Fantasy Football 2015: Start or Sit Rueben Randle Week 4

By Kenneth Teape | Oct 2, 2015

The New York Giants will be traveling to western New York to take on the Buffalo Bills in Week 4. This should be a fun game to watch, as both teams have some highlight worthy players, and Rex Ryan is always worth tuning in to see. For fantasy football owners, this isn’t a matchup that jumps off the schedule, but there is a lot of value to be found.

More Giants Fantasy Football: Week 4 Giants DFS Outlook vs. Bills

That is because the Bills and Giants defenses are Jekyll and Hyde. Against the run, they are dominant this season, ranking first and second respectively in rushing yards allowed per game. But, when teams starting putting the ball in the air, it is a totally different story. In defending the pass, you’ll find the Bills and Giants second to last and last respectively in yards allowed per game.

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That should have fantasy football owners keying in on this game, as both teams have players that will benefit from this. For the Giants, Odell Beckham Jr. is a weekly fantasy football play, and against the Bills he could be in the conversation as top scorer for the week at the position. But someone else needs to catch passes from Eli Manning, so why not Rueben Randle?

Randle was written off by a number of fantasy football people prior to Week 3, as he was nonexistent in the game plan. He was targeted only seven times the first two games, catching four passes for 28 yards. With Victor Cruz looking close to returning, people were giving up on the Giants fourth year receiver.

But, then Randle got things going a little bit against the Redskins. Leading up to their Thursday night game, Tom Coughlin said the Giants had to do a better job of getting the ball into Randle’s hands. That is exactly what happened, as Randle caught all seven of his targets for 116 yards and one touchdown. While the 41-yard touchdown was pretty fluky, as the ball bounced off of Randle’s shoulder after being deflected by a Redskins’ player, it still counts the same in fantasy football.

Sep 24, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants wide receiver Rueben Randle (82) scores a touchdown during second half against the Washington Redskins at MetLife Stadium. The New York Giants defeated the Washington Redskins 32-21.

Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

But, with Cruz ready to return against the Bills, people wrote that performance off as a fluke more than things to come. Well, those people look like they could be wrong as Cruz suffered a setback in practice this week; he will need to rehab his calf again and is out Sunday against the Bills and will be sidelined indefinitely.

Because of that, Randle will be at worst the third option in the passing game behind Beckham Jr. and possibly Shane Vereen. Coming off his best game of the season, Randle is riding good momentum into a plus matchup. Every wide receiver that has played against the Bills thus far this season has registered at least 12.2 points in ½ PPR leagues. That includes two receivers going for WR1 numbers, as Julian Edelman and Rishard Matthews went for 28.4 and 26.3 points respectively.

While Randle hasn’t been the most consistent performer, it is hard to not like his outlook this week against the Bills. In a plus matchup without Cruz breathing down his neck, and the fourth highest over/under of the week, this could be a pretty high scoring matchup. That just works in Randle’s favor even more.

Someone has to get some targets other than Beckham Jr., and the Giants are still without a legitimate slot man with Preston Parker being released prior to Week 3, and Cruz being sidelined. That means Randle should be in for a solid amount of targets that he should turn into some good stats against a poor Bills pass defense.

If you have Randle on your team, comfortably insert him into your lineup. He should be a high-upside WR3, providing good return for fantasy football owners that either got him last in drafts or picked him off the waiver wire this week.

Next: Where are the Giants in our NFL Power Rankings?

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