Summer Sleeper: New York Giants

With fantasy season right around the corner, we’re continuing our annual series focusing on a few sleepers from all 32 teams in the NFL. You can find all of the Summer Sleeper articles here.

These sleepers all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but all merit a little more talking about here in the Premium Content section. Some of these players are deep dynasty sleepers who could merit a spot on your bench in a deep league, while others are players who may contribute a little faster than the deep prospects, but deserve more attention than they may be getting. By definition, a sleeper could mean something a little different to everyone, but we’re simply doing the best job we can to unearth one player from each team who fits the category in some way, shape or form.

We’ll never insult you with a comprehensive list of “sleepers” which include such such dynasty mainstay names as Toby Gerhart, Christine Michael or Cordarrelle Patterson. You’re all too good for that.

While many of these players will undoubtedly fizzle, there’s more value in looking more closely at these deeper prospects and players. We invite you to keep an open mind and either or re-assess your value on those who may be rostered in your league or consider adding a few of these deeper prospects we focus on this Summer who are free agents in your league – after all, some are destined to pan out, too.

Feel free to add your own comments about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own!

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Sleepers come in all shapes and sizes, kind of like shrimp. There are those little shrimp you get in the Chinese buffet that are barely the size of your fingernail, and then there are those colossal shrimp that you get as part of a shrimp cocktail in a high end steakhouse. The size of the shrimp dictate how many you eat. The 2014 New York Giants are closer to that Chinese buffet than a high end steak house in terms of offering good sleeper candidates, unfortunately. But I’m going to do you a solid and offset the fact that I’m giving you small shrimp by giving you two. The odds of either of these players hitting is relatively small, but both are essentially free and almost guaranteed to be on your waiver wire in all but the deepest of leagues.

Larry Donnell, TE

The Giants have a new offensive coordinate, Ben McAdoo, who is fresh off of eight seasons as an offensive assistant in Green Bay. Yes, the Giants are going to feature a lot of three receiver sets with Rueben Randle and Odell Beckham, Jr. or Jerrel Jernigan on the outside and Victor Cruz in the slot, but there will be a role for the tight end in this offense. Consider McAdoo was the Packers tight end coach for his first six years in Green Bay. Consider also that Jermichael Finley received 101 targets in 2011, 94 in 2012 and was on pace for 91 in 2013. Delanie Walker, the 2013 PPR TE 11, received 86 targets.

All of this is a fancy way of saying that the opportunity is there for a Giants tight end to return value if the team can settle on one guy, which is admittedly no guarantee. Everyone had their eyes set on Adrien Robinson, famously referred to as the “JPP of TEs” by Giants GM Jerry Reese, but it seems that Robinson just may not be a good football player. The rest of the Giants tight end depth chart is filled by journeyman veterans Daniel Fells and Kellen Davis, and a UDFA out of USC, Xavier Grimble (who is not to be confused with The Grumple). Donnell served as the backup fullback last year, so his versatility makes him more valuable as well. This position will likely be filled by a committee, but there’s only one candidate in the group that could fill the position by himself.

And that brings us to Donnell, a 2012 UDFA out of Grambling State. Standing at 6’6” and 268 pounds, Donnell isn’t going to pass for Jermichael Finley by any stretch of the imagination with his 4.96 40 time. But the guy can catch, as exhibited by this one-handed TD grab he made during training camp. And his vertical jump (34 1/2”) and broad jump (9’8”) do compare favorably to Rob Gronkowski (33 1/2” and 9’11”). Now of course Donnell is not even in the same state, let alone zip code, as Gronk. Yet, although he is definitely a plodder, that’s not to say that Donnell is not athletic – at least athletic enough to do some work with 80 to 90 targets and become a good red zone threat.

At this point, it appears that Robinson is going to be a bust and we already know what Fells and Davis are. It certainly seems that the Giants tight ends are lemons, but why not try to make some lemonade, especially if you are in a deeper TE-Premium league.

Marcus Harris, WR

Harris is a 6’1” 190 lb receiver out of Murray State. He bounced around the league in 2012 and was released from the Giants’ Practice Squad in late September 2013. Harris ended up playing for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena League where he caught 94 passes for 1,223 yards and 19 touchdowns and also added 1,200 return yards – that was good enough to earn him the AFL Rookie of the Year award.

Now Harris is back with the Giants and is, by all accounts, having a tremendous training camp. He led the Giants in receiving in the Hall of Fame game (4 receptions for 49 yards), and the most recent analysis of the Giants’ “unofficial” depth chart from the Newark Star-Ledger suggests Harris has a chance to make the Giants’ 53 man roster, especially with Mario Manningham struggling to return to form and Trindon Holliday nursing a hamstring injury.

It would definitely take an injury or some other unforeseen set of circumstances for Harris to make any kind of impact in the immediate future; however, weren’t we saying the same thing about Victor Cruz? It is certainly way too early to roster Harris in all but the deepest of leagues, but he is certainly a name to watch if continues to impress in preseason action and makes the Giants’ final roster. He definitely has more upside than any of those other candidates like Manningham, Holliday, Preston Parker or Julian Talley.