown percentage, and completion rate, but why would I trust this Giants offense to pay off this good spot?
You’re going to start him and bet on his talent, something I understand. I have Nabers ranked as a low-end WR2, understanding that he isn’t the only strong receiver with QB issues (Jerry Jeudy and Brian Thomas feel a similar pain).
But I ask you — was my preseason take on Nabers right?
Wan’Dale Robinson, WR
Wan’Dale Robinson is a valuable piece in the right situation. To be maximized in the scope of the NFL, he needs to play with a quarterback that garners downfield respect. For fantasy purposes, he needs that in addition to being on a team with at least average scoring expectations.
Neither is the case for the current version of the New York Giants.
Week 5 was Robinson’s last top-30 finish, and it’s pretty difficult to see that changing any time soon. I believe in his ability to win with a quick route, but that’s kind of like being the best barber in a town full of bald people — does it really matter?
Robinson is the type of player I hold on my roster as a bye-week filler, situations in which I’m OK with a limited ceiling and will chase 10 PPR points. There’s a time for that, it’s just not the fantasy playoffs.
