Thursday Night Football Fantasy Picks: Start 'Em, Sit 'Em for Giants vs Washington

Week 2 is here, and Thursday Night Football brings us an NFC East showdown between the Washington Football Team and New York Giants.

Thursday Night Football Fantasy Picks

Neither team has the most exciting offense in the NFL, but there is no shortage of fantasy football-relevant players on either side.

With that in mind, here is The Duel's start 'em, sit 'em advice for tonight's showdown at FedEx Field.

Saquon Barkley Fantasy

Start Saquon Barkley, RB, New York Giants: I get the risk involved with Saquon Barkley. He's still only listed as questionable after burning fantasy managers while playing less than half the Giants' offensive snaps in Week 1. The Giants only ran 61 offensive snaps in Week 1, however, which is a number they eclipsed in eight of Daniel Jones' 12 full games last season. And Barkley was still a focal point of this offense when he was on the field, racking up 13 opportunities (an opportunity on 45% of his snaps). The Washington defense makes for a tough matchup, but even a slight uptick in snap share as he gets his legs back under him would give Barkley a solid shot at 20-plus opportunities in Week 2.

Antonio Gibson Fantasy

Start Antonio Gibson, RB, Washington Football Team: Gone are the days when a 20-carry outing was what we'd expect from a lead back. Only seven backs racked up 20 carries in Week 1, and that included Antonio Gibson, whose 90 rushing yards ranked second in that group. He also overcame last year's concerns about his receiving workload, seeing 5 targets to J.D. McKissic's 1. Now he takes that workhorse volume into a matchup with a Giants defense that just made Melvin Gordon look like he was still rushing against Big Ten defenses at Wisconsin in Week 1.

Kenny Golladay Fantasy

Sit Kenny Golladay, WR, New York Giants: Kenny Golladay's 4 receptions and 64 yards in Week 1 wasn't a disaster, but the Giants' target distribution should have fantasy managers seriously worried. Sterling Shepard (9) and Darius Slayton (7) led the team in targets, trailed by Golladay (6) and Kyle Rudolph (5). Add in a nightmare matchup (Washington ranked No. 3 in Football Outsiders' defensive DVOA metric in 2020), and Golladay isn't likely to produce the kind of efficiency he'd need to overcome that volume concern in Week 2.

Dyami Brown Fantasy

Sit Dyami Brown, WR, Washington Football Team: Dyami Brown has been a very buzzy name with Curtis Samuel hurt, but even a matchup with the New York Giants doesn't put him in play this week. He's a guy you want to stash on your bench, for sure, but his 4 targets, 1 reception and negative receiving yard total doesn't warrant a start. If you're looking for long-term optimism, he did play 93% of Washington's offensive snaps in Week 1, so the future could be bright. It's just too early.

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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 his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.