Eli Manning wasn’t entirely efficient in Sunday’s 27-26 defeat to the New England Patriots, but he amassed over 350 yards through the air and enabled both Odell Beckham Jr. and Dwayne Harris to have strong fantasy football performances as well.
Manning’s 361 passing yards were his highest output since his 441-yard game against the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 11:
Manning is the eighth highest-scoring QB on NFL.com, but his 160.26 fantasy points are skewed somewhat by two factors.
Unlike some other top QBs, Manning hasn’t had a bye week yet, which gives him a leg up on the others who have played in only nine games. The Giants are off next week, so you’ll want to build your lineup accordingly.
In addition, Manning scored 38 points against the New Orleans Saints and 28.74 points against the San Francisco 49ers. Those two games account for 41.6 percent of his total scoring.
The problem with relying too much on Manning is you’re leaving a lot up to fate and the roll of the roulette wheel. Some games, he is going to look like a million bucks and throw for a boatload of touchdowns, and in others, he’ll have more interceptions than touchdowns and maybe fail to find the end zone altogether.
Going forward, Manning is a low-end QB1 in standard leagues; you’d like to have a better option at quarterback but will live with the New York Giants signal-caller if he’s the best option you’ve got.
Beckham is beholden to his quarterback’s whims, so like Manning, he can be prone to disappointing weeks. But Sunday is evidence in that the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year doesn’t need to touch the ball at a high volume in order to post big numbers:
It goes without saying Beckham is a WR1 in any format. He’s one of the most dynamic wideouts in the NFL, and his catch radius is off the charts, allowing him to haul in throws other wide receivers would fail to even get a hand on.
Beckham’s value slips somewhat in points-per-reception leagues since he doesn’t catch passes at the rate Julio Jones, Antonio Brown and Brandon Marshall do, but that’s only a minor quibble.
Barring an injury to either himself or Manning, Beckham won’t fall from WR1 status between now and the end of the season.
The same would never be said of Harris, at least not to this point in his career. The 28-year-old did, however, tie his single-game bests for receptions and receiving yards Sunday:
Harris also executed the most impressive touchdown catch of the night, looking over his shoulder to haul in a throw from Manning while managing to get two feet inbounds, per the NFL:
This isn’t the first significant fantasy performance for Harris this year, but his other notable game came in the offensive explosion against the St. Louis Rams.
Until he’s not the No. 3 option in the Giants’ passing game, Harris is a fantasy non-factor except in extremely deep and/or NFC-only leagues. Unless Beckham or Rueben Randle is out of the picture, Harris isn’t going to consistently post the kind of numbers worth occupying a spot on your team.
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