Even after their late rally against the New Orleans Saints fell short, the New York Giants still lead the NFC East, as for the second week in a row, none of that division’s four teams won their game. New York still has plenty of questions to answer, but given that it lost Jaxson Dart in Week 2 to a season-ending injury, the fact that it is still in potential playoff position makes this season a success.
The Giants’ most pressing issue comes at the most important position, as Jameis Winston played badly enough in the loss to be benched for J.J. McCarthy, who subsequently threw for 243 yards in the fourth quarter alone. Regardless of whether Winston or McCarthy starts this week, New York also needs to figure out its running back situation. Cam Skattebo was benched and played just six snaps in the defeat against the Saints, and the Giants waived veteran Najee Harris after he produced just two yards on four carries. Skattebo’s demotion and Harris’ departure could open up more snaps for Tyrone Tracy Jr., who had 18 yards last week.
Tracy is only rostered in 4% of Yahoo Sports fantasy leagues and started in 2%, so he should still be available on waivers in most leagues, but he’s generated some momentum over the past few days.
Results and Usage
Tracy had been a major part of New York’s system in 2024 and 2025, putting up a team-leading 192 carries for 839 yards and five touchdowns while adding an additional 38 catches, 284 yards, and one score through the air in 2024. He also led the team in total yards in 2025, narrowly ahead of wideout Wan’Dale Robinson, even though his Week 3 shoulder dislocation led directly to Skattebo’s breakout as a high-volume option. However, he’s fallen out of favor this season, turning 13 carries into 40 yards and a score and adding four catches for an additional 52 yards and a touchdown.
Tracy’s per-play numbers are solid, as he has posted the best rushing success rate of his career and is averaging slightly more yards per carry than Devin Singletary, another candidate to step up if Skattebo remains sidelined. He doesn’t qualify for league leaderboards by Pro Football Focus’ standards, but if he did, he’d rank only narrowly behind Skattebo, and he has produced more rushing yards per attempt before contact than any other running back on the Giants’ roster.
Future Outlook
Tracy played two or fewer snaps in each of the first three games of the season, but he’s slowly earned John Harbaugh’s trust, earning 12 snaps in Week 4, 17 in Week 5, and 29 in Week 6. Although he wasn’t that efficient in those snaps, he has a realistic pathway to more playing time, given that Skattebo has struggled in pass protection and he did an excellent job in his 11 pass-blocking snaps in Week 6. Of course, it’s a small sample size, but Skattebo was also one of the worst pass-blockers in football last season, contributing in part to his benching. It’d be surprising if Skattebo received zero touches the rest of the season, given his talent and production in his rookie season, but he’s also not a guarantee to reclaim his place as the sole feature back.
It’s also possible that John Harbaugh just trusts none of his running backs and turns to the air, although given how much Winston has struggled this season and McCarthy’s prior track record, that feels unlikely. Of the two quarterbacks, Tracy would probably rather catch passes from McCarthy; he averaged slightly fewer intended air yards per passing attempt in 2025 than Winston this season, and his on-target rate last season was slightly higher than Winston’s so far, so McCarthy might be more likely to put him into a better position to make the catch. McCarthy also targets the sidelines more frequently than Winston does, so Tracy could get involved with screen passes. He averaged 11.8 yards per catch on his eight screen passes last season.
Either way, it’s worth waiting until after the bye week and analyzing New York’s running back and quarterback situations this weekend against the Houston Texans. Houston simply has too many defensive playmakers, and it’s allowed the eighth-fewest FPTS per game to opposing running backs this season. Running backs have been incredibly inefficient against the Texans, managing the second-fewest yards per carry, and they’ve faced a pretty difficult slate of backs in James Cook, Jonathan Taylor, and Bhayshul Tuten.
