Summer Sleeper: New York Giants

Paul Perdichizzi Posted On August 8, 2016

We continue our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series where DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going give you the likes of mainstream sleepers like Jay Ajayi or Isaiah Crowell, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Willie Snead is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

Geremy Davis, WR (Deep Sleeper)

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Davis was selected out of Connecticut by the Giants in the 2015 NFL Draft as the 186th overall pick, in the sixth round. While he did not play much at all in his rookie season, I think Davis could emerge into the fourth wide receiver on the Giants roster this year, with an outside chance based on the health of Victor Cruz, to become their number three receiver.

At 6’2’’ and 217 pounds, Davis possesses good size and frame. He uses that size to his advantage by creating room at the catch point and being a reliable target for his quarterback. Davis is a good route runner that also displays good body control when the ball is the air. While some questioned his speed prior to the 2015 draft, he ran a 4.47 40 yard dash at his pro day. Even with that timed speed, he is not going to be a vertical threat for the Giants.

Davis could emerge though as a solid possession wide receiver who keeps the chains moving and be a threat in the red zone for the Giants. With Cruz again missing most of the off-season workouts prior to training camp, Davis worked a lot with the first team and started to get more comfortable with Eli Manning. While Odell Beckham and rookie Sterling Shepard are locked into the starting roles for the Giants, the depth chart is up for grabs after those two. Davis will be competing with Cruz, who must show he can be the player he once was and Dwayne Harris, their primary returner that has never been more than an average wide receiver.

Jerell Adams and Matt LaCosse, TEs (Super Deep Sleepers)

The Giants tight end position has mostly been a revolving door over the last decade, but surprisingly each year it seems to present some fantasy value from unexpected sources. From Kevin Boss, Jake Ballard, Martellus Bennett (prior to him becoming a consistent fantasy asset), to most recently Larry Donnell and Will Tye, the Giants seem to come up with a new sleeper at the position almost every season.

Two seasons ago, it was Donnell, a former undrafted free agent out of Grambling in 2011, who emerged and had 63 receptions for 629 yards and six touchdowns, producing TE1 numbers for the season. Last year, after Donnell got injured, it was another undrafted free agent in Tye, a rookie out of Stony Brook who took over and produced as a TE1 the second half of the season catching 42 passes for 464 yards and three touchdowns. While Tye and Donnell currently sit atop the depth chart, it would be foolish not to closely have on your radar the next two on the depth chart, LaCosse and Adams.

LaCosse, is entering his second year as an undrafted free agent out of Illinois. He spent last year on the practice squad and he is someone the Giants really like a lot because he is the most balanced of any of the tight ends on the roster. He is by far their best blocker of the group. In addition to his plus blocking skills, he has good hands and athleticism to be a productive receiver as well. While the Giants really like LaCosse, he could be in a numbers crunch to make the roster. If Donnell and Tye are healthy and they only keep three, Adams, the Giants sixth round selection out of South Carolina this past draft, seems to be the favorite for the last spot.

The Giants seem to have gotten a steal with Adams as the 184th overall pick, as Adams was highly regarded as one of the top five tight ends in the draft. Mel Kiper had him rated as a second round pick, and many others thought he could go in round three. At 6’5’’ and 247 pounds, Adams has a great combination of size and athletic traits. At the combine he ran a 4.64 40 yard dash, one of the fastest times for the position. Adams can attack the seam and be a dangerous receiving tight end. He has great movement skills in the open field and can create mismatches when lined up against many linebackers and safeties. He must improve his blocking, refine his route running and learn the NFL game, but Adams may have the most potential and the highest ceiling of any tight end on the roster.

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