Who Should I Start? Saquon Barkley or Damien Harris

Thursday, September 21, 7:29 PM

New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley (ankle) told NFL on Prime reporter Taylor Rooks that he's in fact dealing with a "high-ankle sprain" to his right ankle and that not playing on Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers was simply a pain-tolerance issue. The Giants don't play again until Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4, but if he's indeed dealing with a high-ankle sprain, there's a good chance he won't play in that game, either. We'll have a better idea of Barkley's status for Week 4 next week, but fantasy managers expecting him to only miss one game should check their expectations. In Barkley's absence, Matt Breida should be lead dog, but the G-Men could also go with a RB committee with Breida, Gary Brightwell and rookie Eric Gray.

Friday, September 22, 2:24 PM

Running back Damien Harris managed to find the end zone amid Week 2's smackdown of the Las Vegas Raiders for the first touchdown of his Buffalo Bills career. The 26-year-old finds himself in an intimidating matchup on deck against the Washington Commanders' stud nose-tackle combination of Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne. Harris has played behind Latavius Murray for scraps behind lead back James Cook in the opening two weeks, so fantasy managers would really be grasping at straws by inserting Harris into Week 3 lineups. Murray has siphoned five of Buffalo's nine red-zone touches among the three RBs. The power back, Harris, is at least a better bet to hit paydirt than Cook after out-touching him in the red zone 4-0 to this point. Harris probably needs Sunday's meeting to get out of hand in favor of Buffalo to return value as a TD-or-bust RB4/FLEX.