Welcome to the Fantasy Forecast series! We at Dynasty Nerds will be talking about every NFL team and breaking down the players on that team. We will talk about their value for the upcoming season and give dynasty advice on what you should do with that player if so.
Quarterback
Daniel Jones
I’m not going to lie– I was in on Daniel Jones heading into the 2023 season. If you listened to me on the Fantasy Football Roundtable podcast during the 2022 season, why would you not have? You heard me say that I thought the Giants were a year ahead of schedule.
In that 2022 season, Jones had a near career-high completion rate of 67.2%, a career-high yards per attempt of 6.8 yards, a career-high passer rating of 92.5, and a career-low 1.1% interception rate. Jones was always recognized as a plus athlete, and in 2022, he put up career highs in carries (120), rush yards (708), and touchdowns (7). All signs were pointing up for 2023.
Daniel Jones finished as QB9 in 2022. Before missing three games with a neck injury, Jones was QB22 through five games. He took a brutal 30 sacks in six games. The Giants fielded one of the worst wide receiving corps in football and hoped that oft-injured free agent signing Darren Waller would lead the receivers from the tight end position. Jones’s play seemed to regress, and getting injured may have put him out of his misery for the 2023 season.
The Giants did little to fortify the offensive line, which was the crux of many of the Giants offensive woes in 2023. Much of Jones’s 2024 success will depend on the line improving through experience. Jones is coming off the board in the QB28 range, making him dirt cheap to acquire as your QB3. Jones can be a serviceable quarterback in Superflex leagues and maybe even provide some upside…if the offensive line can hold up.
The Backups
The Giants season is riding on Daniel Jones’s back. The 2024 tandem of Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito is no more confidence-inspiring than the 2023 duo of Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito.
Running Backs
Devin Singletary
After four seasons in Buffalo, the Bills let Devin Singletary walk in free agency prior to the 2023 season. Motor landed in Houston on a one-year deal and turned in the best rushing season of his career but put up the second-fewest receptions of his career. The positive with Singletary is that he’s consistent. He’s put up at least 950 scrimmage yards in all five seasons.
Singletary has been an RB2/flex play throughout his career. His best fantasy season was 2021 when he finished as RB18 on a career-high of 50 receptions and 7 rushing touchdowns. 2024 reunites Singletary with his former offensive coordinator and now Giants head coach, Brian Daboll.
The Giants let Saquon Barkley walk in a cost-cutting move. Singletary will be a downgrade from Barkley, but it is at what is considered one of the most replaceable positions in the league. Regardless of the position’s ‘replaceability, ‘ it is a downgrade.
There are some positives for Singletary. He is returning to a familiar offense. Check. The competition for touches is weak, with Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy as the primary backups. Singletary has an ADP of 109—early 10th round, a back-end RB3. That is a reasonable price in startup drafts.
Singletary is coming off a career-high 246 touches in 2023. He will be 27 in September and heading into the dad bod/old man strength part of his career. With the depth chart behind him, the potential to reach a new career high in touches is on the table. Singletary is in for another RB3 season, RB30-36.
Backups
The Giants primary backups are a pair of fifth-rounders: Eric Gray (2023) and Tyrone Tracy (2024).
I wanted to put their names in the header. I just couldn’t. I liked Eric Gray last year as a sleeper; then he landed behind Saquon Barkley. Gray has decent size (5’9″, 206 lbs.) and enough speed (4.62). He caught 99 passes in college in the SEC and Big 12. The biggest thing Gray has going for him in 2024 is that Saquon Barkley has been replaced by Devin Singletary. Gray has the size to step into the change of pace role. Maybe he gets every third series? Singletary isn’t built to be a volume back. As bad as Dameon Pierce was last year, he still had 145 carries. I think that is Gray’s floor. His ceiling is high RB4 with +out an injury to Singletary.
