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2023 New York Giants Team Preview

Jul 2nd 2023Hayden Winks

The New York Giants were fun under coach Brian Daboll, who maximized Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley's talents. This offseason, they've added some pass-catching help. We can draft them all on Underdog Fantasy with promo code 'UNDERBLOG' to match your first deposit up to $100. We have the biggest fantasy football tournament of all time ($15M) right now.

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2022 New York Giants Advanced Stats

Coach Brian Daboll maximized last year's Giants roster. They won more games than they should've, turning Daniel Jones into a largely mistake free QB (1st in turnover rate as a team) while using his rushing ability to win in the red zone (7th in red zone TD rate). They scrapped together the No. 7 rushing offense despite poor blocking grades, too. Point being, the scheme is rock solid. Now they need to add more talent. Perhaps Darren Waller's addition has ripple effects, as the passing numbers last year were tough to swallow. They were last in 20+ yard pass plays on the 3rd-lowest average depth of target. That needs to improve to be a real playoff contender this year. The Giants also have room for growth on defense, where got some QB pressure on passing downs but were 30th in rushing EPA allowed.

2023 New York Giants Starting Lineups

3-WR Sets (20th in snaps, 60% of snaps)

WR: Isaiah Hodgins --> Jalin Hyatt (R)
WR: Darius Slayton --> Sterling Shepard
SLOT: Parris Campbell --> Wan'Dale Robinson
TE: Darren Waller --> Daniel Bellinger

2-WR Sets (20th in snaps, 25% of snaps)

WR: Isaiah Hodgins --> Parris Campbell
WR: Darius Slayton --> Jalin Hyatt (R)
SLOT TE: Darren Waller --> Ryan Jones (R)
INLINE TE: Daniel Bellinger --> Tommy Sweeney

RB Usage (22nd in expected half PPR)

GOAL LINE: Saquon Barkley --> Matt Breida
PASSING DOWN: Saquon Barkley --> Matt Breida

Offensive Line (mid but improving)

LT: Andrew Thomas (top 5 LT)
LG: Ben Bredeson (mid returning starter)
C: John Michael-Schmitz (2nd-round rookie)
RG: Mark Glowinski (fine returning starter)
RT: Evan Neal (2022 1st rounder, struggled)

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2023 New York Giants Fantasy Preview

Saquon Barkley was the RB5 and 10th overall player in last year's rebound campaign. He didn't fully recover to pre-injury highs in his advanced metrics, but the volume was elite. Only Austin Ekeler, Joe Mixon, Christian McCaffrey, and Jonathan Taylor had more than Saquon's 16.0 expected half PPR points per game. The offense should at least stay as good as it was last year, especially with the young OL hopefully gelling together better. Barkley and the Giants could work out a long-term extension any moment, especially with his backups looking like 28-year-old Matt Breida ($1.4M), 24-year-old 5th-round rookie Eric Gray, and Gary Brightwell.

Daniel Jones jumped from the QB15 to the QB11 in fantasy points over replacement per game last year, partially because of a better offensive game plan under new coach Brian Daboll but also because of a major jump in rushing. Jones averaged a career-high 44 rushing yards per game, going from 23 and 25 designed runs per year up to 51 last season. He also scrambled 63 times versus 23 times the season prior. That was the difference, as his passing numbers were right on par with his career averages. Perhaps there's a small leap with more depth at the skill group, but the 26-year-old has settled in as a sneaky athlete with below-average passing numbers. That's fine for us in fantasy land.

Oh boy. Let's buckle in for the WRs. ... Isaiah Hodgins (6'4/209) and Darius Slayton (6'2/190) are the best bets to eat up perimeter snaps and win downfield. Hodgins slightly out-produced Slayton (10.1 half PPR per game to 6.4) from Week 11 on when both were full-time players thanks to some big boy touchdowns. This offseason, Hodgins was kept as a exclusive rights free agent, while Slayton essentially signed a 1-year, $4.9M guaranteed contract. Both are "better in best ball" types, with Hodgins having slightly more "mystery box theory" upside. There were some times on tape where I thought Hodgins was a real starting-level player with possession receiver traits. ... 26-year-old Parris Campbell is the best bet in the slot, after quietly signing a 1-year, $5M contract this offseason. He's been a minicamp standout (what's new?), while Sterling Shepard ($0 guaranteed) and Wan'Dale Robinson (5'8/185) have been rehabbing their torn ACLs. Shepard is reportedly months ahead of Robinson, who could start the season on PUP. The Giants were 23rd in WR fantasy usage last year, however, so none of this likely matters for the slot candidates. Richie James was the WR61 per game in this role. ... Last up is 3rd-round rookie Jalin Hyatt, who technically played the slot in college but was actually used as a vertical player. He could play flanker later in the year, as a Post Bye Rookie Bump candidate. Hyatt's pre-draft profile was intriguing for the best ball streets but hasn't played much with the starters really early in the offseason. There's a big leap from the Tennessee offense to what the Giants run.

Darren Waller's 75.0 PFF grade last year was much lower than his baseline, and he didn't force a single missed tackle last year. I'm worried about him being washed up after some injuries, but the role and target competition remain favorable. He ran a route on 93% of his passing snaps last year, and they were usually (valuable) seam-stretching routes leading to a position-high 14.0 average depth of target. I see the Giants using him similarly. Will he hold up? Does he still have juice? Those are the things to assign probabilities to going into his age-31 season. ... He'll be backed up by 2022 4th-rounder Daniel Bellinger, who was the fantasy TE44 as this team's starter last year.