Minnesota Vikings at New York Giants Start Em’ Sit Em’| Week 16

The New York Giants are looking towards the end of a disappointing season as they prepare to face the Minnesota Vikings. Giants fans may be happy with the performance of quarterback Jaxson Dart, but there isn’t much else to be excited about with the team. That makes it difficult to discern how hard they are going to try against the Vikings when they have a high draft pick and no playoff hopes. The Vikings, on the other hand, will look to capitalize on their win against Dallas and perhaps finish over .500. In terms of DFS, this should be a good game to pick up lots of Vikings offensive players.

Lock of the Game

While he isn’t near the top echelon of NFL quarterbacks, J.J. McCarthy is looking more and more like a serious threat when he’s under center. He’s thrown five touchdowns to only one interception in the past two games. With the way the Giants’ defense is playing, this should be another opportunity for McCarthy to sling a couple of deep passes. Looking at his performance against Dallas, McCarthy did have several long throws, a couple of which went for touchdowns. The shocking thing was that he was getting hit on most of those plays too, so he clearly isn’t afraid to get hit a little to convert a big play downfield.

Start ‘Em

It’s not often that the third-string wide receiver in Minnesota gets talked about, but here we are. Nailor has been the most reliable option for the Vikings’ passing game for a while. He only had three catches in the game against Dallas, but two of those catches were touchdowns. Some lackluster play from Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison is also making Nailor’s game more noticeable.

Due to the emergence of Jordan Mason, it’s hard to find a game where Aaron Jones is worth starting. This should be one of those games for him, though. Jones still gets more carries than Mason (although the difference between the two is usually close). Jones also gets more work in the passing game. The Giants do not have a great run defense, so the Vikings might try to wear them down with Aaron Jones to open up the play action for McCarthy.

Sit ‘Em

With the Giants already out of playoff contention, it’s arguable whether or not they should even play Jaxson Dart. Risking injury may not be worth it for what looks like the franchise quarterback for some time to come. Even if he does play, the Vikings defense has been shutting down teams recently. Before the Dallas game, Minnesota had a three-game stretch where they only let up six points total. With the injury to Cam Skattebo, Dart also doesn’t have a run game to rely on, so the Vikings can feel free to bring pressure. Dart should be playing a low-risk style of football here, but it won’t be productive fantasy-wise.

Oh, how they mighty have fallen. Justin Jefferson was drafted as a top-three wide receiver for many a fantasy football draft this year. Recently, though, he has barely been playing like a starter. He’s gotten 37 yards total over the past three games, and his last touchdown was scored on November 2nd. What’s really frustrating is that the Vikings clearly want him to get his numbers; Jefferson was targeted eight times against Dallas and only caught two of them. A player of Jefferson’s caliber should be able to bounce back from this slump easily, but at this point, it’s just impossible to start him for DFS.

Fade of the Game

Tracy Jr. has been a plug-and-play option since the injury to Cam Skattebo. He has yet to really flourish in that role; he’s put together some nice games but hasn’t reached 90 yards or more in the last five games. On top of that, Tracy Jr. has only scored two touchdowns all season, which should say something about what the Giants like to do when they reach the red zone. To make matters worse, he is going up against the Vikings’ defense. There should be plenty of other running back choices this week other than Tracy Jr.