One of the most gruesome and significant injuries from NFL Week 8 happened to exciting rookie RB Cam Skattebo of the New York Giants. Skattebo suffered a nasty dislocation of his ankle and will miss the rest of the season after needing surgery in a Philadelphia-area hospital.
With Skattebo out, the Giants will lean on Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Devin Singletary in the backfield — but do either of them have any fantasy value?
Let’s take a look at the fantasy outlook for each option and what the loss of Skattebo means to the Giants’ offense overall going forward.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. Fantasy Football Outlook
Tracy actually opened the season as the Giants’ primary running back. He played 50 snaps in Week 1 to Skattebo’s eight, but Tracy ultimately lost his primary role in the backfield when he went down with a shoulder injury in Week 3 against the Chiefs.
Before the injury, he only had 68 rushing yards on 22 carries while adding eight catches for 54 yards as well. After missing a few games, Tracy came back in a smaller role in the timeshare, but he did get his first touchdown of the season against Denver in Week 7.
He showed that kind of playmaking ability as both a rusher and receiver last year as a rookie as well. He started his rookie year behind Singletary but grew into a larger role as the season went on. He finished last year with six total touchdowns and 1,123 rushing and receiving yards.
Since returning from injury, he’s looked better in the offense with Jaxson Dart leading the charge instead of Russell Wilson. On Sunday against the Eagles, he had 10 carries for 39 yards and two catches for 14 yards while taking over most of the work in the backfield after Skattebo’s departure.
While the Giants do like to use a rotation, Skattebo had been getting most of the passing-down work. His absence opens the door for Tracy to step back into that role, and he could be a strong RB3 with RB2 upside the rest of the season. He will still share some time, though, since he isn’t a prototypical workhorse back like Skattebo.
Devin Singletary Fantasy Football Outlook
“The Motor” was the Giants’ primary starter at the beginning of last year before being passed by Tracy — and then Skattebo this year. He started his career in 2019 with the Bills, spending four years in Buffalo before a quick, one-year stop in Houston.
This year, he’s had limited involvement, with just a few carries per game except for when Tracy was sidelined. His biggest play of the year came on a 28-yard catch against the Eagles after Skattebo’s injury:
He’ll likely get more work now that Skattebo is out, but he’s more of just a change-of-pace option than a true threat to Tracy’s playing time. He’ll get some work, but Tracy is the much more dynamic play.
The Bottom Line
With Skattebo out, Tracy has RB2 upside in the improving Giants offense. He is a great waiver wire pickup for Week 9 if he’s available in your league, like he is in just over 50% of Yahoo leagues. Singletary doesn’t have much standalone value in standard-sized leagues, but he does make sense as a Tracy handcuff in deep leagues.
This week, in one-week DFS contests like the NFL $2.75M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st], both Giants’ RBs are good value plays since they haven’t been priced up yet. Tracy is only $5,100, and Singletary is barely over the minimum at $4,100. They’ll be taking on the 49ers, who rank as a neutral matchup against running backs. They have allowed five running back touchdowns in the last four weeks, and last week, the Texans’ RB room combined for 127 rushing yards and 70 receiving yards.
Tracy is the priority add this week, and he can definitely be part of your plans for Week 9.
