Shane Vereen, Wayne Gallman's Updated Fantasy Outlook After Paul Perkins' Injury

Shane Vereen and Wayne Gallman could see their fantasy football stocks rise after NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Friday that New York Giants starting running back Paul Perkins won't play in Week 5 due to a rib injury.

The Giants will host the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in a clash between a pair of 0-4 teams.

Let's take a closer look at how the Giants' backfield workload might be divided and examine the possible fantasy impact while the team waits for more information on the starter's status.

Shane Vereen

Vereen has been on the fringe of fantasy stardom before across his first six years in the league with the Giants and New England Patriots. He's usually provided solid PPR value—he caught a career-high 59 passes in 2015—but lacked the necessary carries to become a more valuable RB option.

Perhaps that opportunity will finally arrive if he's forced into a more wide-ranging role in Perkins' absence. He's never reached the 100-carry mark in any of his pro seasons, so it would be uncharted territory for the California native.

So far this season, Vereen has rushed for 47 yards on 12 carries and made 15 receptions for 107 yards.

The 28-year-old veteran has dealt with injury problems throughout his career, however, and missed time during training camp with leg soreness. At that time, he talked about the frustration at missing time, per Michael Eisen of the Giants' official website.

"I hate it when I have to sit out," Vereen said. "I have been through a lot of training camps and sometimes I wake up and want nothing to do with it. But I am a much happier person when I am practicing and involved with the team and getting better and working on my craft than I am without. I like being with the team and getting days off when coach gives us days off."

All told, Vereen could warrant flex consideration until Perkins is cleared to return. He'll provide consistent production as part of the passing game and should receive some additional carries to give him more appeal in traditional scoring formats.

It's hard to move him into a definitive starting role from a fantasy perspective until it's clear exactly how much work he'll get as part of the rushing attack, though.

Wayne Gallman

Since Vereen is a known commodity, Gallman figures to receive more attention in fantasy circles for the time being. The 23-year-old rookie helped Clemson capture a national championship last season before getting picked in the fourth round of this year's draft.

The 23-year-old Georgia native tallied 3,902 yards from scrimmage and 36 total touchdowns across three years at the collegiate level with the Tigers. That includes 30 rushing TDs over the last two seasons.

He was active for the first time last week and made an instant impact, rushing for 42 yards on 11 carries and making two grabs for eight yards and a touchdown.

It's unclear exactly what type of workload Gallman will receive for the time being. But with Vereen's best value coming on third down and the first-year player's nose for the goal line at Clemson, there's serious upside for some breakout fantasy performances.

The outlook will become easier to evaluate after Perkins' status is more clear and the Giants play a game without him, but fantasy owners can't wait that long to pounce on the rookie.

Assuming Gallman is still available on your waiver wire, put in a claim and hope that his upside will result in the G-Men giving him a fair opportunity to seize the lead back role.