New York Giants wide receiver Parris Campbell was finally able to stay healthy for an entire season in 2022. He now joins a crowded wide receiver room, but one that lacks top-end talent. What is Campbell’s 2023 fantasy football projection?
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Parris Campbell’s 2023 Fantasy Projection
The Giants’ wide receiver situation entering this season is unlike anything I can remember. There are as many as seven wide receivers on this roster that are worthy of at least a rotational WR4/5 role on an NFL team. Yet, not a single one of them projects as anything more than a WR3, at best.
This depth chart is incredibly deep but without any standout player. That gives Campbell as good of a shot as anyone to emerge as the top guy. There’s a lot of competition, but there’s no one on the roster you look at and think he has no chance of beating out.
Like just about every wide receiver on the Giants, Campbell is a traditional slot receiver. Last season, he led the NFL in slot snaps at 661.
What Campbell will need to do on the Giants that he couldn’t do on the Colts is earn targets. Campbell’s 15.9% target share last season isn’t objectively bad. But being targeted on just 16.4% of his routes run very much was. That number was 86th in the league. And Campbell ran plenty of routes, doing so on 92.9% of the Colts’ pass plays.
Another concern for Campbell is the Giants’ lack of passing volume. Last season, with Daniel Jones displaying impressive rushing ability, the Giants were one of the most run-heavy teams in the league. Their 49% neutral-game-script-run rate was the ninth-highest.
Head coach Brian Daboll’s plan to limit Jones’ propensity for turnovers was to simply not let him throw that much. Jones averaged just 29.5 pass attempts per game.
Jones also kept the ball close to the line of scrimmage as a way of managing the game. His 6.5 air yards per attempt were 31st in the league. This enabled him to set a career-high in completion percentage at 67.2% but limited his big-play ability.
Between the lack of volume, the uncertain role, and the abundance of players that do the same thing, Campbell’s range of outcomes is anywhere from leading this team in targets to being a healthy inactive.
Should You Draft Parris Campbell This Year?
Given that Campbell was only able to muster 8.8 PPR fantasy points per game in his first fully healthy season, it’s understandable that his ADP is completely buried. Campbell is going as the WR81, which is nowhere near being drafted in standard-sized 12-team leagues. He’s not even being drafted in deeper leagues.
I find that very interesting because he’s arguably the most talented receiver on the team. And when we have an offense with so much ambiguity at a position, typically, we see fantasy managers taking shots on all of them. It seems as though fantasy managers have decided that whoever emerges on the Giants — if anyone — won’t be Campbell.
My projection for how the Giants’ pass-catching situation will shake out is an unfriendly one for fantasy. Tight end Darren Waller will almost certainly lead the team in targets, with RB Saquon Barkley second.
At wide receiver, it wouldn’t surprise me if almost everyone had moments of relevance. There will be weeks when several of these guys pop up on waiver wire columns following a strong performance, only to likely fade back into obscurity shortly thereafter.
I’m expecting a wide receiver by committee situation in New York, with no one ever truly establishing himself as having consistent fantasy value.
I have Campbell ranked as my WR80. He’s just not someone that managers need to concern themselves with ahead of 2023 fantasy drafts.