3 Fantasy Football replacements for Saquon Barkley after ankle injury
Saquon Barkley is expected to miss a few weeks after spraining his ankle in the New York Giants' Sunday victory. Who can your fantasy team turn to in these troubling times?
The New York Giants lost Saquon Barkley to a nasty twisted ankle in Sunday's win over the Arizona Cardinals. It's a tough blow for Barkley, who fought tooth and nail for a one-year contract with incentives based on snap count.
Despite all the posturing from New York in contract negotiations, Barkley is still the bedrock of that offense. He carried the ball 295 times for 1,312 yards in 16 games last season. The Giants' entire offense is built around Barkley's ability to vacuum up yardage on early downs, and he was responsible for 11 total touchdowns in 2022. Without him, the Giants' struggling offense could be in deep trouble.
Just like the Giants, fantasy teams the world over are panicking over the fallout of Barkley's injury. You probably picked him in the first round. That was the right move — he's one of the most talented rushers of his generation, and the Giants are still reliant on the run game — but every fantasy pick comes with risk. Barkley more than most, given his injury history.
With Barkley sidelined for three weeks, per ESPN's Adam Schefter, here are some temporary stopgaps worth investing in.
For the sake of self-imposed limitations, we will focus on players owned in less than 60 percent of ESPN leagues. If you can replace Barkley with Christian McCaffrey, we advise you to do so.
No. 3 Saquon Barkley fantasy football replacement: Kenneth Gainwell
Kenneth Gainwell is currently on the injured list after suffering a rib injury during the Philadelphia Eagles' Week 1 victory. He missed the Eagles' Thursday night bout in Week 2 and watched as D'Andre Swift exploded for 175 yards on 28 carries, effectively ending the conversation around who should lead the Philly backfield.
Even so, Gainwell was the Eagles' go-to back in Week 1 (when Swift accrued only two touches) and Nick Sirianni has expressed a desire to split touches and limit Swift's workload in certain weeks. Even if he's no longer the No. 1 back, Gainwell should factor heavily into the Eagles' gameplan once he's back in business.
His availability for Week 3 is uncertain, but Gainwell will have extra time to recover due to the Eagles' favorable schedule. The Eagles love to spam the run game, and while Gainwell could theoretically end up third in the pecking order behind Swift and the run-happy Jalen Hurts, that won't preclude him from goal line touches and valuable early-down work.
He should be on rosters anyway, but a team with a gaping hole at RB following Barkley's injury should be especially inclined to invest in Gainwell's obvious upside. He ran for 54 yards and added 20 yards through the air on four receptions in Week 1.