Veteran Values: Devin Singletary Can Be A Crucial Championship Piece At A Bargain
Every season there are veteran RBs who aren’t exactly prized priorities on Draft Day who go through the season and exceed expectations, becoming surprisingly valuable pieces on playoff rosters, or as trade assets. For the next few days I’ll highlight some of these veteran values, beginning with Devin Singletary of the New York Giants.
Singletary was one of these guys last season, with an ADP of No. 134 overall, 90 spots behind his backfield mate Dameon Pierce at the time I penned the Texans preview. Singletary outperformed Pierce all year, and eventually usurped the job entirely from him, relegating Pierce to pure handcuff status. Singletary parlayed his strong 2023 finish into a clear lead role for the Giants, and while this offense isn’t expected to light the world on fire, it is certainly improving and capable of producing fantasy relevant players.
It's unclear why Singletary hasn’t been more trusted in his career. In Buffalo they always seemed to be searching for someone to take his place, or to take him off the field for passing situations despite him being built for three-down work. Singletary graded as a Top 24 RB last year per PFF, and set a career high for rushing yards (898), which unsurprisingly is paired with surpassing the 200-carry mark for the first time in his career, which he did with only 10 starts. Pierce was the preferred workhorse to start, and Singletary didn’t log double-digit attempts for the first five games of the year, and didn’t hit 15 attempts for the first eight. That usage is a misunderstanding of what Singletary is; he’s not an elite athlete in comparison to other backs, and he is a multi-skilled player who thrives on volume. Singletary’s had 19 career games with 15+ carries, and in those games he has eclipsed 80 rushing yards 13 times, and gone for over 100 five times.
It's been overdue for Singletary to have a backfield to himself, and in New York he’ll have just that. This is a player who has racked up 1,000+ yards from scrimmage for three straight years as a platoon back, so he has a lot of room for growth. Singletary is going to be running behind an improved offensive line, and in an offense with some young receivers with speed to spare that won’t allow defenses to load up in the box like they did a year ago. Singletary also can remain on the field near the goal line; he’s turned 35 career rushing attempts inside the five-yard line into 12 touchdowns. That’s good news for Singletary, because the Giants ran the ball 26 times last season inside the 10-yard line, which may not sound like a wild number, but it’s actually half of their plays run from that distance.
Singletary’s not a superstar in waiting, but he’s still being undervalued with an ADP of No. 99 (RB33 in half-PPR). You don’t typically find three-down starting RBs in this range, and the rest of the Giants’ depth chart – Eric Gray, rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr., Jashaun Corbin – indicates there aren’t any current threats. Singletary averaged almost 20 opportunities (carries + targets) and more than 90 yards from scrimmage from Week 10 on last year, helping managers make the postseason and win their leagues. He’s in a prime spot to do it again, and his ADP is unlikely to rise much because of the poor perception of the Giants’ offense, which is in a good position to improve a bunch.
Don’t sleep on Singletary.