The New York Giants enter their Week 14 bye following a Monday Night Football loss to the New England Patriots. Tyrone Tracy Jr. left the game with a hip injury and had to be carted off the field. Will fantasy football managers have their running back available for the final three weeks of the season?
Tyrone Tracy Jr. Injury Update
Tracy left Monday night’s game against the Patriots in the fourth quarter after being hit and driven into the turf on what looked like a routine run. The injury occurred with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the contest. He stayed down while trainers attended to him, and it quickly became apparent this was not a minor issue.
Tracy struggled to put weight on his left leg as he was assisted off the field. He was taken to the medical tent for evaluation before being carted to the locker room. The team listed him as questionable to return with a left hip injury, but it was quite clear immediately that he was not coming backi.
The fact that Tracy had to be carted off is not a good sign. Cart-off injuries typically indicate significant trauma that prevents a player from walking under their own power. Combined with his inability to bear weight on the leg, the severity of the hip injury remains a major concern.
The Giants are on bye this week, which presents both positives and negatives for Tracy’s recovery timeline. The positive is that it gives him a full week of recovery without missing an actual game. Tracy’s injury was undoubtedly going to cost him Week 14 anyway. At least he won’t miss an actual game now.
The negative is that the bye makes it less likely we get meaningful updates on his status. Teams typically provide minimal injury information during bye weeks since there are no practice reports to file. Fantasy managers may be left in the dark about Tracy’s progress until the Giants return to practice ahead of Week 15.
While updates during bye weeks are less common, they do happen. Fortunately, we did, in fact, get one. On Tuesday, Tracy revealed that his injury was merely a bruise and that he is “fine.”
The Giants are playing out a lost season but still want to evaluate their young talent. Tracy has been part of their rotation alongside Cam Skattebo and Devin Singletary. If he can play, he probably will, as the coaching staff wants to assess what they have for the future.
That sounds like it will be the case. Given Tracy’s description of his own injury, he would’ve had a decent shot at playing this week if the Giants had a game. With the bye week to recover, expect to see Tracy on the field when New York returns to action in Week 15.
Tracy’s Fantasy Outlook
If Tracy does end up missing time, Devin Singletary will not only be the lead back but will probably see significant volume. The future of the Giants backfield is Skattebo as the lead back and Tracy as the change-of-pace guy next season. The Giants have no reason to hold back on Singletary’s usage in the meantime.
If Singletary is available on your waiver wire, he is a priority add. Even though the Giants are not a good team, they have a mostly favorable remaining schedule. New York faces Washington, Minnesota, and Las Vegas to close the fantasy season. Singletary could be a volume-based RB2 for as long as Tracy is out.
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Singletary stepped into the lead role after Tracy exited Monday night. The veteran handled all of the work in the Giants’ backfield to close the contest, demonstrating he can absorb a full workload if needed.
As long as Tracy practices next week, he is very likely to play, though.