Eagles Fantasy Football Preview: Week 3

With how bad the Philadelphia Eagles played in Week 2, it’s pretty obvious that most of the players on the team were poor fantasy football choices. Here is an updated outlook on how you should use your Eagles players in fantasy for Week 3:

QB Sam Bradford

Week 2 performance: 23/37, 224 passing yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 1 fumble lost (6 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 11.2 fantasy points

Bradford couldn’t do anything against the Cowboys. He looked like a deer in headlights for most of the game, struggling to take advantage of his biggest positive attribute: accuracy. He had three turnovers this game after having just two the week before. If the offensive line is going to struggle as much as it has thus far, starting Bradford as your fantasy quarterback is a bad idea. Hold off on him for now.

RB DeMarco Murray

Week 2 performance: 2 rushing yards, 53 receiving yards (5 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 12.8 fantasy points

Considering I spent a second round draft pick on Murray in my fantasy draft, I feel the pain personally on this one. In Week 1, a pair of short touchdowns was what saved Murray. In Week 2, it was his receiving yards that prevented him from having a completely terrible day. Of course, having two rushing yards on 13 carries is not at all encouraging, especially considering his longest run was nine yards. Do the math…that’s bad. He’s not worthless by any means, but he’s no better than a low-end RB2 against the Jets next week.

RB Ryan Mathews

Week 2 performance: 0 rushing yards, 0 receiving yards (0 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 2.8 fantasy points

Mathews had one carry for no yards and didn’t record a single catch. He has clearly looked like the least valuable running back on the Eagles in terms of fantasy thus far, but he’s still worth holding on to for when the Eagles (hopefully) bounce back offensively. He’s bound to get some touchdowns here and there and is valuable if Murray ever were to get hurt. However, there’s no chance he should leave your bench and into your starting lineup until that happens.

RB Darren Sproles

Week 2 performance: -4 rushing yards, 23 receiving yards (2 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 4.1 fantasy points

Sproles is slightly more valuable that Mathews at the moment, but definitely had an ineffective game against Dallas. He had just one carry (for negative yards) and four catches, combining for only 19 yards. Like I said last week, I was surprised to see Sproles even have any fantasy value, but it seems like for the time being he’s in the same category as Mathews: keep, but definitely don’t start.

WR Jordan Matthews

Week 2 performance: 6 catches, 80 yards, TD (14 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 7.1 fantasy points

Matthews is the one guy who is guaranteed to have a good day even if the Eagles absolutely suck. Sunday was a good example of that. Granted, a lot of his stats came in garbage time when it seemed like there was no chance the Eagles would come back, but luckily garbage time still counts for fantasy. Matthews easily has the most value among the whole Eagles team and remains a very solid WR2 moving forward.

WR Nelson Agholor

Week 2 performance: 3 catches, 31 yards (3 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 4.3 fantasy points

Agholor’s production has been puzzling. The Eagles have been mixing up the wide receivers a lot, even using Miles Austin at times, but if Agholor is struggling to put up worthwhile numbers, the rest of the receivers below him certainly aren’t worth owning in fantasy. Agholor still has a lot of upside because it seems like he’s still getting used to the NFL game, but don’t bother even putting him in as a WR3/Flex until he has a really good game. Let’s see him prove something before using him in your lineup.

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TE Zach Ertz

Week 2 performance: 3 catches, 17 yards (1 fantasy point)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 5.5 fantasy points

Ertz has just been really unlucky so far. He was targeted another seven times on Sunday, the second most among any Eagles receiver, which means Bradford is definitely comfortable with throwing to him. This is a positive sign moving forward, but the lack of actual production is disappointing. It’s a clear extension of the fact that almost no one of the offense is doing anything. You might have to ride out a few more bad weeks for Ertz until Philly gets their offense figured out. But if you’re inpatient, feel free to sign another tight end for the time being to start over Ertz.

K Cody Parkey

Week 2 performance: 1/1 FG, 1/1 XP (5 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 8 fantasy points

It doesn’t make sense to own a kicker on an offense that struggles, and right now, the Eagles offense is obviously struggling. Because of how many worthwhile kickers there are out there, cutting Parkey may not be a terrible idea if there’s someone else good in free agency. Only attempting one field goal and one extra point in a game is not acceptable. Find someone else for now.

Eagles D/ST

Week 2 performance: 20 points allowed, 2 FRs, 3 sacks (6 fantasy points)
ESPN Week 3 Projection: 7.9 fantasy points

After a terrible defensive performance in Week 1, the D bounced back in Week 2 with a pretty solid game, minus a few poor plays here and there. They were getting pressure on Tony Romo from the beginning and finished with three sacks and two fumble recoveries while giving up just 20 points (six of which came on a touchdown scored on special teams, which shouldn’t count). Six points isn’t bad for a defense. Against the Jets, they’ll be going against Brandon Marshall, who has had a very productive first two weeks. They’re a little banged up at other positions, so I don’t expect the Jets to torch the Eagles defense by any means. I expect them to continue to improve as time goes on.

Next: Eagles offensive line suffering from lack of recent draft picks

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