Draft these players in Fantasy Football with confidence, even if the experts say not to
- Ignore the "red flags" in the Jets' backfield
- The New York Giants still rely on one player for much of their offense
Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants
It's clear why Saquon Barkley would make this list, as his injury history is something that scares many owners. If you have played fantasy football long enough, you may have been burned by Barkley getting injured a time or two.
But for my money, when healthy, Barkley is still the best overall running back in the entire NFL and he plays for a team that lacks major offensive weapons, so he will be leaned on.
Fantasy Pros seems to point to a decline in production for Barkley as their reasoning, but he rushed for a career-high 1,312 yards last season and found the end zone 10 times. He also caught 57 passes for another 338 yards. That's a total of 1,650 yards. You don't want that?
He's also going to get his opportunities as the other running backs on the roster are Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell and rookie Eric Gray. The idea of bellcow runners are a dying breed but Barkley is every bit one of those for the Giants.
Barkley had double-digit rushing attempts in all but one game last season and he had six games where he carried the ball more than 20 times. There is nothing to indicate that the Giants are going to go away from that.
Yes, there will always be an injury risk. But for such a dynamic player who is the biggest part of his team's offense, if he is still on the board in the second round of your draft, snag him.