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(Every roster is different, but there are traits on each one. All summer, Daniel Kelley will go roster-by-roster to identify the top fantasy football sleeper and bust on each roster and make a bold prediction for each team. This is Sleepers, Busts & Bold Predictions.) The Seahawks have been slowly ruining the Giants’ lives. It started with the 2023 Leonard Williams trade, with Williams making two Pro Bowls in two full seasons in Seattle after coming over from New York, while the picks the Giants got for him turned into Tyler Nubin and Marcus Mbow — both fine players in their own right, but not (or not yet, at least) offering anything like the value Williams is giving Seattle. Then it was Drew Lock. He spent a couple of inconsequential years in Seattle before heading to New York for the 2024 season. He did start five games as a Giant, but he did very little in them, going 1-4 … except that one win came in one of the single best games of the year in Week 17, throwing for 4 touchdowns and running for another, when a loss would have all but iced the No. 1 overall pick for the Giants. Instead of getting a shot at the No. 1 pick, the Giants had to pick third. Lock, like a true sleeper agent with his job completed, then went back to Seattle that offseason. And then it was Russell Wilson. Sure, he was three years removed from Seattle last season, but that’s still what everyone thinks of when they think of Russell Wilson. He was supposed to start for the Giants last year, only he went 0-3 as a starter. He passed for 450-and-3 against the woeful Dallas defense in Week 2, but he combined for 328 scoreless yards otherwise, and the Giants went 0-3 when Wilson started, short-circuiting the season before it started. The Giants have been rumored to possibly be dealing Kayvon Thibodeaux this offseason, with the Seahawks one of the discussed destinations. Those talks have died down of late, but let me just issue a warning: Say no, Giants. It never ends well for you.
Malik Nabers’ immediate future could not have any more questions. He’s had two surgeries since tearing his ACL last season, and it feels like every time we get positive news regarding his recovery, it’s almost immediately followed by some serious words of caution. Behind him, the Giants have Darius Slayton, who has been the team’s WR4 forced into WR1/2 action because of emergency since long before you were born and a series of has-beens like Calvin Austin III, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Darnell Mooney, Odell Beckham Jr. and Isaiah Hodgins. And then there’s Fields, the team’s third-round pick in this year’s draft. The former Virginia and Notre Dame receiver didn’t have eye-popping numbers in college, with 5 touchdowns in each of the last three years and never more than 811 yards in a season, but he was good through contact and offer plenty of size to be a contested catch guy for Jaxson Dart. Nabers and Fields could make an excellent thunder-and-lightning combination, and Fields has enough of a skill set that he could be the WR1 if Nabers can’t make it back.
I’ve enjoyed the Isaiah Likely discourse as much as the next guy the last few years. But the truth is that he’s a 26-year-old fourth-rounder who has never reached 500 yards in a season and whose previous team opted for the 30-year-old in clear decline over him (and they did it before John Harbaugh left town). Maybe Mark Andrews can rebound, but he’s been in pretty steady decline (80.1 yards per game in 2021, then 56.5, then 54.4, then 39.6, then last year’s 24.8), and the Ravens still extended him and let Likely hit free agency. Now in New York and still with Harbaugh, Likely is pretty widely expected to be the team’s TE1 and is being drafted as the TE13 in fantasy leagues. This despite the Giants having a holdover tight end who is about a year younger than Likely, with roughly equivalent draft stock (Johnson was pick 4-107 in 2024; Likely 4-139 in 2022) and beat him in basically every offensive stat last year:
Sure, maybe Likely is the TE1 in New York. But is he such the TE1 that he brings back borderline fantasy starter numbers? I’m definitely out at that price.
I have to include the PPG caveat there, because I will never be convinced Dart’s playing style will let him stay healthy. But when he’s on the field, I expect the fantasy numbers to be there. This offense with John Harbaugh and Matt Nagy is primed to be run-heavy, except for the fact that Cam Skattebo might be as prone to getting hurt as Dart. The receiver room has, with Nabers’ injury, no sure things. The offensive line has been improving the last few years, and first-rounder Francis Mauigoa is the icing there. Dart ran for 9 touchdowns last year and 487 yards in his 12 starts. Even if he’s not a good NFL quarterback, his legs will make him a fantasy factor when he’s on the field in Tim Tebow-esque fashion. And if he can even be a competent passer (he only topped 250 yards once last year, so this is no sure thing), his fantasy production should be off the charts.
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2026 Sleepers, Busts & Bold Predictions: New York Giants
Sleeper: Malachi Fields, WR
Malik Nabers’ immediate future could not have any more questions. He’s had two surgeries since tearing his ACL last season, and it feels like every time we get positive news regarding his recovery, it’s almost immediately followed by some serious words of caution. Behind him, the Giants have Darius Slayton, who has been the team’s WR4 forced into WR1/2 action because of emergency since long before you were born and a series of has-beens like Calvin Austin III, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Darnell Mooney, Odell Beckham Jr. and Isaiah Hodgins. And then there’s Fields, the team’s third-round pick in this year’s draft. The former Virginia and Notre Dame receiver didn’t have eye-popping numbers in college, with 5 touchdowns in each of the last three years and never more than 811 yards in a season, but he was good through contact and offer plenty of size to be a contested catch guy for Jaxson Dart. Nabers and Fields could make an excellent thunder-and-lightning combination, and Fields has enough of a skill set that he could be the WR1 if Nabers can’t make it back.
Bust: Isaiah Likely, TE
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I’ve enjoyed the Isaiah Likely discourse as much as the next guy the last few years. But the truth is that he’s a 26-year-old fourth-rounder who has never reached 500 yards in a season and whose previous team opted for the 30-year-old in clear decline over him (and they did it before John Harbaugh left town). Maybe Mark Andrews can rebound, but he’s been in pretty steady decline (80.1 yards per game in 2021, then 56.5, then 54.4, then 39.6, then last year’s 24.8), and the Ravens still extended him and let Likely hit free agency. Now in New York and still with Harbaugh, Likely is pretty widely expected to be the team’s TE1 and is being drafted as the TE13 in fantasy leagues. This despite the Giants having a holdover tight end who is about a year younger than Likely, with roughly equivalent draft stock (Johnson was pick 4-107 in 2024; Likely 4-139 in 2022) and beat him in basically every offensive stat last year:
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Sure, maybe Likely is the TE1 in New York. But is he such the TE1 that he brings back borderline fantasy starter numbers? I’m definitely out at that price.
Bold Prediction: Jaxson Dart Is a Top-6 QB in Fantasy Points Per Game
I have to include the PPG caveat there, because I will never be convinced Dart’s playing style will let him stay healthy. But when he’s on the field, I expect the fantasy numbers to be there. This offense with John Harbaugh and Matt Nagy is primed to be run-heavy, except for the fact that Cam Skattebo might be as prone to getting hurt as Dart. The receiver room has, with Nabers’ injury, no sure things. The offensive line has been improving the last few years, and first-rounder Francis Mauigoa is the icing there. Dart ran for 9 touchdowns last year and 487 yards in his 12 starts. Even if he’s not a good NFL quarterback, his legs will make him a fantasy factor when he’s on the field in Tim Tebow-esque fashion. And if he can even be a competent passer (he only topped 250 yards once last year, so this is no sure thing), his fantasy production should be off the charts.
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