Can Eli Manning squeeze fantasy relevance out of farewell tour?
Eli Manning may start the final four games of the season for the New York Giants, but can be a fantasy relevant quarterback?
With Daniel Jones (ankle) out, Eli Manning will return to the lineup for Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. On Monday morning NFL Network reported Jones is expected to miss 2-4 weeks, which means there’s a chance he’s out for the season.
So Manning may get a Giants farewell tour over the final four games this season. How good he’ll be after not playing since Week 2 is a big question, but there’s now a possible question about him as a relevant fantasy quarterback over the rest of the season.
Can Eli help win some fantasy football leagues this year?
The struggles of the Eagles’s secondary would push a narrative that quarterbacks have put up big fantasy points against them. But they entered Week 14 in the middle of the pack against the position, spurred by a streak of allowing less than 225 passing yards in four straight games from Week 8-Week 12 (around a Week 10 bye). However, Ryan Fitzpatrick had 365 yards and three touchdowns against them in Week 13.
If he’s still starting, Manning will also face the Eagles in Week 17. In between, again assuming he starts all the way through, he’ll get the Miami Dolphins in Week 15 and the Washington Redskins in Week 16. Miami entered Week 14 allowing the second-most fantasy points to quarterbacks (Yahoo! scoring), while Washington entered the week allowing the 11th-most fantasy points to the position.
Manning is of course widely available right now (3 percent owned on Yahoo!, 4.2 percent owned on ESPN), with a slight bump in ownership rates based on starting Monday night.
Next. Fantasy Football Week 14 takeaways. dark
Manning had at least 250 passing yards in each of his first two starts this season (over 300 yards once), with 44 and 45 pass attempts respectively. If you’re stretching to find an option in two-quarterback leagues, again assuming he starts from here on out, there’s some real volume-based upside in Week 15 and Week 16 with the two-time Super Bowl MVP.