Fantasy Football 2017: Impact of Brandon Marshall to Giants
By Dan Thomas
Former New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall will stay in New York and play for the Giants in 2017. What impact does this have in fantasy football?
Last season Brandon Marshall was drafted with the expectations of being a WR1 in fantasy football and the reasons were obvious. In 2015, he had 109 receptions, 1,502 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. In 2016, he was returning to the same team, to the same offense and catching passes from the same quarterback. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Marshall came nowhere close to an encore performance.
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Last year Marshall appeared in 15 games and finished with 59 receptions, 788 yards and 3 touchdowns. It was only the third time in Marshall’s 11-year career where he did not reach 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Many fantasy owners and NFL fans can blame Marshall’s lack of production on one player and that would be quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.
After Fitzpatrick massively exceeded expectations in 2015, he came back down to earth last year and finished the season with more interceptions (17) than touchdowns (12). Using the phrase “god awful” might be underselling just how terrible he was in 2016.
Now, Marshall goes to the Giants where he will be catching passes from two-time Super Bowl Champion Eli Manning. How should fantasy owners gauge the Giants offense with Marshall now in the mix? For that, we’ll use a quick game of “Stock Up, Stock Down.”
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Stock Up
QB Eli Manning – Last year Manning finished as the 21st QB in fantasy football (according to ESPN standard scoring) and had his worst season ever in Ben McAdoo’s offense. The addition of Marshall will give the Giants a strong No. 2 WR and it won’t allow defenses to focus solely on Odell Beckham Jr.
The Giants third wide receiver, Sterling Shepard, had a solid rookie season and should be even better in 2017. If/when the Giants upgrade their offensive line, Manning will have more time in the pocket and better weapons to throw to. He should be viewed as top 10-12 fantasy quarterback.
Running Game – With the Giants releasing running back Rashad Jennings earlier this offseason, Paul Perkins finds himself at the top of the Giants depth chart. If he can maintain that role, look for the running game to improve in 2017. After all with OBJ, Marshall and Shepard all on the field together, defenses will be forced to play back.
Stock Down
WR Odell Beckham Jr. – Okay, do yourself a favor and don’t freak out. Yes, OBJ’s stock is pointing down, but only slightly. He’s still one of the best wide receivers in the NFL and will be featured a ton in the Giants offense. However, Marshall will get his fair share of targets. He’s the best No. 2 wide receiver the Giants offense has had since Beckham has been in the NFL.
It was easy to feed OBJ 10-12 targets a game when Eli’s second-best option was Rueben Randle or a broken down Victor Cruz. With Marshall on the field, Beckham will see less targets and with Marshall’s 6-4 frame, he should steal some redzone targets as well. With that said, OBJ is still a top 3-to-5 fantasy football wide receiver.
WR Sterling Shepard – What a shame. In Shepard’s rookie season he had 65 receptions, 683 yards and eight touchdowns. Going into his second-year and with the Giants releasing Victor Cruz, Shepard’s stock was booming. Now? Not so much. He should be viewed as a WR4.
WR Brandon Marshall – Marshall will turn 33 years old in the coming weeks and will be the No.2 wide receiver on the Giants. He can certainly make a strong impact on the Giants offense especially when you consider Eli Manning attempted the seventh-most passes in the NFL last season. Still, it wouldn’t exactly be a surprise if he didn’t surpass 1,000 yards receiving in McAdoo’s offense. He should be viewed as a WR2/3.