A Running Back to Target in Each Round of Your Fantasy Football Draft

Shane Vereen, New York Giants

ADP: 70 (6.08)

Last season, Eli Manning targeted the running back position 94 times and connected on just 58 of these passes for a catch rate of just 61.7%. To put this into perspective, had this number been for a single back, it would have ranked that composite player dead last in this category among all running backs with 30 or more targets.

And while current Giants lead back Rashad Jennings is a capable pass catcher himself, his inability to stay healthy makes it unwise to pin the entire passing game out of the backfield on his shoulders for a second straight year.

It therefore makes sense why the Giants staff decided to bring Shane Vereen onto the roster this offseason. With an adept ability to move the chains in the passing game as demonstrated by his 0.42 Reception NEP per target -- which easily trumps the numbers put up by Andre Williams (0.18) and Jennings (0.09) -- Vereen fits right in as the team's best third-down back.

This was made even more apparent when offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo called Vereen "a quarterback's best friend... in the passing game."

On this note, the Giants may find themselves relying a great deal on Vereen's skills in the aerial attack.

Following left tackle Will Beatty's season-ending injury, Vereen may see quite a number of snaps as the team's best pass protector. And given their poor defense, he may also see himself on the field fairly often when the team goes into the hurry-up offense and airs it out in high scoring shoot outs.

An RB2 in the Patriots offense as the team's third-down back in 2014, with a likely instrumental role on the Giants this season, Vereen can easily return his sixth round draft day cost for the 2015 season and then some.