New York Giants: fantasy football sleepers
By Eric Mollo
Sep 25, 2014; Landover, MD, USA; New York Giants tight end Larry Donnell (84) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Washington Redskins in the second quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Larry Donnell – TE
I did not want to put Donnell on this list. The Giants, even with McAdoo, just don’t like to lean heavily on their tight ends. I’m not entirely sure why. They’ve had decent talent at the position for some time now from Shockey to Boss to Ballard and now Donnell.
Knowing this, I’m still going to leave Donnell on this list–for two reasons:
1. The overall statistical performance of tight ends last season was not great. We saw some nice years out of Gronk, Graham, and Martellus Bennett, but otherwise there were few truly spectacular tight end performances. And with Antonio Gates suspended and Vernon Davis declining, those numbers shrink even more. Donnell fits right in the middle of the pack with tight ends, so he could certainly be a serviceable tight end for fantasy owners given their limited options.
2. The Giants don’t use tight ends much, but they do like to use their tight ends in the red zone. Donnell is such a huge target and with Beckham Jr. drawing so much attention, Donnell will get red zone looks. Eli has always liked to target his tight ends inside the 20, whether it’s their starter or backups like Visanthe Shiancoe and Bear Pascoe.
It’s not that I expect a great statistical output from Donnell–700 yards and 6-7 TD’s are probably his ceiling. But I don’t see many other great options at tight end out there. So I consider Donnell a guy to consider picking to at the very least serve as a TE2 on your team.
Next: Eli Manning