New York Giants

Head Coach: Ben McAdoo (1st year)
Offensive Coordinator: Mike Sullivan (1st year)
Defensive Coordinator: Steve Spagnuolo (2nd year)

Depth Chart

Quarterback: Eli Manning, Ryan Nassib
Running Back: Rashad Jennings, Shane Vereen, Andre Williams, Paul Perkins (r)
Wide Receiver: Odell Beckham, Sterling Shephard (r), Victor Cruz, Dwayne Harris
Tight End: Will Tye, Larry Donnell
Kicker: Dan Bailey
Defense/Spec Teams: 2015-Finished 32nd in yards against and 30th in points against. Finished 30th in sacks and 10th in interceptions.

Coaching Philosophy

Ben McAdoo takes over as head coach after serving as their offensive coordinator last season and Mike Sullivan will serve as the offensive coordinator. Sullivan is no stranger to the Giants however, as he served as their wide receiver and quarterback coach since 2004 (minus two years spent with Tampa during that time). McAdoo runs a west coast offense and they rely heavily on their passing game. It also includes a lot of dump offs to the running backs as evidenced by Rashad Jennings and Shane Vereen combining for 90 receptions last season. Finally, they keep an up tempo pace, and they recently said that they want to push it even more this season. They finished eleventh in plays from scrimmage last year and if they run more fast paced/no huddle offense, they could have another very nice season as far as fantasy production goes.

Fantasy Outlook

Giants Quarterbacks

Eli might not be the flashiest quarterback, but he’s a pretty safe bet for fantasy production.

In year one under Ben McAdoo, Giants quarterback, Eli Manning had one of his best seasons in 2015. He threw for almost 4,500 yards, had a career high 35 touchdowns and finished as the eighth highest scoring fantasy quarterback. They also were number two in the NFL in overall pace and as already stated, they want to push the pace more this year, which could really benefit a smart quarterback like Manning. So far in training camp, the Giants have run an 11 on 11, no huddle drill in every practice and more plays may hopefully mean more production for your fantasy squad. The Giants have also added another receiving threat in Sterling Shephard in this year’s draft and it appears that Victor Cruz is ready to return from injury as well, so Eli should have a full compliment of weapons at his disposal. All in all, I think Eli should be set for his third consecutive top twelve fantasy season in 2015. Since has hasn’t missed a NFL game in his career, I would feel very happy drafting Eli as a low end QB1.

Giants Running Backs

Rashad Jennings is feeling good going into this season.

Rashad Jennings was one of the more frustrating backs in fantasy football last season. Through the the first 13 weeks of the NFL season, Jennings never rushed more than 63 yards in a game and only scored a grand total of two touchdowns (one rushing and one receiving). He also never topped 13 carries until Week 14…and then the Giants decided to start feeding him the ball. And it worked! In Weeks 14-17, he averaged almost 20 carries for over 110 yards per game and chipped in two more touchdowns. When he gets the ball, he can give you production. The New York Daily News has stated that the Giants plan to use Jennings as their workhorse back this season and although he is 31 years old, I think he could still be a decent fantasy producer. Despite 13 weeks of poor production, Jennings still finished as the RB22 in PPR leagues last year. As of now on fantasyfootballcalculator.com, he’s being drafted as the 36th running back off the board in the eighth round. With a potential increase in workload this season, I see him as a nice value in the seventh or eighth round this season.

I mentioned that McAdoo likes to involve the running back in the passing game and that helped Shane Vereen have a sneaky, good year. He may have only rushed for 260 yards, but he had 59 receptions for almost 500 yards and chipped in four receiving touchdowns, making him the 26th fantasy running back in PPR leagues. With potentially a faster pace this year, I think Vereen could be nice running back sleeper. He may be a little too inconsistent to count on in a week to week basis, but if you want a later round running back who you can plug into your flex spot when you need someone, Vereen could be your guy.

The only other potential fantasy relevant, running back is fifth round rookie Paul Perkins. As a pure runner, he was Pro Football Focus’ top rated runner in last year’s draft class. He is very elusive and shows very good patience in his runs. He’s a poor pass blocker and average receiver, so he’s more of a handcuff for Jennings than a threat to steal work from Vereen and could be valuable to Jennigns owners.

Giants Wide Receivers

If Ryan Hallam could make out with Odell Beckham, he would…

The Giants have one of the most electric wide receivers in the league, and his name is Odell Fricking Beckham. Beckham is my partner, Ryan Hallam’s favorite player in the NFL and Ryan would love it if you shared your love for him on Twitter (@fightingchance). Just don’t tell him I told you to do it…it’s our little secret.  In his two years in the league, Beckham has over 90 catches, 1,300 yards and 12 touchdowns in each season. I’m not going to waste much of your time rather than tell you that he should be a top three pick this season regardless of format.

Behind Beckham, the Giants will have rookie, Sterling Shephard who will likely play a major role on offense, as well as Victor Cruz. Shephard is a very talented rookie who has great hands, good accelerarition and projects as a slot receiver in the NFL. He doesn’t have the breakaway speed that some like, but for a slot/possession receiver, you don’t necessarily have to be a burner when you run good routes, and he does. I absolutely love Shepard and think that in his first year, he has the potential for 80+ catches. I’m a little scared to predict that off the bat, but I would be happy to have him as my third or fourth wide receiver in fantasy. One last thing about him. He may be only 5’10’, but he has a 41 inch vertical leap, so don’t rule him out for a few touchdowns this season as well. Ryan’s boy, Odell can’t catch them all. As far as Cruz goes, he hasn’t played in a game since October 2014 due to various injuries, and some even thought his career may be over. It looks like he’s on track to return this season and even though he was very productive his first few years, I’m not holding my breath this season. I think they will be very easy on him to see how his body holds up and with weapons like Beckham and Shephard, they don’t necessarily need him to be a big time, producer. There is also word out of camp (from ESPN New York) that he has yet to regain his explosion and speed and there is a chance he may never be the same player again. With his injury risk and potential low floor, I’m staying away from Cruz this year.

Giants Tight Ends

Will Tye and Larry Donnell are an uninspiring bunch of tight ends. Donnell started the season last year and handled most of the duties, but went down in Week 8 with a neck injury and Tye took over. Tye performed better, but he wasn’t necessarily setting the world on fire. They are both healthy as of now and it even appears they are splitting first team duties in training camp. I think this will be a shared work load and unless one of them gets hurt, neither will hold much fantasy value.

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