The New York Giants will open the 2020 regular season at home on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers before traveling to meet the Chicago Bears in Week 2, returning to East Rutherford in Week 3 to host the San Francisco 49ers and then crossing the country to square off with the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4.
By any stretch of the imagination, that’s a difficult first quarter of the season. However, it may be especially difficult for many of the Giants’ skill position players, who will go head-to-head with four quality defenses.
Pro Football Focus recently broke down the easiest and most difficult schedules from Weeks 1 through 4 from a fantasy football perspective, and the Giants did not exactly come away looking golden.
To begin with, Saquon Barkley, Dion Lewis and the other running backs face an uphill battle.
New York Giants (Steelers, Bears, 49ers, Rams): Back-to-back-to-back-to-back matchups against defensive lines that will in all likelihood have their way against the Giants. Luckily, Saquon Barkley is a super human.
Things don’t get any smoother when it comes to the wide receivers, although the presence of Golden Tate could be a difference-maker.
New York Giants (Steelers, Bears, 49ers, Rams): The brutal start to the season only seems to be beatable by Golden Tate, who gets multiple defenses that didn’t exactly shut down slot receivers in 2019.
The Giants’ tight end may benefit from how tough these four defenses are against running backs and wide receivers, especially when considering they were all mid-pack in stopping tight end production a season ago.
Needless to say, Evan Engram and Kaden Smith could be strong options over the first four weeks as Barkley, Tate, Sterling Shepard and the others are forced to wade through difficult waters.
