Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down: New York Giants

Welcome back to the “Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down” series (offseason edition). The big free agency splash moments are all but over at this point, and the NFL Draft is approaching quickly. We, as dynasty managers, need to be evaluating these offseason transactions and thinking about our roster adjustments every day. Who are we going to target in rookie drafts? Who are we going to go out and trade for? Who are we willing to give up in return? Will you go all in this season to bring home a championship? Or should you go young and prepare for the future? There’s so much to think about before September. The “offseason edition” of this series is an early look at whose stock is up and whose stock is down as we head into draft season. We will break down each NFL team one by one. Today is all about the New York Giants. 

STOCK UP – KENNY GOLLADAY

We’re now a couple of seasons removed from Golladay’s career season in 2019. He hauled in 65 receptions for 1,190 yards and 11 touchdowns. What’s even more impressive about that season was that he hauled in most of his passes from quarterbacks not named Matthew Stafford (David Blough and Jeff Driskel). Since then, Golladay has appeared in 19 games in two seasons, producing 57 combined receptions for 859 yards and two touchdowns. His first season with the Giants was a total disaster. Not only did he suffer his first season without a touchdown reception, but he also battled injuries the entire year. So did the rest of the New York offense. We saw limited play from quarterback Daniel Jones. Sterling Shepard missed a lot of time. Darius Slayton wasn’t always healthy. Even the rookie first-round pick Kadarius Toney battled injuries throughout the season. It was an off-year from the Giants organization as a whole. 

If you have Golladay shares, I wouldn’t necessarily look to sell just yet. He’s one year into his massive four-year $72M contract. That doesn’t mean he’s going to play better this season, it just means he’s going to be a Giant longer than some of the other pass-catchers on this team and that he may be a little forced-fed. Slayton is going into his final season under contract, and both Shepard and Collin Johnson are set to hit free agency in 2024. Golladay is contracted until 2025, and he was signed to be this team’s WR1. At least for this season and the next, they’re going to try and force him into that role once again. We don’t know if Jones will be his quarterback throughout the rest of his time in New York, but we do know that Golladay can produce with different quarterbacks throwing him the ball. We’ve seen it before. He’s simply too good of a downfield threat to not be fantasy relevant ever again. He excels at hauling in contested balls, and he’s dominant in one-on-one situations inside the red zone. The fact that he didn’t produce a single touchdown last season is mind-boggling. 

Don’t expect the lack of production in the red zone to repeat itself this season under new head coach Brian Daboll. The former offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills is an offensive guru. He’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure Golladay returns back into his old self. Keep in mind that Golladay is only 28 years old. Yes, his injury history is a little frightening, but with a ton of different Giants players battling injuries last season, you can expect some big changes to that medical staff in the Giants’ facility. Am I saying Golladay will turn into an every-week starter for your dynasty team? No. Can he be streamed in certain matchups and serve as a solid depth piece on your bench? Absolutely. His value is the lowest it has been since he entered the league. He still has a high ceiling, and you can get him for dirt cheap in a trade. 

Other Notables: Ricky Seals-Jones, Kadarius Toney

STOCK DOWN – DARIUS SLAYTON

Slayton is the odd-man-out on this team. As mentioned above, Golladay is going to be forced back into his WR1 role. The Giants drafted Toney in the first round in last year’s draft. They also drafted Johnson in the fifth round, and he’s shown a lot of promise. You also have to keep in mind that Sterling Shepard can play at a WR1 clip if he ever stays healthy. David Stills was also brought in on a one-year prove-it deal. And the Giants will more than likely draft another receiver out of this year’s draft. There are simply too many pass-catchers on this team for Slayton to have any value at this point. He’s only 25, but he too battled injuries throughout the 2021 season. On top of that, he’s coming off his worst season as a pro. In 13 games, he snagged only 26 receptions for 339 yards and two touchdowns. He went from finishing as the WR54 or better in his first two seasons to finishing as the WR106 last year (PPR formats). 

I didn’t even mention the fact that Ricky Seals-Jones is going to see a ton of volume as the team’s expected TE1 this season. And Saquon Barkley is typically heavily involved as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. Even if Slayton did see a good amount of time on the field this season, he’s going to need a huge step forward from Jones as a pro, considering he’s been a giant bust after being selected sixth overall in the 2019 NFL Draft. On top of that, Slayton is not going to be uber-productive unless Jones takes a ton of shots down the field all year. The fourth-year wideout excels as a deep threat, but so does Golladay. The addition of Golladay last season diminished Slayton’s fantasy value even though he wasn’t all that productive. 

Here’s an odd stat for you. In Slayton’s rookie season, he played in 14 games and produced 551 YBC. YBC stands for the total yards traveled in the air before being caught. So he averaged about 39 YBC per game in 2019. In 2020, he bumped that number up to 592 YBC while playing in 16 games (37 YBC per game). Then 2021 came, and we saw a massive dip. In 13 games played, Slayton saw only 274 YBC. His average dropped to about 21 YBC per game. The most he saw in one game during last season was 61 YBC, and that was in Week 1. In his first two seasons, he topped 61 YBC seven different times. He’s not being used like he was before, and in return, he’s not producing good enough fantasy numbers to be rostered in deep leagues. At this point, go ahead and try to trade him to someone willing to take a chance on him, but that’s going to be tough to do. 

Other Notables: Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones

Teams Broken Down Already: Bears, Bengals, Bills, Broncos, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, 49ers

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