Tyrone Tracy started his college career as a wide receiver, playing just one season as a full-time running back. Tracy was listed at 201 lbs. in college but weighed in at 209 lbs. at the combine. My biggest fear with Tracy is that we want to fall in love with his ppr potential because he was a wide receiver, but we have seen that not come to fruition with Antonio Gibson and Tony Pollard. They were both good backs, but we placed too high expectations on them. Gibson (3rd round) and Pollard (4th round) had better draft capital than Tracy (5th round). Stash him on your taxi squad, and if he flashes, try to profit.
Wide Receiver
Malik Nabers
The Giants have lacked a true WR1 since Odell Beckham Jr. in 2018. With the drafting of Jalin Hyatt in the second round of the 2023 draft and not Malik Nabers in the first round of the 2024 draft, the Giants are ready to give Daniels Jones a legit receiving weapon.
Malik Nabers checks in at the new prototype size of 6’0″ 200 lbs. (really 199). He ran a 4.38-second forty-yard dash at the combine. Nabers also had a 42″ vertical jump and 10’9″ broad jump. He is checking all of the boxes for athletic measurables.
From a production standpoint, Nabers hits all of the right notes. After turning in a 72 catch 1017-yard season to break out as a sophomore, Nabers returned with a stellar junior season highlighted by over 1500 yards receiving and 14 touchdowns.
Nabers is currently being drafted around the mid-second round in startup drafts. In some recent trades, we see that Nabers is already being valued as a premium asset despite being tied to Daniel Jones for the time being. You can see by the recent trades below that you are paying a premium to acquire Malik Nabers.
In short, I’m bullish on Malik Nabers. It might be 2-3 years before he reaches his full potential because of the quarterback situation. But Nabers is the Big Man on Campus for the Giants and will be a dynasty anchor for years to come.
Wan’Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt
Wan’Dale Robinson was second on the team in targets in 2023. He was also first in catches but third in yards. He operates exclusively out of the slot. Robinson is the perfect throw-in player to get a trade done. He’s probably just a bye-week fill-in but could be serviceable as a deep-league flex player.
Jalin Hyatt played in all 17 games in 2023 but earned just 40 targets. He did lead the team in yards-per-catch. He will return to the deep-threat role in 2024. This will lead to some inconsistency in his fantasy scoring. He could be a week winner if you start him the right week. If he is on my roster, I’m not giving him away for free, but I won’t have a death grip on him to avoid trading him.
The Best of the Rest
There is only one player of note on the rest of the depth chart: Darius Slayton. Slayton has been first or second in wide receiver targets in all five of his NFL seasons. I have liked Slayton over the years, but after an 84/48/740/8 rookie season, he never took the next step. He has been a beneficiary of the Giants inability to bring in a top-tier wide receiver. That ended this year with the drafting of Malik Nabers. Could Slayton hold off Jalin Hyatt? Sure. As of now, I have him as an end-of-bencher who will need an injury to be relevant.
The Tight End Room
After a summer of ‘Will Darren Waller retire?’ he finally pulled the plug on his NFL career. Waller was a great story, changing positions, overcoming substance abuse problems, and becoming one of the NFL’s most formidable pass-catching tight ends. Waller missed 19 games over the last three seasons. The Giants brought Waller in to be the top receiver on the team; it was not meant to be.
Heading into 2024, the tight end room is led by third-year man Daniel Bellinger and rookie Theo Johnson. Bellinger showed well as a rookie, and heading into the 2023 season, he was a sleeper darling of many analysts. That is until the Giants signed Darren Waller as a free agent. RIP Bellinger. I am looking for Bellinger to be a serviceable tight end for NFL purposes, but I do not have confidence there will be enough volume to be fantasy-relevant on a consistent basis.
Theo Johnson is a well-regarded prospect coming out of Penn State this year. Johnson was a fourth-round pick, the same as Bellinger, so I don’t believe the expectation is that he will displace Bellinger right away. Tight end is a position that often takes a couple of seasons to get unconsciously competent. Bellinger should be there now. Johnson will be ready to take over in two more seasons when Bellinger leaves as a free agent. I’m okay with stashing Johnson on a taxi squad in ‘wait-and-see’ mode, but I don’t expect him to be fantasy-relevant without several injuries across multiple positions.
