Fantasy Football Player Notes

After an extremely impressive rookie season, Barkley came back down to earth a bit in 2019, though 4.6 yards per carry behind that Giants offensive line is nothing to scoff at. Playing through injury was a clear net-negative to his overall numbers, and something he hopefully learned from. The biggest difference was breakaway runs of 15-plus yards, as Barkley rattled off 20 of them in his rookie season, but just nine of them in his sophomore season. With all the weapons in this offense, you have to wonder just how many targets Barkley will get, but trust me, the Giants are building their offense around him and not anyone else. If Daniel Jones can take a step forward in year two, it'll help open lanes for Barkley. It also doesn't hurt that they dramatically improved the offensive line this offseason.

Engram is widely considered to be an excellent tight end but from an efficiency standpoint, that just hasn't been the case. Yes, he had a big rookie season but it was volume-based because Beckham, Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepard were all injured. More than likely, we are looking at the fifth-best receiving weapon this season behind Tate, Shepard, Slayton and Saquon. This is an easy pass in the sixth round in 2020.

Did you know there wasn't a single game in 2019 where Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate, Slayton, Evan Engram, and Saquon Barkley were on the field together? That's an issue for Slayton's projection in 2020, as he's clearly the fourth or fifth option in the pass-attack. Add in the inconsistency of Daniel Jones, and you have yourself a very high-risk wide receiver who's being taken over some valuable commodities.

Here's a fun fact: Jones had two top-10 single performances by a quarterback in 2019. The only other quarterbacks who can say that are Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson. He hit the "boom" mark in 30.8 percent of his starts in 2019, the third-highest mark in the league. Keep in mind that he did that while not having a single game with Barkley, Engram, Shepard, Tate, and Slayton all healthy. He needs to become more consistent, but he does present tons of upside.

In a season where he was dealing with injuries and a rookie quarterback, Shepard still posted WR2 or better numbers in 40 percent of his games, which ranked 33rd among wide receivers. Now, to be fair, the offense has changed, but it doesn't appear the new regime is very fond of Evan Engram, as evidenced by putting him on the trade block during the NFL Draft. Golden Tate is aging, and while Darius Slayton did flash at times, it was a relatively small sample size. It shouldn't shock anyone to see Shepard get 100-plus targets in 2020 and finish as a WR3, though you do have to wonder what his upside actually is with so many mouths to feed.

Closing in on the age of 32, Tate is nearing the end of his NFL career. Sure, he's a smaller receiver, and they do tend to hold up better than the big-bodied receivers, but Tate has taken a beating over the middle of the field while racking up yards after the catch. Now competing with Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, Evan Engram, and Saquon Barkley for targets, he's a very low upside fantasy receiver. If he remains healthy, he'll likely finish as a top-40 fantasy receiver, but he's not going to be someone who thrusts you to a fantasy championship.

Lewis is highly unlikely to see significant touches so long as Saquon Barkley is healthy. Even if Barkley were to get injured, Lewis is now 29 years old and does not have the frame to take over every-down work. In other words, his best-case scenario is 10-12 touches with work in the passing game, and there are obstacles to reach that point. There's little reason to consider Lewis in your fantasy draft.

After an outlier 2018 during which he hit 97% of his field-goal attempts, Rosas reverted to form last year, hitting just 12 of his 17 attempts. The Giants offense should be better this year with Daniel Jones in his second year, but considering Rosas has hit 72% of his attempts or less in two of his three seasons, he's not worth considering on draft day.