The New York Giants will travel to take on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in Week 5. The spread currently stands at Seahawks -6, with a game total of 41.5. The Giants’ implied points are 17.8, and the Seahawks’ implied points are 23.8.
Here’s fantasy football start-sit advice for every Giants skill player who has the potential to make an impact during the game.
Daniel Jones, QB
Daniel Jones completed 29 passes on Thursday night, tied for the second-highest total he’s ever recorded. He cleared his season high by 45 passing yards yet failed to reach 10 fantasy points and let anyone who played him down after a pair of top-12 finishes at the position against the Commanders and Browns.
Jones looked fine as an NFL quarterback, but he didn’t do any of the things we needed from a fantasy point of view. After a gimme 39-yard completion on the third play of the game to Malik Nabers, Jones went just 2 of 7 with an interception when attempting to throw deep in Week 4.
The quantity of throws doesn’t project to be the issue for Jones, given the state of the Giants team; but the quality is obviously a concern. Oftentimes, he can make up for this flaw with his legs, but Jones carried the ball just four times for three yards and has yet to break a 10-yard gain on the ground this season.
I don’t doubt that Jones will post another few usable weeks this season, which is great if you roster him in a Best Ball setting, but the idea of choosing to play him in a redraft format isn’t for me.
Since 2008, Jones has been one of two quarterbacks to throw 40+ passes without a touchdown in two September games in the same season (the other: Jacoby Brissett last season).
Devin Singletary, RB
Much like Jones, Devin Singletary’s stock came crashing back to earth against the Cowboys. The veteran back outscored Bijan Robinson over the two previous weeks, but on Thursday, Singletary managed just 38 yards on 15 touches and earned only a single target against what was one of the most vulnerable run defenses in the league entering the contest.
The problem? A few predictable ones.
The Giants haven’t scored a touchdown in four straight home starts for Jones (44 drives), so it shouldn’t be a major shock that Singletary logged just one red-zone touch. He also averaged just 1.14 yards per carry before contact, less than a third of what he averaged to open the season, and a lack of support resulted in him producing 42.2% below expectations.
As the season goes on and the franchise naturally shifts to a forward-thinking state of mind, it’s hard to imagine the three-to-one edge in touches Singletary held in this game over rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. sticking.
If you can get out of the Singletary business, I would, though that became more difficult throughout this week as a groin injury cropped up and will now cost him Week 5 at the very least.
Tyrone Tracy Jr., RB
Four carries for two yards.
That’s not exactly a stat line that will be on the refrigerator at Tyrone Tracy’s house, but there were a few positive signs to justify holding onto him if you can as we enter bye week season.
I thought Tracy getting the second carry of the game was illuminating, as it doubled the number of first-quarter rush attempts he had through the first three weeks of his career. He also had a 19-yard catch and was targeted again deep down the field on a wheel route.
Slowly but surely. Week 4 obviously wasn’t a standout performance on any level for the rookie, but New York is going to be looking long term sooner than later. With Tracy walking into the starting role this week, any opportunity to get him o the cheap could disappear in the next 24 hours.
The value of the lead role in New York is shaky at best, but the idea of adding a potential player on the cheap now who could earn 12-15 touches is appealing, as it gives your roster the type of depth it may need as the weather flips and injuries pop up. This is a talented kid and at the running back position, the value of the unknown can be more valuable than most give it credit for.
Tracy is a low-end flex play for me this week, ranking in the tier of running backs like Kareem Hunt and Rico Dowdle.
Malik Nabers, WR
Malik Nabers went streaking down the left sideline on the third play Thursday night and was as wide-open as you’ll see a star receiver ever be. Did Dallas forget about the rookie?
Nope, they tried. He simply hit a double move that left the defender so crippled that he wasn’t in the frame as the camera tracked the ball to its final destination.
Malik Nabers making guys touch grass 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/OEshvF2TSc
— NFL (@NFL) September 27, 2024
It’s difficult to overstate just how impressive this kid has been in opening his career. Nabers has the second-most receptions (35) ever through four career games (Puka Nacua had 39), recording at least eight grabs in each of his past three games — something DK Metcalf has never done.
The big play to open Week 4 wasn’t just impressive on the stat sheet, it spoke to a larger New York philosophy. And that’s to funnel its offense toward Nabers and look in on him every single time a favorable matchup presents itself. For fantasy managers, that’s of course great, but the downside is there.
Any player being featured as heavily as Nabers is, especially for a 1-3 team that didn’t have much in the way of expectations coming into this season, carries a health risk. Nabers suffered a concussion late in Thursday’s loss, putting his status into question this week.
Giants rookie Malik Nabers has the second-most receptions of any player in their first four career games in NFL history. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/r2u9RvgbDI
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 27, 2024
A case of the dizzies is the only thing that can stop Nabers at this point. He’s a lineup lock moving forward, but he has been ruled out for this week. Concussion protocol has traditionally resulted in a single missed week, so the hope is that you’ll have access to this explosive talent next weekend against a leaky Bengals defense.
In his absence — this is ugly. Wan’Dale Robinson is already being loaded down with targets, but his frame isn’t the type that is going to handle the Nabers role. Darius Slayton and Jalin Hyatt will see more run than usual this week and that puts them as interesting punt plays in a DFS setting, but banking on either in an annual et-up is a risk you don’t have to take.
Wan’Dale Robinson, WR
Initially, a player who averages fewer than 50 receiving yards per game, hasn’t made a catch for more than 20 yards, and has recently scored the third-fewest points in a game with 11+ receptions doesn’t seem very appealing.
But with PPR being the standard scoring format across most websites, Wan’Dale Robinson’s pacing for 110.5 receptions this season lands him squarely in the Flex discussion every week. That will only be more true as we enter the portion of the schedule that involves navigating bye weeks.
Robinson was targeted on five of Jones’ first eight throws in last week’s loss and caught all of them — for a whopping 34 yards.
The season heat map is exactly what you’d expect from a player with a 4.8-yard aDOT (average depth of target) on the season. While it’s rarely exciting, it’s also rarely a letdown in an offense that is playing from behind with regularity (trailing for 64.4% of their offensive snaps through the first month).
Say what you will about Jones, but his completion percentage on short passes sits at 75.8% since the beginning of last season, a nice tick up from 70% in his career prior and a stabilizing force behind Robinson’s weekly value. He’s again a viable Flex play, even if you don’t want to admit it.
