Starting a running back without a secure pass-catching floor in a terrible offense can be a risky — and agonizing — decision for fantasy football managers on a weekly basis.
Who should you start between Devin Singletary and Chuba Hubbard in your fantasy lineup entering Week 2?
Should You Start Devin Singletary or Chuba Hubbard This Week?
In the Pro Football Network Start/Sit Optimizer, PFN’s Consensus Rankings say that Singletary is the player to start. His projected 8.8 points include 44 rushing yards, two catches, and 12 receiving yards. That doesn’t seem like a big stat line, but it outperforms the consensus projection for Hubbard (8.4 points).
My ranking for these two running backs aligns with the consensus because the New York Giants matchup against the Washington Commanders’ defense simply gives me more reason to believe they will generate more scoring opportunities than the Carolina Panthers vs. the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2.
Singletary’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
We all expected the Giants to struggle a bit in 2024, but the Daniel Jones experience continues to be a fantasy journey that ends in tragedy for anyone invested in New York’s offense.
Unfortunately, we quickly learned that Singletary is a significant downgrade from Saquon Barkley at running back, which could make it difficult to trust anyone wearing a Giants uniform in your fantasy lineup this season.
Singletary did see 15 opportunities in Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings, but he managed to generate just 9.2 fantasy points with 52 total yards on 10 carries and four receptions to start the year.
Singletary’s RB34 finish could be a preview of things to come for fantasy managers trying to rely on a pure volume play in a bad offense to anchor their Flex spot this year.
The encouraging thing about his debut was dominance from a usage standpoint in comparison to the other options in this backfield. Singletary had more opportunities, snaps, touches, and total yards than Eric Gray and Tyrone Tracy Jr. combined in Week 1 while managing to see a 70.6% snap share.
Singletary is an RB3 play in Week 2 against a Commanders defense that just surrendered 392 total yards and 37 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to start the season.
If this unit continues to struggle, then Singletary could be a sneaky volume play in a plus-level matchup for Week 2.
Hubbard’s Fantasy Outlook This Week
The Panthers didn’t exactly leave fantasy managers with much room for optimism after their embarrassing Week 1 performance against the New Orleans Saints.
Carolina produced just 10 points on 193 total yards to go with three turnovers in Dave Canales’ debut as head coach.
To make matters worse, fantasy managers who trusted Hubbard’s volume to finish last season were met with an RB67 overall finish while ceding 45.5% of the snaps to Miles Sanders and Mike Boone in Week 1.
KEEP READING: PFN’s Consensus Fantasy Football Rankings
Hubbard led the team with six carries, but that was about it. Sanders finished with more rushing yards on just one fewer carry, while Boone saw four carries too.
This backfield was a complete mess in Week 1. Bryce Young showed no improvement from his well-documented struggles from last year, and the defense was so bad that the Panthers immediately put Hubbard in a terrible game script.
Stay as far away from this backfield as possible entering Week 2.
Kyle Soppe’s Week 2 Fantasy Outlook for Singletary and Hubbard
Devin Singletary: If a tree falls in a forest, but no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound?
If a running back for the Giants plays 70.6% of the snaps and handles 10 of 14 running back carries but didn’t impact fantasy lineups, did he make an impact?
These are the types of questions that keep me up at night. The lead role is Singletary’s, though five different Giants had a carry, and maybe that’s all you need when facing a Commanders defense that coughed up a league-high 2.56 points per drive a season ago.
I can’t get there with confidence. Singletary checks in as my RB30, and that’s about as high as I can justify putting him. I don’t trust him, but more importantly, I don’t trust this offense. If he were to go nuts and make my ranking look foolish, I’d be working the phone lines in an effort to move him for anyone with a role.
In that hypothetical, assuming health, I’d consider a package for any Chargers, Titans, or Bengals running back in exchange for Singletary. Play him if you can’t stand benching “at Washington,” but understand that the path to success for New York’s lead back this season isn’t a clear one.
Chuba Hubbard: A full-time, featured role in this offense might not be fantasy viable, making any sniff of a committee damning at the highest of levels.
Week 1 snap share:
- Hubbard: 54.5%
- Miles Sanders: 36.4%
- Mike Boone: 9.1%
Together, that trio had 15 touches, and due to this offense’s inability to move the ball, their total fantasy point expectancy last week was just 9.9 PPR points.
If Dave Canales is going to sprinkle pixie dust on this offense — are we sure he has that power? Tampa Bay looked just fine last week in his absence – maybe Jonathon Brooks can provide this backfield with value down the stretch.
Until we get proof of that, there’s no reason to toy with any skill position player in this offense. And if you wanted to cut ties with Hubbard based on your specific waiver wire, I’m not standing in your way.