Devonta Freeman Week 3 Outlook -
By Mike Tagliere (FantasyPros), Thu, Sep 24th 2020, 9:55am EDT
The Giants are going to move forward with some sort of combination of Freeman, Gallman, and Lewis after Saquon Barkley suffered a season-ending ACL injury. Some will think Gallman was inactive due to being behind Lewis on the depth chart, but it was more to do with the type of players they are. Lewis complimented Barkley, while Gallman is more of a backup. Freeman didn't look good with the Falcons last year, so many want to leave him for dead. There are others who say, "If Barkley couldn't produce behind the Giants offensive line, why do you want any of these guys?" It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. Teams gameplan differently when Barkley is in there versus when Dion Lewis is in there. Remember last year when Gallman filled in for Barkley against Washington and totaled 27.8 PPR points? That doesn't make him better. The 49ers run defense isn't as scary as it was just one week ago, as they've lost a lot of firepower on their defensive line, as both Nick Bosa and Solomon Thomas are both out for the season. To this point, they've allowed just 0.67 PPR points per opportunity to running backs, which ranks as the eighth-lowest mark in the league, though we must remember that one of those games was against the Jets and their incompetent offense. We can't pretend the Giants offense has been much better, as they've totaled just 55 yards on 30 carries this season and have scored just 29 points as a team through two games. If you wanted to play one, Freeman would be my choice, though trusting him as anything more than an RB4 could lead to disappointment as he's learning a new offense on the fly. Lewis is nothing more than a change of pace running back at this stage, though he'll get some work in the passing game with the void left by Barkley. Lewis is a low-upside RB4/5-type option. As for Gallman, he's the dark horse to be the best option on the team. If for whatever reason Freeman is inactive due to just a few days with the team, Gallman would take his place.
