Daniel Jones Fantasy Outlook Replacing Eli Manning as Starter Could Be Upgrade for Giants' Offense

Despite the comments from the front office, it really felt like a matter of when, not if, rookie quarterback Daniel Jones would take over for Eli Manning as the New York Giants' starting QB.

That time has come already, and Jones will get the start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 3 after Manning and the Giants fell to an 0-2 start.

While Jones may have been a controversial selection with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, it shouldn't be too hard to prove an upgrade from Manning at this stage of his career.

Manning ranks 26th among 33 qualifying NFL passers with only 5.7 adjusted yards per pass attempt so far in 2019, and he hasn't finished better than 18th in that category since 2015. Jones also turned in an incredibly impressive preseason, completing 29 of his 34 attempts for 416 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

At worst, it's hard to see this change being anything less impactful than a lateral move for the fantasy football value available in the Giants' offense. Saquon Barkley has already shown that he can be one of the most productive players in fantasy football with a poor QB, and Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard's values are tied entirely to targets and volume, not efficiency.

Even if Jones flops, the Giants will likely still be playing from behind and putting up plenty of passing volume. After his stellar preseason, there's also the possibility that he proves to be a significant upgrade from Manning, providing a boost to the entire unit's value. As for Jones himself, the QB position is deep enough that fantasy owners in typical 12-team, one-QB leagues don't need to roll the dice on him just yet.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers make for a great matchup in Week 3 though, so Jones should already be on the radar as a streaming option in deeper and two-QB leagues. His schedule does get tougher moving forward, with matchups against the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots in Weeks 5 and 6, respectively.

However, if Jones survives that stretch, he could prove a viable streaming option again when things get easier against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7 and Detroit Lions in Week 8.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.