Panthers vs Giants Fantasy Football Worksheet, Week 2

The Worksheet, a fantasy football overview by Rich Hribar, breaking down everything you need to know for the Week 2 Carolina Panthers at New York Giants Sunday afternoon game.

• The Giants allowed a pressure on 52.6% of non-blitz dropbacks, the highest rate in Week 1.
• Under pressure, Daniel Jones completed 77.8% of his passes for 7.7 yards per pass attempt. In 2021, Jones completed 50.9% of his passes under pressure for 5.4 Y/A.
• Saquon Barkley rushed for 88 yards over expectation in Week 1, the most in the league.
• Barkley had a league-high 129 yards on explosive carries after 173 such yards all of 2021.
• Carolina allowed 111 rushing yards on explosive carries in Week 1, 30th in the league.
• The Panthers were the only team other than Houston that failed to have a rush of 10 or more yards in Week 1.

Trust = spike production for that player

Quarterback

Baker Mayfield: Mayfield was a productive QB2 in Week 1, posting 18.0 fantasy points, which was good for QB13 on the week. Mayfield had a 7-yard touchdown run elevate his line to go along with a 75-yard busted coverage touchdown, so there are some grains of salt to apply to his final output. Mayfield threw a league-high 40% of his passes at or behind the line of scrimmage while completing just 59.3% of his passes overall. 

That said, we have made no secret that the Giants are going to be a team that we regularly target for streaming play given their aggressive defensive approach and questionable talent on the back end. That puts Mayfield right back on the board as a matchup-based QB2, although being a road underdog attached to a small team total dampens much of the objective appeal. The Giants allowed a QB10 scoring week to Ryan Tannehill in Week 1, surrendering 0.56 passing points per attempt (23rd) and 8.1 yards per pass attempt (25th). 

Daniel Jones: Jones also turned in a serviceable QB2 performance in Week 1, completing 17-of-21 passes for 188 yards (9.0 Y/A) with two touchdowns and an interception. He also added 25 yards rushing and a two-point conversion on his way to a QB16 scoring week (16.0 points).

Jones was under heavy pressure all afternoon against the Titans, which is nothing new to his NFL career to date. Jones did have a major mistake with another red zone interception after being the worst red zone quarterback over the past two years. With that mistake paired with a run-heavy gameplan, only Dak Prescott posted a lower EPA per dropback than Jones did in Week 1.

Carolina is not an attractive target on paper, leaving Jones as a back-end QB2 until he can string together some solid weeks in tougher spots to earn our trust as a streamer. Carolina was strong against the pass in 2021, allowing 13.5 passing points per game (eighth) and 6.9 yards per pass attempt (10th). They opened only facing Jacoby Brissett but allowed a league-low 4.3 yards per pass attempt in Week 1. 

Running Back

Christian McCaffrey (TRUST): McCaffrey was not as featured as we would like in Week 1, turning 14 touches into 57 yards, but he managed to salvage his afternoon with a short touchdown plunge.  

McCaffrey was still a full-time back, playing 81.1% of the offensive snaps (third in the league among backs) and ran a pass route on 72.7% of the dropbacks (fourth).

Expecting more touches coming along for the ride of being on the field that much, McCaffrey has a better matchup in Week 2. The Giants were game in allowing 3.91 yards per carry to Tennessee backs on the ground, holding Derrick Henry to 82 yards on 21 carries, but they were completely undressed out of the backfield for two easy scores to Dontrell Hilliard in the passing game even though he ran just six pass routes. 

Saquon Barkley (TRUST): Barkley got off a modest start on Sunday, but then exploded in the splash-play fashion that he showcased early in his career as a healthy player. 

Barkley had a solid 59 yards on nine touches in the first half Sunday, then racked up 135 yards on 15 touches after the break, providing gains of 68 and 33 yards on the ground. 

The Giants used 11 personnel on 84.4% of their runs (third in the league), which allowed Barkley to have 11 carries against six or fewer defenders in the box, which opened up some room for him. He tallied 155 of his rushing yards on those carries. 

Carolina was purged on the ground in Week 1, surrendering 187 rushing yards to the Browns backfield. Cleveland fields one of the best running games in the league, but Barkley also comes with added passing usage that was at the top of his position in Week 1.

Barkley led all running backs with a 36.8% target share, running a pass route on 75% of the New York dropbacks (third among backs), catching 6-of-7 targets for 30 yards.

Wide Receiver

D.J. Moore: Moore caught 3-of-6 targets for 43 yards to open the season. Moore trailed Robbie Anderson on Sunday in production, but he still was on the field for 100% of the team dropbacks. 

The Giants are a team I still want to look at for production in the passing game and Moore has a significant talent edge over the pieces of this secondary. The Giants allowed Tennessee wide receivers to accrue 8.9 yards per target (20th) and 14.1 yards per catch (21st).

Moore still has the hurdle of Mayfield providing enough opportunity and efficiency his way while we still need him to get into the end zone at a higher rate to date in his career, but this is a solid layout for Moore as a fringe-WR1 in full-PPR formats and a solid WR2 altogether.

Robbie Anderson: Anderson was the Panther wideout who cashed in Week 1, catching 5-of-8 targets for 102 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown where he was completely uncovered. Anderson also was a full-time player, running a route on 100% of the team dropbacks. 

We are only one year removed from Anderson being a viable fantasy asset. He is someone to keep an eye on as a potential speculation add or even can be used as a matchup-based WR4/FLEX, but with him largely getting there last week on the strength of that blown play, we still have a modest heat check going on here.

Giants WRs: This wide receiver room was a mess in Week 1. Richie James (5-59-0) and Kenny Golladay (2-22-0) led the team with 20 routes run, followed by Sterling Shepard (2-71-1) with 18 routes, and David Sills (zero catches and targets) with 16 routes. Wan’Dale Robinson was forced from the game early after just four routes, while Kadarius Toney played just seven total snaps. 

James led the team with six targets while Shepard maximized his opportunity, securing a 65-yard touchdown. 

Robinson was labeled as “day-to-day” after the game. If absent again, he can open up more usage for James as a desperation FLEX. We should see Shepard ramp up in snaps weekly. If adding a New York wideout to a roster, he carries the most appeal and has established rapport with Jones.

Toney was still electric with 29 yards on his two touches in the run game, but he appears buried on the depth chart in a similar fashion that we saw Brandon Aiyuk start off a year ago. Before even entertaining Toney in lineups, we will need to see him log tangible snaps. 

No Giants wideout is more than a FLEX swing in the deepest of formats until we gain more clarity. If looking for a silver lining, the Giants used 11 personnel on 80.8% of their passing plays, so three of these guys are going to be on the field often.

Tight End

Both of these tight ends rooms are avoidable. Daniel Bellinger played 29 snaps (48.3%) in his NFL debut while failing to receive a target. A year after getting the worst production in the league from their tight ends, Ian Thomas led Carolina with 35 snaps (2-53-0 on three targets) with Tommy Tremble (1-1-0 on one target) playing 18 snaps.   

More Week 2 Fantasy breakdowns from The Worksheet:

LAC at KC | CAR at NYG | IND at JAX | MIA at BAL | NE at PIT | NYJ at CLE | TB at NO | WAS at DET | ATL at LAR | SEA at SF | CIN at DAL | ARI at LVR | HOU at DEN | CHI at GB | TEN at BUF | MIN at PHI