When the Giants travel to play the 49ers on 'Thursday Night Football' (8:15 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime), they will be opening Week 3 without running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley has an ankle sprain that will keep him out on the short week, turning over the backfield to Matt Breida (a former 49er), Gary Brightwell, and rookie Eric Gray and creating a start 'em, sit 'em headache that fantasy owners did not expect this early in the season.
The Giants' offense was dormant for a game and a half until its furious comeback against the Cardinals in Week 2. Daniel Jones is coming off a QB1 performance but is down a key all-around weapon in a much tougher road matchup.
Meanwhile, the 49ers' offense has an injury concern with wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (shoulder). The team, however, has rolled to a 2-0 start with a lot of Christian McCaffrey. Brock Purdy has played well but cooled off a bit, but with Aiyuk banged up, there's potential for two other elite receiving weapons, Deebo Samuel and Geroge Kittle, to be the focal points of the passing game.
What should you do with your fantasy players in what appears to be a lopsided TNF matchup between two 2022 playoff teams? Here's a complete start 'em sit 'em look, plus some DFS single-game lineup recommendations:
WEEK 3 FANTASY: Sleepers | Busts | Start 'em, sit 'em
Giants: Who to start, sit in fantasy football on TNF
Sit: QB Daniel Jones
Jones was the QB28 in Week 1 when the Giants were shut out by the Cowboys. Jones was the QB1 in Week 2 when the Giants dug deep to beat the Cardinals. Here's guaranteeing he'll finish somewhere in the middle, likely toward the 20s again. The 49ers held Matthew Stafford to QB22 despite him throwing for 300-plus yards.
Jones needs to have major impact running to cash in here because the Giants aren't built to be prolific passing in this matchup. It's not happening.
MORE THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
DK lineup | FD lineup | Betting pick | Best props | Aiyuk update
Sit: RB Matt Breida
Breida is the "next man up" in this sweet revenge game, as he once was a valued zone runner for Kyle Shanahan. But Breida is still a slight back, and the Giants may use Barkley being shelved to look more at the youngsters, namely Eric Gray. Kyren Williams did fare well against San Francisco last week, but L.A.'s offensive line was playing well. The Giants are having issues up front with both left tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring) and left guard Ben Bredeson (concussion) battling injuries.
WEEK 3 STANDARD RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Start: TE Darren Waller
Waller needs to be played in seasonal leagues if you don't have an elite top-three option (Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson). He is their most valuable overall receiver and played well through his hamstring injury last week (six catches for 78 yards on eight targets). Even better, he didn't have any practice concerns this week. The 49ers have allowed almost nothing to tight ends, but Waller will be the Giants' leading target in a negative game script.
WEEK 3 PPR RANKINGS:
QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/STs | Kickers
Sit: WRs Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins, and Jalin Hyatt
This trio all had fantasy viability last week because Jones was throwing like a madman in the second half. Hyatt had the most yardage on limited snaps, but Hodgins got the TD. This is still a WR-by-committee based on situation and alignment away from Waller, making it so you can't trust anyone despite the 49ers being a little weak at corner away from Charvarius Ward.
WEEK 3 DFS:
DK lineup | FD lineup | Best values | Best stacks
Sit: K Graham Gano
It's a Ga-no for me, dog.
Sit: Giants D/ST
You can't come close to playing a struggling group that made Josh Dobbs look great.
49ers: Who to start, sit in fantasy football on TNF
Sit: QB Brock Purdy
Purdy shouldn't need to throw much with the 49ers being double-digit favorites. The Giants' pass defense did get leaky vs. Dobbs and allowed him to get two scores with some good running, but Dak Prescott in Week 1 stood by as the running game, defense, and special teams dominated. This should be a lot closer to 40-0 than 31-28. Aiyuk's status limits his passing upside, too.
Start: RB Christian McCaffrey
You knew this already, but let's just use this opportunity to reflect on his explosive start. He has 268 rushing yards and two TDs in two games. He's been so good running that he has just six catches for 36 yards. He'll crush it again in his first 49ers home opener.
Start: WR Deebo Samuel
He's had a modest start for his standards with 11 catches on 16 targets for 118 scoreless yards, but he should be seeing a bump in usage with a banged-up Aiyuk and a Giants' defense that can struggle with chess-piece wideouts. He will have a WR3 floor, but he always has a WR1 ceiling because of his offense.
Start: TE George Kittle
Kittle needs to go off in prime time to justify his high TE1 drafting. He's been very quiet so far with only six catches for 49 yards on nine targets in two games. The Giants are just OK against the tight end and allowed an 8-88 combined line for Zach Ertz and Trey McBride last week as Arizona targeted tight ends 11 times. This feels like a true "Kittle game."
Start: WR Brandon Aiyuk
UPDATE: Aiyuk is now expected to be OUT for Thursday night's game.
Should Aiyuk fight through the injury, he can be schemed open well against the Giants' secondary to help Purdy. You just might expect WR3 numbers from him just in case there are limited snaps or an aggravation. There's a fair chance he can score early to pay off, though.
Start: K Jake Moody
The rookie from Michigan has been as good as Maize and Gould (sorry, we had to go there). Let his leg put you in a fine mid-week mood
Start: 49ers D/ST
You saw what the Cowboys' loaded D did to the Giants, right? And that was with worrying about Barkley. Oh yeah, add more juice for the emotional energetic home prime-time bump.
Giants vs. 49ers: DraftKings Showdown lineup
- Captain (1.5X): 49ers TE George Kittle $9,900
- FLEX: 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey $13,200
- FLEX: 49ers WR Deebo Samuel: $8,800
- FLEX: Giants TE Darren Waller $7,400
- FLEX: 49ers D/ST $5,800
- FLEX: Giants WR Parris Campbell $4,400
Kittle is a good captain pivot from CMC, but we still need CMC in there to have a shot. Samuel is a logical correlation away from Aiyuk. Campbell could be the garbage guy a lot when not Waller.
Giants vs. 49ers: FanDuel single-game lineup
- MVP (1.5X): 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey $18.000
- AnyFLEX: 49ers WR Deebo Samuel $13,500
- AnyFLEX: Giants TE Darren Waller $12,500
- AnyFLEX: 49ers TE George Kittle $9,000
- AnyFLEX: Giants WR Parris Campbell $8,000
It's the same deal on FanDuel, except in elevating CMC and getting rid of the 49ers' D.
